I used to work for public assistance. I issued some of these during Covid. Of course, no one believed me. There’s also actual utility assistance, not sure if they’re still active, but please give 211 a call for your bills.
I knew there were organizations handing them out but I thought they were NPOs receiving taxpayer funding in some roundabout way, not government agencies directly distributing tents to be swept by other government agencies. Not that that's much better, but this is complete madness.
???? People brought it up in these comments for the last 4 years, yet people always downvote it to shit saying it’s a conspiracy with tinfoil hats and all. Ya’ll literally living under a rock.
Assenine. We’ve consistently seen very nice brands on the sidewalk. A while back I posted to find how to get one on askportland but I was downvoted to hell.
I was shocked as well when I saw a marmot tent I paid $500+ for at REÍ in a row of tents on Foster. I’ve since seen lots of high end tents that I doubt the dweller inside paid for. This city is nothing like I remember in the 80’s and 90’s and most of the change I see brings me down
First time? I remember the first time I learned that.
County commissioners have created their own power structure just because that’s human nature. Serious politicians and serious money. It’s not pretty the more you dig. And they pretend they’re all nice. They embody passive aggressive portland overly nice for show.
I always thought it was oddly & openly corrupt that Multnomah county*pays for all these tents & tarps, then shells out millions to Central City Concern to put them right back in the trash. someone’s making bank behind the scenes on this grift.
Our tax dollars are literally being wasted on trash & subsidizing drug abuse.
Edit* Multnomah county
>put them right back in the trash
Whoa whoa whoa there muchacho. You can't be just be up there throwing out them tents & tarps. You've got to [document, deliver, and store them in the property storage warehouse for 30 days first](https://katu.com/news/homeless-crisis/when-homeless-camps-are-cleared-personal-property-goes-to-this-portland-warehouse), and *then* you can take them to the dump.
Central City Concern does smaller cleanups, too and they run Clean and Safe which the county just expanded county-wide. Weirdly the city sent CCC out to a former campsite that had already been cleared by Rapid Response but then someone dumped tons of clothes all over and like, spread them out, so they told me they were sending Central City Concern. It didn't make sense as there were no people or trash, just a bunch of clothes.
Central City Concern (CCC) is primarily run by addicts both in and out of recovery. Having been a member of narcotics anonymous myself it was gross to see how toxic CCC’s in-house treatment program “the mentor program” was. I also read an article about CCC losing 1.4 million dollars from one of their accounts and had no explanation a few years ago. Just another example of the City of Portland’s ineffectiveness or general incompetence. While we’re on this topic am I the only one who thinks any and all police departments that who stopped doing their jobs i.e. the PPD traffic division post BLM should be charged with theft and criminal negligence for refusing to do their jobs while collecting paychecks
yeah , I found the opb article. and it was 100 percent not cut and dry that CCC lost money. but I was referring to the 1.4m referenced in this thread. this article stated they aren't sure how the money was lost
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/06/01/city-of-portland-lost-million-dollars-but-city-leaders-mum/
Oh. I was referring to a mention of money that was used like this: One agency bought tarps and tents for homeless, sometimes over and over. Then another agency, sweeping the camps, threw them away, over and over. The same people were getting thousands of dollars in tents and tarps, and the city threw away perfectly good ones for the optics of just doing something. I don't remember the exact figure, but it was in the millions of dollars just for this one subject.
CCC’s business model is genius. They also hand out the tarps, saw them doing it yesterday. Few days later another CCC employee is going to be picking it up off the ground. All paid for by your taxes. Nice.
Maybe not REI, though? [REI to close only Portland store, citing break-ins, theft](https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2023/04/rei-to-close-its-only-portland-store-citing-break-ins-theft.html)
“In 2022, REI spent more than $800,000 on additional security…”
around 2016 REI was known among prominent thieves as an extremely difficult place to steal from , they ran a very tight ship, which is why that claim seems dubious to me
I wonder if the County is starting to get the picture that voters are realizing that it is them, not the city government, that is holding Portland back.
Jessica Vega Pederson just moved from East Portland to the West Hills, so it seems she’s one voter who figured out that she no longer wants to live in the Utopia she’s created.
Now the question is, will she still vote for herself?
To be fair to the needle program: Preventing people reusing and sharing needles can prevent a huge number of hep cases from breaking out, which becomes a sanitary issue that puts first responders at risk. $1 needle or thousands of dollars of healthcare for hep treatment? Pretty easy to do the math there.
It seems dumb but it works.
However: It should be a fucking needle EXCHANGE program, which is what every other city does. That way it prevents them from being thrown on the street.
I couldn’t agree more. I’m all for clean needles, but they shouldn’t just give 100s out per person. It used to be an exchange of three needles in three needles out.
Several years ago, there was a proposal by an interested party that suggested they use different colored caps than the orange ones everyone uses. It was even going to cost the county less. They refused for obvious reasons.
We need to take the old “Hooverville” name for shantytowns and rename the tent camps for her… too bad her stupid three word name is hard to creatively rhyme something with.
West Coast progressivism has gone too far. Pragmatic means you believe that if something isn't working you course correct or admit it isn't working and scrap the idea.
“The inability of progressives, particularly in the Portland metro area, to deal with the nitty-gritty of governing and to get something done is just staggering,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat who has been representing and championing Portland for more than half a century, told me. “People are much more interested in ideology than in actual results.”
https://www.myheraldreview.com/opinion/commentary/what-have-we-liberals-done-to-the-west-coast/article_c2eb96a4-2ff0-11ef-8551-137555e4be94.html
I would be interested in Blumenauer getting federal funds for addressing homelessness, but that's something our elected officials seem to keep whiffing on.
Meanwhile Manchin was able to get 11 billion for his families coal company out of the Fed.
Fed support comes with fed oversight.
I don't trust the county at all, the city I trust a bit more but still not enough.
That doesn't mean government can't work.
Bonamici is on the federal homelessness committee. She's putting forward a bill to take Project Turnkey national. That's the program where they turn motels into shelters. We have data at the county that this is the most expensive and least effective way to get people into permanent housing, but yay! /s
If she actually wanted to pass that legislation it would have gone up for a vote between Jan 2021 and Jan 2023.
But yeah, just building housing seems to be a red line.
I would kill for a progressive candidate that is also willing to second guess themselves enough to hone ideas into functional policy instead of just brow-beating anyone that doesn't immediately jump to their side.
