this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2023
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Good.
There needs to be real solutions. Forced rehab, and publicly owned housing, and nobody from the city to the state to the federal level are talking about those things.
We need the equivalent of a GI Bill to entice people to become healthcare workers that will have to deal with basically some of the worst elements of human society - and anyone arguing that point has probably never had an addict for a sibling or parent. Addicts need love, but some addicts are hard to spend any time around. Alcohol and meth top that hard-to-be-around category.
Do all of those things exist in Portland? Or are they just making homelessness illegal with no avenues of escape.
Last I checked they aren't making homelessness illegal. They are banning camping during the day, which unfortunately is needed because campsites quickly become biohazards. Source: had disgusting, expanding camp in front of my house for 25 months - including 2 deaths, 2 ODs, 5 stolen cars, a bunch of recovered stolen property and 2 DV incidents where I thought one woman was being murdered.
No one is saying homeless camps are good. Making it illegal to camp during the day means homeless people need to pack up everything they own every day and carry it around, or be arrested. It does absolutely nothing to solve the problems that create homeless people and only makes their lives more difficult.
If they don't move for weeks, months or years, it turns into a biohazard, period. People that live here are tired of it and I'm not waiting for the mythical public housing and wraparound services to exist before I say start the sweeps. Sorry not sorry.
If you're tired of it then advocate for actual solutions. How fucking gutless do you have to be to condone shit like this because you feel icky being around homeless people.
Tell me how that advocacy had worked out for you., and how many hours of day you spend doing that work.
Edit: oh yeah, crickets
You're right, and it sucks, but so do ever-expanding homeless encampments. If you actually visit Portland you'll be like 😬. It's one thing to discuss it in theory, but something entirely different to experience it and have to live around it. I'm empathetic towards homeless people and have been homeless myself before. It's an absolutely awful situation to be in, especially as an adult without a support network. But there's an endurance limit for a city, and Portland is well beyond that limit.
Dude I live like 5 mins from downtown east side Vancouver, aka the area world famous for it's homeless and drug addiction crisis. Yeah no shit it sucks to be around people like that, that has absolutely nothing to do with what we're talking about.
Making homelessness illegal does not solve homelessness, it scatters the problem. Vancouver's new mayor did a street sweep and wow wouldn't you know it, homeless people are still homeless, they're just more spread out now. You say you're empathetic towards them but you're advocating for a "solution" that solves absolutely nothing.
Stop doing mental gymastics to rationalize these ridiculous tactics.
Can't believe you got down voted for common sense
Is forced rehab a thing? Can you rehab someone who isn't willing? Genuine question.
Unfortunately no, which is why most of them end up spiralling out of control and committing suicide or ending up on the street.