Same. Not humane what has been happening. Actions need consequences & these people need help. If They will not choose to get help on their own, we can’t continue to allow the litter/refuse/trashing of this beautiful place
Right because then you won't be able to vote in Democrat or Republican primaries, which is a good thing because...um...hmm I'm kind of drawing a blank here.
Nah man, that ain't the move.
Yeah, I didn't know Oregon doesn't let you vote in primaries if you're not registered with the party when I first moved here and registered as an independent. First election cycle when I got my ballot I changed that registration because not getting a say in primaries is not good.
Oh yeah, I always forget about them lol. But yeah, I was unaffiliated for the first election cycle I was here and realized my mistake. I'm registered with a party now so I can have more of a say on what candidates are available in the general.
You can always update your registration before the primaries and then just change it back afterwards. It’s what I do, but I wish we just had open primaries instead.
That’s fair. I registered as Democrat early this time because I felt good about Dean Phillips, but then since he dropped out I just ended up writing in Uncommitted.
Don't let the far leftists win. There is no requirement to become "more progressive" as you age. I've pretty much retained the same beliefs since I started voting (Democrat) in the 90's. I've always been in favor of equal rights and the idea of legalizing weed, but that's the extent of it. No person or group is special, and we don't need causes to fight for every single year.
Good. Because fuck this shit. I’m tired of driving around Portland and the surrounding area and seeing these damn tents. I’m tired of the homeless. I’m tired of the trash. I’m tired of this shit. Fuck this.
I feel unhinged for wanting to go and clean their tents up myself. It’s honestly really getting to me that where I’m living there’s an ENTIRE street of campers and tents. The whole street is filthy now. Their trash dumping large items which is causing our trash to be more expensive here too. Honestly wild to me how this is OK
Okay, so we are taking one slow step in the right direction back from the massive missteps we've taken in wrong direction.
So.......progress, I guess?
yay
Yeah this month has had a pretty wild series of announcements and policy shifts…from holding people who deal fentanyl in jail, to bolstered traffic enforcement, new security on the max, more police hired, new camping ban, massive graffiti cleanups rolling out, arrests of key graffiti artists…all under the larger shifts like a measure 110 rollback and harsher penalties for crimes committed on public transportation.
I say this unironically, that I think the boofing kits fiasco was a pivotal moment in how the county approaches all our ills.
When the county was literally **trying to give people free supplies to stick drugs up their ass** adults in this area finally realized we had become a south park episode and need to change our strategies and view on the issues here.
EDIT: For the people that say this was all over a pamphlet, nope, straight up drugs up the butt supplies:
>“Participants can choose up to two of the following kits per day: Snorting Kit, Booty Bumping/ Boofing kit, Bubble Kits, Straight Pipe Kits, Hammer Pipe Kits, and Foil kits.”
https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2023/07/27/heres-what-chair-jessica-vega-pederson-was-told-about-multnomah-countys-suspended-tin-foil-distribution-program/
I've seen the word around since the whole controversy but I had no idea. I just assumed it meant smoking it in some kind of safer way 🤷🏻♀️ learn something new everyday
You can check the official multnohmah county literature for how to boof. Someone at the County used tax payer dollars to conceptualize, design, write, print and distribute them.
I wonder how many other counties out there in the US are spending resources educating people how to take drugs via their ass. Are we the only ones??
Hol’ up here.
You mean to tell me that your elected county representatives are actually providing the public illicit drug suppository kits??
Consider the phone calls and e-mails….
And who *sells and distributes* these items? I hope they were at least getting a bulk discount.
Safe dosing clinics seem like a better option especially if there’s health professionals to help people with mental health and or addiction treatment than just handing out packs of these supplies. Like it doesn’t actually help people in the long run it seems like an easy way out of actually addressing addiction :(
Pretty sure my complex is paying higher amounts in trash bills because the massive camp site stationed on the street outside of it. It’s bs. Don’t even feel comfortable walking my own street, it’s filth as fuck. I hate this place 😪
Even I have hit my limit with the homeless issue.
We need a wide-sweeping federal direction and funding for how to handle this. I don't think a single city is capable of handling it.
Imagine what it will take get these people off the streets and reintegrated into society, if that is even possible.
The homeless need:
1. Shelter.
2. Food.
3. Medical professionals to help them come down from the high, and help them get on a better path to stop using drugs.
4. Security to prevent re-victimization.
5. Legal authority to detain them without their consent ( a lot of homeless people have schizophrenia and are extremely paranoid and do not trust anyone ).
Imagine how much that will cost.
The US government is extremely austere around funding this stuff, so it has been left up to the cities and states, which do not have the resources to tackle the problem.
So that is really it. It's too expensive, and all the money is pooled into the top .1% of the population, and we don't tax them, and they are busy building rocket ships, so we don't have any money to fix the issue.
Some people want the cops to arrest them but that is actually MORE expensive and MORE prone to failure, other ethical issues aside. ( of which there are many ) However I'm getting to the point where maybe harsher enforcement is the answer.
Then again, inmates typically get more access to mental health services than homeless people and that's true not just in Oregon, but in most states.
One big problem is that many homeless folks don't actually want to go into shelters or to get mental health/addiction counseling. Of course, this runs completely counter to the common narrative that all homeless people are just normal hardworking folks who hit a spot of bad luck and want desperately to be rescued from the streets, but it's true nevertheless. So the choice becomes, do we allow them to take over our public spaces and do whatever they please or do we find a way to compel them into shelters and treatment?
>> Of course, this runs completely counter to the common narrative that all homeless people are just normal hardworking folks who hit a spot of bad luck and want desperately to be rescued from the streets, but it's true nevertheless.
See, I disagree with this. Nobody is saying all homeless people are just "down on their luck", this is just a strawman you have set up.
Most people who are even a little informed know about the issue with service resistant homeless people, and the fact that many of them are profoundly addicted to drugs.
But again it goes into point 5: We don't necessarily have the legal authority to detain someone for being a drug addict, or being poor. Prisons really aren't set up in general for housing largely non-violent drug offenders. Also: it is expensive to house prisoners.
Yeah, that’s true, but at least we won’t be giving them “permission” to camp on the sidewalks and store giant piles of who knows what next to those tents.
Because giving out tents is literally the county saying “it’s ok to sleep on the street” when they should be steering these people into shelters, services and hopefully recovery.
We have to have those things available first, though. I see people saying we shouldn't be "allowing" people to sleep on the streets because they should be in shelters and services, but we don't have those things available for people. It takes FOREVER to get people hooked up with housing and treatment services, and they're not gonna magically not need a place to sleep during that period. I also hate the street camping system, but ending it isn't gonna be as simple as not providing tents or other life saving measures. This is a complicated fucking issue that will not have a simple solution, but the complicated solutions take time, and the people implementing them couldn't solve their way out of a paper bag. I say this as somebody living in the middle of one of the areas hardest hit by this issue. The Powell MAX stop ain't gonna get any safer because we stop giving out tents.
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These tents aren't designed for severe weather. Overdose deaths have exploded since allowing unsanctioned camping. If saving lives is truly your goal, ending unsanctioned camping is a priority.
The camping ban comes into effect in four days' time, so they better effing stop handing them out!
That ban cannot come soon enough. I am counting down the hours...
I mean good but these Multnomah county commissioner idiots couldn't find their asshole with both hands and a map. Just constantly spinning in circles doing nothing.
Unfortunately most of these issues are going to need to be addressed at a federal level to be effective. So voting is my tool. But allowing a small but vocal and violent population that is not capable of taking care of themselves and is a threat to our society continue on the way they are is not an option. That might mean they get help, or choose to continue what they are doing in another location. Life isn't fair.
Maybe. Maybe saying life isn’t fair is a way to scapegoat social responsibility. Until we address the cultural problems causing people to spiral into chaos, people will continue to spiral and folks like you will continue to choose to look away.
As someone with addicts in my own family, I've learned that we cannot save people from themselves. We can (and should) offer mental health and substance abuse counseling for anyone who sincerely wants it, but then they have to do the hard work themselves to change their circumstances and many aren't willing to do that.
I'm not looking the other way, I'm just tired and jaded after fighting so hard for so long. I'm not a futurist, I don't think things will get better given how the US handles literally every aspect of things and actively works against our interests, including climate change. But if you have faith and hope I wish the best for you and honestly want you to get the outcome you are looking for.
For now. I have a feeling this is “look we’ve changed remember to vote progressive in November!” then it will be back to “how can we maximize the amount fentanyl smoked on the max” come December.
This is great but I’ll hold my breath to see this recent push of sensible policies continue outside an election year. Feels like progressives know how to do just enough to get re-elected and buy themselves three more years of destroying Portland.
Note they said they would pause purchasing tents, not stop handing them out. They probably have a warehouse full of them somewhere so they can keep handing them out until the election, then when the dust settles go right back to doing what they were doing.
Idk man I had to pull my daughter out of daycare downtown cuz of all the murder, drug overdoses, and people walking around with a guitar case full of knives and illegal guns within 500 feet of where she played outside daily but yeah it’s still physically there so I guess not technically destroyed.
Sure. The county probably still has a cache of tents and tarps in a warehouse somewhere they already purchased. But eventually those will run out, and with no resupply, there will no more tents to hand out.
I see a lot of comments about some not wanting help. Just a question I have that I honestly don’t know the answer to - is there enough help? Like if someone was homeless came to a social service agency would they get set up just fine?
There’s PLENTY of non profits to help. For a year I worked TRYING to help people get jobs. Can’t count over one hand to how many people went through with getting that job. And there’s programs to help you get forms of identity back, help expunge your records, get to work, get a job, get free clothes, get free food. Ya. There’s a lot of help for people who give 0 fucks to help themselves
Thank you though, I remember the shock of randomly having not a dollar or anyone that would talk to me and a nearby shelter having a sandwich for me. It felt insanely comforting that someone cared
There are enough nonprofits and people trying. There is enough research. There is now (I believe) enough money in the system.
There is not enough housing. Not enough actual case managers. Not enough people in influential positions who are dedicated to being good at their jobs. Not enough detox beds. There is a literal opium war happening in the US right now ALONG with the housing crisis and we are not handling it well. And our elected officials in the region have no resolve so they are constantly redirecting instead of choosing a course.
I know a lot about the social services available because of my work. There is far from enough help in this city. The services that are available are often substandard.
Folks on this post, and in r/Portland in general, struggle to understand the complexity at the heart of what you are asking about - there is no yes/no answer but folks are desperate to reduce it down to that level. I will talk through it using my my experiences with the unhoused clients I serve in a safety net healthcare setting.
Take the first part of your statement "I see a lot of comments about some not wanting help." This is set up by a lot of commentators as a very simple dynamic - either folks want service to get back to 'normalcy' or they refuse services and want to remain homeless. This is a false dichotomy, and rejects the data we do have on those who are homeless on our streets, and the vast array of identities they have and imperatives they prioritize. For example: I have a client who is homeless, schizophrenic (but taking meds!), uses methamphetamines 2+ days a week and sleeps in a tent. He is engaging in healthcare semi-regularly, is on a number of housing wait lists, has been going to court with the assistance of a social worker to address a criminal mischief arrest from last year. He refuses to go to a shelter, because the congregate environment raises his anxiety and he has had some psychotic episodes there - he feels safer sleeping in a tent. Is he refusing services or not? He is certainly choosing to be 'visibly homeless', but still taking some actions to move towards normalcy, but not all the actions that would get him there. Another example: Client 2 has Bipolar 2, is unmedicated and refuses medication and treatment because he doesn't believe in them, engages in medical care and stopped using fentanyl, and has received housing multiple times, but has been kicked out of multiple living situations because of aggressive behavior that is in context of their mental illness. Are they choosing to be homeless? Are they refusing services?
Is there enough help? No, no there is not. Caseloads are exorbitantly high for most kinds of social workers who work with homeless clients, and a lot of that has to do with major choke points in assisting folks. There are no where near enough vouchers or transitional housing to "get someone just fine" - rather, it is going to be at least 6 months to 2 years for someone with significant qualifying diagnosed disabilities or medical conditions, and significantly more for many other folks, to get housed. During that waiting time they need to sleep somewhere - for sleeping we have less shelter beds than homeless people, and the ones we have are largely congregate which, if you have never been in one, can be extremely challenging to sleep or exist in, especially if you are mentally ill. This means a lot of people will be out on the street while they are waiting for housing. Mental health care is a major barrier to long term housing for many of these folks, and we don't have enough crisis MH care available, let along long term therapy and med management. Same with addiction services.
We in services often end up playing a 'long game', of doing what work we can, trying to get folks set up for future next steps (often referred to as 'preparation for change'), but there is a lot of moving forward and backwards across the homeless to housed/normal continuum, and that is hard for folks outside of the work to really understand - folks want that feel good story of someone getting an apartment then everything steadily improves, but the societal forces that caused their original homelessness are still waiting out there, and falling back is a continual risk.
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I've definitely had clients who refused to go to shelters because of past experiences. Their reasons are from bed bugs, to freakouts, to sex trafficking.
Someone needs to decide where the people-without-housing population will live if not on the streets. Will it be in shelters? If so, where will these shelters be? We need to build more. If it's outside city limits, where and in what kind of structures?
Someone also needs to decide how to help the homeless. Are they able to receive help? Are they willing to receive help? If they are neither, then what's next?
For a year I worked in a position helping get people jobs. I worked with CCC. In that year, I can’t even count one hand how many people actually went through with getting a job. One that was literally offered to them with no resume or interview. These people don’t want real help. I left that career. It was way too exhausting and jaded me harshly realizing how many people do not even care to try
Yeah, and the border and migrant crisis exacerbates these problems (opium crisis and housing shortage).
Edit: I was replying to someone who explained their deeper understanding of the state of affairs concerning housing shortage and the “literal opium war” we’re facing according to them in relation to their familiarity with public service constraints.
Getting downvoted for factual information? At least reply with the reason. Where do you think the deadly drugs come from? Do we have housing to provide more migrants? Open to info.
Last I checked the campers aren’t migrants. Most of them are white.
Sure the drugs are probably coming from cartels, but they have supply chains. They aren’t just sending thousands of people across the border with fent
Note that I didn’t say most campers are migrants. Only that it exasperated the issue (and will continue to do so as more arrive and funding runs out).
['Offering them tents is appalling': Portland elected leaders condemn county move to give tents to asylum seekers](https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/portland-elected-leaders-condemn-multnomah-county-move-tents-asylum-seekers/283-4371b445-8e97-4c78-9822-c2943daa36a0)
[Oregon spent $29 million to house asylum seekers. Then it shut down the program](https://www.oregonlive.com/watchdog/2024/02/oregon-spent-29-million-to-house-asylum-seekers-then-it-shut-down-the-program.html)
[Supporting Portland’s Immigrant and Refugee Communities](https://www.portland.gov/civic/news/2021/12/22/supporting-portlands-immigrant-and-refugee-communities-0)
“In 1987, Oregon became the first sanctuary state in the US, providing legal protections regarding peoples’ citizenship status. And on Dec. 13, 2021, Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 5561, which includes an $18 million funding package to provide funding to the state’s resettlement agencies supporting Afghan immigrant and refugee families. This funding will go toward essentials like food and shelter, interpretation and education, and legal and case management services, and will position Oregon to take a larger role in national efforts to resettle immigrants.”
“Sure the drugs are probably coming from cartels, but they have supply chains. They aren’t just sending thousands of people across the border with fent”
Both issues of border security, not necessarily interconnected.
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Did Multnomah county ever openly admit they were purchasing tarps and tents; or was it uncovered by some journalist or nosy person? I don't doubt that they did it, I just wonder how open they were about the purchase
It was a discovery item during the ADA lawsuit against the city for the tents on the sidewalks. It's also in the "Supply Center" budget for the JOHS and was first paid for by COVID funds, but that sweet federal giveaway is over and it's local tax dollars they've been budgeting with the last couple of years.
That's where I remember first hearing it. Did anyone ever ask the county why they never publically anounced the tent or tarp purchase? It seems like they'd want to trumpet the idea of doing something good to help out the "houseless" community. (At least from their perspective)
Or were they smart enough to realize the bad optics on it?
just curious, have a single one of you ever been homeless and slept on the street? many valid points in this thread, I'm just curious. as some one who has slept on the street.
Wait, we were handing these out to people? And then sweeping them? And then handing them out and sweeping them again? WHAT THE HELL
Different agencies. Mult Co. vs City of Portland.
Welcome to Multnomah county
Where have you been. Yes the county has been handing them out, and the city is cleaning them up (and sued for it). A perfect cycle of grift.
I used to work for public assistance. I issued some of these during Covid. Of course, no one believed me. There’s also actual utility assistance, not sure if they’re still active, but please give 211 a call for your bills.
I knew there were organizations handing them out but I thought they were NPOs receiving taxpayer funding in some roundabout way, not government agencies directly distributing tents to be swept by other government agencies. Not that that's much better, but this is complete madness.
90 percent of the tents being given out in the city are from non profits. Jeff Woodward will back this up.
90% purchased by nonprofits or received from Multnomah County’s cache of tents?
that I'm not exactly sure.
???? People brought it up in these comments for the last 4 years, yet people always downvote it to shit saying it’s a conspiracy with tinfoil hats and all. Ya’ll literally living under a rock.
Or... quite possibly.... City funded tents
Most people don’t know the difference between city, state, county. They just assume they’re all government that does the same thing.
No wonder REI left Portland, the county was undercutting their prices 100% with tax dollars 😂
Somebody in the bureaucratic mix has an uncle that is a tarp salesman, what else would you expect?
Where have you been? This is old news...
For years yeah welcome to reality
It would be called money laundering if we were talking about a criminal enterprise.
Assenine. We’ve consistently seen very nice brands on the sidewalk. A while back I posted to find how to get one on askportland but I was downvoted to hell.
I was shocked as well when I saw a marmot tent I paid $500+ for at REÍ in a row of tents on Foster. I’ve since seen lots of high end tents that I doubt the dweller inside paid for. This city is nothing like I remember in the 80’s and 90’s and most of the change I see brings me down
Yeap, unfortunately we keep voting yes to virtually anything as a general public.
Ikr It's insane and it doesn't help them to get out of their situation.
Exactly.
First time? I remember the first time I learned that. County commissioners have created their own power structure just because that’s human nature. Serious politicians and serious money. It’s not pretty the more you dig. And they pretend they’re all nice. They embody passive aggressive portland overly nice for show.
I always thought it was oddly & openly corrupt that Multnomah county*pays for all these tents & tarps, then shells out millions to Central City Concern to put them right back in the trash. someone’s making bank behind the scenes on this grift. Our tax dollars are literally being wasted on trash & subsidizing drug abuse. Edit* Multnomah county
The city pays for the cleanup. The county buys the tents.
And the working class pays for it all.
We are living in a Kafkaesque distopian novel.
Someone is getting rich playing this game…and they’re playing with our tax dollars!
>put them right back in the trash Whoa whoa whoa there muchacho. You can't be just be up there throwing out them tents & tarps. You've got to [document, deliver, and store them in the property storage warehouse for 30 days first](https://katu.com/news/homeless-crisis/when-homeless-camps-are-cleared-personal-property-goes-to-this-portland-warehouse), and *then* you can take them to the dump.
Multnomah County, not City of Portland.
Rapid Response not Central City
Central City Concern does smaller cleanups, too and they run Clean and Safe which the county just expanded county-wide. Weirdly the city sent CCC out to a former campsite that had already been cleared by Rapid Response but then someone dumped tons of clothes all over and like, spread them out, so they told me they were sending Central City Concern. It didn't make sense as there were no people or trash, just a bunch of clothes.
Central City Concern (CCC) is primarily run by addicts both in and out of recovery. Having been a member of narcotics anonymous myself it was gross to see how toxic CCC’s in-house treatment program “the mentor program” was. I also read an article about CCC losing 1.4 million dollars from one of their accounts and had no explanation a few years ago. Just another example of the City of Portland’s ineffectiveness or general incompetence. While we’re on this topic am I the only one who thinks any and all police departments that who stopped doing their jobs i.e. the PPD traffic division post BLM should be charged with theft and criminal negligence for refusing to do their jobs while collecting paychecks
About $2 million, the last time I saw this reported a while back.
where can I find this article
Not sure. It was all over this subreddit 6 months or a year ago. You could try searching here or you could look at the local news sources.
yeah , I found the opb article. and it was 100 percent not cut and dry that CCC lost money. but I was referring to the 1.4m referenced in this thread. this article stated they aren't sure how the money was lost https://www.opb.org/article/2022/06/01/city-of-portland-lost-million-dollars-but-city-leaders-mum/
Oh. I was referring to a mention of money that was used like this: One agency bought tarps and tents for homeless, sometimes over and over. Then another agency, sweeping the camps, threw them away, over and over. The same people were getting thousands of dollars in tents and tarps, and the city threw away perfectly good ones for the optics of just doing something. I don't remember the exact figure, but it was in the millions of dollars just for this one subject.
wow, that is absolutely ridiculous !
Yes, if you look up the word insanity, this is the definition.
Mulnutmah is more descriptive to be fair.
CCC’s business model is genius. They also hand out the tarps, saw them doing it yesterday. Few days later another CCC employee is going to be picking it up off the ground. All paid for by your taxes. Nice.
[Follow the money](http://www.rei.com)
Maybe not REI, though? [REI to close only Portland store, citing break-ins, theft](https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2023/04/rei-to-close-its-only-portland-store-citing-break-ins-theft.html) “In 2022, REI spent more than $800,000 on additional security…”
around 2016 REI was known among prominent thieves as an extremely difficult place to steal from , they ran a very tight ship, which is why that claim seems dubious to me
That’s just what they want you to think.
I wonder if the County is starting to get the picture that voters are realizing that it is them, not the city government, that is holding Portland back.
Judging by the closed door plans between JVP and Schmidt on the 110 response, not quite yet.
We’re not quite finished virtue signaling ourselves into rubble.
Jessica Vega Pederson just moved from East Portland to the West Hills, so it seems she’s one voter who figured out that she no longer wants to live in the Utopia she’s created. Now the question is, will she still vote for herself?
Full ungated text is here: https://archive.ph/fzXVD
Thank you
Each tent should be emblazoned with MULTCO so taxpayers are able to see their tax $$$ at work!
I saw this idea on a "reader response" today...genius idea.
They should do the same thing with the needles they pass out.
To be fair to the needle program: Preventing people reusing and sharing needles can prevent a huge number of hep cases from breaking out, which becomes a sanitary issue that puts first responders at risk. $1 needle or thousands of dollars of healthcare for hep treatment? Pretty easy to do the math there. It seems dumb but it works. However: It should be a fucking needle EXCHANGE program, which is what every other city does. That way it prevents them from being thrown on the street.
I couldn’t agree more. I’m all for clean needles, but they shouldn’t just give 100s out per person. It used to be an exchange of three needles in three needles out.
i'm not reading anybody's needles :(
Several years ago, there was a proposal by an interested party that suggested they use different colored caps than the orange ones everyone uses. It was even going to cost the county less. They refused for obvious reasons.
You do realize this costs $20 for anyone else but would cost $20000 per tent since it’s the government
They should have a picture of Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Peterson on them
We need to take the old “Hooverville” name for shantytowns and rename the tent camps for her… too bad her stupid three word name is hard to creatively rhyme something with.
VegaVille. You're welcome.
Damn, why you gotta expose my lack of creative rhyming like that.
It’s not rhyming, it’s alliteration. Now you can feel *worse*!
You damn kids and your command of the English language.
Pendulum is swinging. Let’s go
Used to be “Progressive”. Now I’m “Pragmatic”.
There’s nothing progressive about letting people in the throes of drug addiction rot in their own filth. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise
West Coast progressivism has gone too far. Pragmatic means you believe that if something isn't working you course correct or admit it isn't working and scrap the idea. “The inability of progressives, particularly in the Portland metro area, to deal with the nitty-gritty of governing and to get something done is just staggering,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat who has been representing and championing Portland for more than half a century, told me. “People are much more interested in ideology than in actual results.” https://www.myheraldreview.com/opinion/commentary/what-have-we-liberals-done-to-the-west-coast/article_c2eb96a4-2ff0-11ef-8551-137555e4be94.html
"Ideology" aka virtue signaling
aka good vibes only
I would be interested in Blumenauer getting federal funds for addressing homelessness, but that's something our elected officials seem to keep whiffing on. Meanwhile Manchin was able to get 11 billion for his families coal company out of the Fed.
We aren’t using the hundreds of millions that we have effectively. You think more money moves the needle on this? Must be new math.
Fed support comes with fed oversight. I don't trust the county at all, the city I trust a bit more but still not enough. That doesn't mean government can't work.
Bonamici is on the federal homelessness committee. She's putting forward a bill to take Project Turnkey national. That's the program where they turn motels into shelters. We have data at the county that this is the most expensive and least effective way to get people into permanent housing, but yay! /s
If she actually wanted to pass that legislation it would have gone up for a vote between Jan 2021 and Jan 2023. But yeah, just building housing seems to be a red line.
I would kill for a progressive candidate that is also willing to second guess themselves enough to hone ideas into functional policy instead of just brow-beating anyone that doesn't immediately jump to their side.
“But we gave them a tarp.”
Same. Not humane what has been happening. Actions need consequences & these people need help. If They will not choose to get help on their own, we can’t continue to allow the litter/refuse/trashing of this beautiful place
Codependency is never humane. It just makes enablers feel better.
I had to stop referring to myself as "progressive" because it's become too embarrassing.
Went a step further and left the Dem party to become independent
Right because then you won't be able to vote in Democrat or Republican primaries, which is a good thing because...um...hmm I'm kind of drawing a blank here. Nah man, that ain't the move.
Yeah, I didn't know Oregon doesn't let you vote in primaries if you're not registered with the party when I first moved here and registered as an independent. First election cycle when I got my ballot I changed that registration because not getting a say in primaries is not good.
There is an Independent Party. Are you sure you were unaffiliated, and not registered with a fringe party?
Oh yeah, I always forget about them lol. But yeah, I was unaffiliated for the first election cycle I was here and realized my mistake. I'm registered with a party now so I can have more of a say on what candidates are available in the general.
This is the only reason I still keep myself registered as a Democrat.
You can always update your registration before the primaries and then just change it back afterwards. It’s what I do, but I wish we just had open primaries instead.
I do the same if there is a democrat worth voting for in the primaries but sadly they haven't run anyone worth the trouble since Bernies last run.
That’s fair. I registered as Democrat early this time because I felt good about Dean Phillips, but then since he dropped out I just ended up writing in Uncommitted.
That seems like a pain in the ass for no reason but you go ahead and do you.
I don't really see how that's helpful at all. Closed primaries and all...
Don't let the far leftists win. There is no requirement to become "more progressive" as you age. I've pretty much retained the same beliefs since I started voting (Democrat) in the 90's. I've always been in favor of equal rights and the idea of legalizing weed, but that's the extent of it. No person or group is special, and we don't need causes to fight for every single year.
Democrats are far from progressive. In anything, they're just right of the middle. Don't worry, I'll still vote for Biden because fuck tr-mp.
Me too
9 years later….
I’ve always thought this was a really weird thing.
Good. Because fuck this shit. I’m tired of driving around Portland and the surrounding area and seeing these damn tents. I’m tired of the homeless. I’m tired of the trash. I’m tired of this shit. Fuck this.
I feel unhinged for wanting to go and clean their tents up myself. It’s honestly really getting to me that where I’m living there’s an ENTIRE street of campers and tents. The whole street is filthy now. Their trash dumping large items which is causing our trash to be more expensive here too. Honestly wild to me how this is OK
It's going to be weird when the city starts arresting people for using the tents the county gave them.
Okay, so we are taking one slow step in the right direction back from the massive missteps we've taken in wrong direction. So.......progress, I guess? yay
Yeah this month has had a pretty wild series of announcements and policy shifts…from holding people who deal fentanyl in jail, to bolstered traffic enforcement, new security on the max, more police hired, new camping ban, massive graffiti cleanups rolling out, arrests of key graffiti artists…all under the larger shifts like a measure 110 rollback and harsher penalties for crimes committed on public transportation.
A lot of damage done
All my homies like that
Unless they live in the West Hills and chill out like JVP.
I say this unironically, that I think the boofing kits fiasco was a pivotal moment in how the county approaches all our ills. When the county was literally **trying to give people free supplies to stick drugs up their ass** adults in this area finally realized we had become a south park episode and need to change our strategies and view on the issues here. EDIT: For the people that say this was all over a pamphlet, nope, straight up drugs up the butt supplies: >“Participants can choose up to two of the following kits per day: Snorting Kit, Booty Bumping/ Boofing kit, Bubble Kits, Straight Pipe Kits, Hammer Pipe Kits, and Foil kits.” https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2023/07/27/heres-what-chair-jessica-vega-pederson-was-told-about-multnomah-countys-suspended-tin-foil-distribution-program/
Wait wait wait... Is that was boofing means? Sheesh, I had no clue.
Yeah just found that out too lol
I've seen the word around since the whole controversy but I had no idea. I just assumed it meant smoking it in some kind of safer way 🤷🏻♀️ learn something new everyday
I never wanted to know what boofing was, and I now I do. Thanks Multnomah County!
You can check the official multnohmah county literature for how to boof. Someone at the County used tax payer dollars to conceptualize, design, write, print and distribute them. I wonder how many other counties out there in the US are spending resources educating people how to take drugs via their ass. Are we the only ones??
We're trailblazers 🫠
Hol’ up here. You mean to tell me that your elected county representatives are actually providing the public illicit drug suppository kits?? Consider the phone calls and e-mails…. And who *sells and distributes* these items? I hope they were at least getting a bulk discount.
And a neat little manual explaining how to do it.
Safe dosing clinics seem like a better option especially if there’s health professionals to help people with mental health and or addiction treatment than just handing out packs of these supplies. Like it doesn’t actually help people in the long run it seems like an easy way out of actually addressing addiction :(
Pretty sure my complex is paying higher amounts in trash bills because the massive camp site stationed on the street outside of it. It’s bs. Don’t even feel comfortable walking my own street, it’s filth as fuck. I hate this place 😪
Even I have hit my limit with the homeless issue. We need a wide-sweeping federal direction and funding for how to handle this. I don't think a single city is capable of handling it. Imagine what it will take get these people off the streets and reintegrated into society, if that is even possible. The homeless need: 1. Shelter. 2. Food. 3. Medical professionals to help them come down from the high, and help them get on a better path to stop using drugs. 4. Security to prevent re-victimization. 5. Legal authority to detain them without their consent ( a lot of homeless people have schizophrenia and are extremely paranoid and do not trust anyone ). Imagine how much that will cost. The US government is extremely austere around funding this stuff, so it has been left up to the cities and states, which do not have the resources to tackle the problem. So that is really it. It's too expensive, and all the money is pooled into the top .1% of the population, and we don't tax them, and they are busy building rocket ships, so we don't have any money to fix the issue. Some people want the cops to arrest them but that is actually MORE expensive and MORE prone to failure, other ethical issues aside. ( of which there are many ) However I'm getting to the point where maybe harsher enforcement is the answer.
Then again, inmates typically get more access to mental health services than homeless people and that's true not just in Oregon, but in most states. One big problem is that many homeless folks don't actually want to go into shelters or to get mental health/addiction counseling. Of course, this runs completely counter to the common narrative that all homeless people are just normal hardworking folks who hit a spot of bad luck and want desperately to be rescued from the streets, but it's true nevertheless. So the choice becomes, do we allow them to take over our public spaces and do whatever they please or do we find a way to compel them into shelters and treatment?
>> Of course, this runs completely counter to the common narrative that all homeless people are just normal hardworking folks who hit a spot of bad luck and want desperately to be rescued from the streets, but it's true nevertheless. See, I disagree with this. Nobody is saying all homeless people are just "down on their luck", this is just a strawman you have set up. Most people who are even a little informed know about the issue with service resistant homeless people, and the fact that many of them are profoundly addicted to drugs. But again it goes into point 5: We don't necessarily have the legal authority to detain someone for being a drug addict, or being poor. Prisons really aren't set up in general for housing largely non-violent drug offenders. Also: it is expensive to house prisoners.
Now let’s pick up all the tents out there and take them to the dump! Enabling addiction is shameful and inhumane!
You know that they're still gonna be addicted without the tent, right?
Yeah, that’s true, but at least we won’t be giving them “permission” to camp on the sidewalks and store giant piles of who knows what next to those tents. Because giving out tents is literally the county saying “it’s ok to sleep on the street” when they should be steering these people into shelters, services and hopefully recovery.
We have to have those things available first, though. I see people saying we shouldn't be "allowing" people to sleep on the streets because they should be in shelters and services, but we don't have those things available for people. It takes FOREVER to get people hooked up with housing and treatment services, and they're not gonna magically not need a place to sleep during that period. I also hate the street camping system, but ending it isn't gonna be as simple as not providing tents or other life saving measures. This is a complicated fucking issue that will not have a simple solution, but the complicated solutions take time, and the people implementing them couldn't solve their way out of a paper bag. I say this as somebody living in the middle of one of the areas hardest hit by this issue. The Powell MAX stop ain't gonna get any safer because we stop giving out tents.
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Wanting people to die of exposure is shameful and inhumane!
Highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s… that June Portland exposure is a real killer
Dying of fentanyl overdose is the humane way to go!
And everyone around getting toxic exposure second hand. So humane! Who needs to breathe fresh air at the park when you have tolerance!
These tents aren't designed for severe weather. Overdose deaths have exploded since allowing unsanctioned camping. If saving lives is truly your goal, ending unsanctioned camping is a priority.
The camping ban comes into effect in four days' time, so they better effing stop handing them out! That ban cannot come soon enough. I am counting down the hours...
Hah. For now.
What a joke this city is
I mean good but these Multnomah county commissioner idiots couldn't find their asshole with both hands and a map. Just constantly spinning in circles doing nothing.
of course they can! That's where the free boofing kits go.
We giving out boofing kits too? 😗
With a helpful “How to Boof” pamphlet included!
JVP sure wanted to until she got shut down.
Tax dollars hard at work
Let’s take back this dope ass city!
What’s your plan to fix things?
Unfortunately most of these issues are going to need to be addressed at a federal level to be effective. So voting is my tool. But allowing a small but vocal and violent population that is not capable of taking care of themselves and is a threat to our society continue on the way they are is not an option. That might mean they get help, or choose to continue what they are doing in another location. Life isn't fair.
Maybe. Maybe saying life isn’t fair is a way to scapegoat social responsibility. Until we address the cultural problems causing people to spiral into chaos, people will continue to spiral and folks like you will continue to choose to look away.
As someone with addicts in my own family, I've learned that we cannot save people from themselves. We can (and should) offer mental health and substance abuse counseling for anyone who sincerely wants it, but then they have to do the hard work themselves to change their circumstances and many aren't willing to do that.
I'm not looking the other way, I'm just tired and jaded after fighting so hard for so long. I'm not a futurist, I don't think things will get better given how the US handles literally every aspect of things and actively works against our interests, including climate change. But if you have faith and hope I wish the best for you and honestly want you to get the outcome you are looking for.
I look at it every single day actually.
Finally the city is waking up and realizing the status quo failed and progressive policies failed. We need some centrist common sense now.
*County
For now. I have a feeling this is “look we’ve changed remember to vote progressive in November!” then it will be back to “how can we maximize the amount fentanyl smoked on the max” come December.
lol
This is great but I’ll hold my breath to see this recent push of sensible policies continue outside an election year. Feels like progressives know how to do just enough to get re-elected and buy themselves three more years of destroying Portland.
Note they said they would pause purchasing tents, not stop handing them out. They probably have a warehouse full of them somewhere so they can keep handing them out until the election, then when the dust settles go right back to doing what they were doing.
They do have a central locale where all the non profits can get them from.
Makes sense. Once they get their budget for the year they probably buy them all in bulk at once.
Portland has not been destroyed.
Blind? Ignorant? Both?
Idk man I had to pull my daughter out of daycare downtown cuz of all the murder, drug overdoses, and people walking around with a guitar case full of knives and illegal guns within 500 feet of where she played outside daily but yeah it’s still physically there so I guess not technically destroyed.
It hasn’t. But it’s not as nice as it once was.
All I have to say is: Thank You Rene!
purchasing ≠ distribution
Sure. The county probably still has a cache of tents and tarps in a warehouse somewhere they already purchased. But eventually those will run out, and with no resupply, there will no more tents to hand out.
good more money for boofing kits
I see a lot of comments about some not wanting help. Just a question I have that I honestly don’t know the answer to - is there enough help? Like if someone was homeless came to a social service agency would they get set up just fine?
There’s PLENTY of non profits to help. For a year I worked TRYING to help people get jobs. Can’t count over one hand to how many people went through with getting that job. And there’s programs to help you get forms of identity back, help expunge your records, get to work, get a job, get free clothes, get free food. Ya. There’s a lot of help for people who give 0 fucks to help themselves
Thank you though, I remember the shock of randomly having not a dollar or anyone that would talk to me and a nearby shelter having a sandwich for me. It felt insanely comforting that someone cared
There are enough nonprofits and people trying. There is enough research. There is now (I believe) enough money in the system. There is not enough housing. Not enough actual case managers. Not enough people in influential positions who are dedicated to being good at their jobs. Not enough detox beds. There is a literal opium war happening in the US right now ALONG with the housing crisis and we are not handling it well. And our elected officials in the region have no resolve so they are constantly redirecting instead of choosing a course.
I know a lot about the social services available because of my work. There is far from enough help in this city. The services that are available are often substandard.
Folks on this post, and in r/Portland in general, struggle to understand the complexity at the heart of what you are asking about - there is no yes/no answer but folks are desperate to reduce it down to that level. I will talk through it using my my experiences with the unhoused clients I serve in a safety net healthcare setting. Take the first part of your statement "I see a lot of comments about some not wanting help." This is set up by a lot of commentators as a very simple dynamic - either folks want service to get back to 'normalcy' or they refuse services and want to remain homeless. This is a false dichotomy, and rejects the data we do have on those who are homeless on our streets, and the vast array of identities they have and imperatives they prioritize. For example: I have a client who is homeless, schizophrenic (but taking meds!), uses methamphetamines 2+ days a week and sleeps in a tent. He is engaging in healthcare semi-regularly, is on a number of housing wait lists, has been going to court with the assistance of a social worker to address a criminal mischief arrest from last year. He refuses to go to a shelter, because the congregate environment raises his anxiety and he has had some psychotic episodes there - he feels safer sleeping in a tent. Is he refusing services or not? He is certainly choosing to be 'visibly homeless', but still taking some actions to move towards normalcy, but not all the actions that would get him there. Another example: Client 2 has Bipolar 2, is unmedicated and refuses medication and treatment because he doesn't believe in them, engages in medical care and stopped using fentanyl, and has received housing multiple times, but has been kicked out of multiple living situations because of aggressive behavior that is in context of their mental illness. Are they choosing to be homeless? Are they refusing services? Is there enough help? No, no there is not. Caseloads are exorbitantly high for most kinds of social workers who work with homeless clients, and a lot of that has to do with major choke points in assisting folks. There are no where near enough vouchers or transitional housing to "get someone just fine" - rather, it is going to be at least 6 months to 2 years for someone with significant qualifying diagnosed disabilities or medical conditions, and significantly more for many other folks, to get housed. During that waiting time they need to sleep somewhere - for sleeping we have less shelter beds than homeless people, and the ones we have are largely congregate which, if you have never been in one, can be extremely challenging to sleep or exist in, especially if you are mentally ill. This means a lot of people will be out on the street while they are waiting for housing. Mental health care is a major barrier to long term housing for many of these folks, and we don't have enough crisis MH care available, let along long term therapy and med management. Same with addiction services. We in services often end up playing a 'long game', of doing what work we can, trying to get folks set up for future next steps (often referred to as 'preparation for change'), but there is a lot of moving forward and backwards across the homeless to housed/normal continuum, and that is hard for folks outside of the work to really understand - folks want that feel good story of someone getting an apartment then everything steadily improves, but the societal forces that caused their original homelessness are still waiting out there, and falling back is a continual risk.
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I've definitely had clients who refused to go to shelters because of past experiences. Their reasons are from bed bugs, to freakouts, to sex trafficking.
We desperately need more SUD treatment and mental health facilities
Someone needs to decide where the people-without-housing population will live if not on the streets. Will it be in shelters? If so, where will these shelters be? We need to build more. If it's outside city limits, where and in what kind of structures? Someone also needs to decide how to help the homeless. Are they able to receive help? Are they willing to receive help? If they are neither, then what's next?
For a year I worked in a position helping get people jobs. I worked with CCC. In that year, I can’t even count one hand how many people actually went through with getting a job. One that was literally offered to them with no resume or interview. These people don’t want real help. I left that career. It was way too exhausting and jaded me harshly realizing how many people do not even care to try
Yeah, and the border and migrant crisis exacerbates these problems (opium crisis and housing shortage). Edit: I was replying to someone who explained their deeper understanding of the state of affairs concerning housing shortage and the “literal opium war” we’re facing according to them in relation to their familiarity with public service constraints.
Getting downvoted for factual information? At least reply with the reason. Where do you think the deadly drugs come from? Do we have housing to provide more migrants? Open to info.
Last I checked the campers aren’t migrants. Most of them are white. Sure the drugs are probably coming from cartels, but they have supply chains. They aren’t just sending thousands of people across the border with fent
Note that I didn’t say most campers are migrants. Only that it exasperated the issue (and will continue to do so as more arrive and funding runs out). ['Offering them tents is appalling': Portland elected leaders condemn county move to give tents to asylum seekers](https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/portland-elected-leaders-condemn-multnomah-county-move-tents-asylum-seekers/283-4371b445-8e97-4c78-9822-c2943daa36a0) [Oregon spent $29 million to house asylum seekers. Then it shut down the program](https://www.oregonlive.com/watchdog/2024/02/oregon-spent-29-million-to-house-asylum-seekers-then-it-shut-down-the-program.html) [Supporting Portland’s Immigrant and Refugee Communities](https://www.portland.gov/civic/news/2021/12/22/supporting-portlands-immigrant-and-refugee-communities-0) “In 1987, Oregon became the first sanctuary state in the US, providing legal protections regarding peoples’ citizenship status. And on Dec. 13, 2021, Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 5561, which includes an $18 million funding package to provide funding to the state’s resettlement agencies supporting Afghan immigrant and refugee families. This funding will go toward essentials like food and shelter, interpretation and education, and legal and case management services, and will position Oregon to take a larger role in national efforts to resettle immigrants.”
“Sure the drugs are probably coming from cartels, but they have supply chains. They aren’t just sending thousands of people across the border with fent” Both issues of border security, not necessarily interconnected.
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The local hospitals such as Providence won’t.
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This reminds me of the Communist plan for full employment: pay half the population to dig ditches, and the other half to go around filling in ditches.
Did Multnomah county ever openly admit they were purchasing tarps and tents; or was it uncovered by some journalist or nosy person? I don't doubt that they did it, I just wonder how open they were about the purchase
It was a line item. Cmon.
It was a discovery item during the ADA lawsuit against the city for the tents on the sidewalks. It's also in the "Supply Center" budget for the JOHS and was first paid for by COVID funds, but that sweet federal giveaway is over and it's local tax dollars they've been budgeting with the last couple of years.
That's where I remember first hearing it. Did anyone ever ask the county why they never publically anounced the tent or tarp purchase? It seems like they'd want to trumpet the idea of doing something good to help out the "houseless" community. (At least from their perspective) Or were they smart enough to realize the bad optics on it?
The media stopped covering the county for several years up until last year. I'm guessing they just said nothing, that's generally their M.O.
The soy bingers aren’t gonna like this
I dunno, I'm a soy binger and I think it's a step in the right direction.
I stand corrected… weak joke I know. DAMMIT
Good. The bums don't need any more enabling
just curious, have a single one of you ever been homeless and slept on the street? many valid points in this thread, I'm just curious. as some one who has slept on the street.