I was just reading about a homeless camp cleanup

[captain queeg]

I used to live in Portland. I know a lot of cities have large homeless populations, it sure seemed that Portland has more than its share. I guess because they generally are more tolerant than a lot of cities. At least I think so. When I lived in the city I was in an area without much green space so I didn’t see a lot of tents. But anywhere there is a grassy section of publicly owned land of any size tents will pop up. I’m not sure where they slept in my area. Anyway, I think the rule there is still people are allowed to set up camp for up to 10 days on public land. They are usually tolerated far longer. There’s also an abundance of campers and RVs on side streets. I really don’t have much problem with it, other than the trash that always seems to build up. Some camps have dumpsters and portapotties. That seems like a very good idea. But I certainly understand home owners not liking having a camp nearby.

I really have no solutions. But I was just reading about a camp cleanup where they interviewed a guy who was being displaced. He wasn’t to old and operated a bike repair out of the camp where he had several tents or shacks. He’d been in that camp for 10 months and had no desire to move to a shelter or temporary housing. I was a bit surprised. I assumed most people who lived in camps aspired to move into something better, though when I was young I hitch hiked around the country and reveled in living out of a back pack. I can’t imagine wanting to do that when older or had any kind of family. Rents in the area are very high. I’m sure that plays into it. I have a friend who was homeless for a couple years, him and his wife were drug addicts and I think that’s common. I just wish there was something that could be done but it also requires individuals to make an effort on their own behalf.

[3Hotdogs]

1. There is a woman I know. Not a friend or anything. She was homeless and made money selling drawings.

She made a friend who has $$$ money and took the woman into her apartment. The deal is, she cleans the apartment in exchange for a place to stay. But the homeless woman doesn't want to be inside anywhere, just wants to be safe from physical attack. We can understand that.

So, she agreed to stay only if she could pitch her tent on the patio. The last I heard, the neighbors were unhappy with the tent on the patio so there was pressure to remove her from the patio. This is N.Y.C. and the patio is 8 floors up.

I haven't seen either woman since Covid so I don't know the present situation.




I have no conclusions to make about this. Just posting about it.

[underpants]

2. A whole other world all around us.

Mark Holmberg was a reporter for the Times-Dispatch who won a Pulitzer (I’m pretty sure) for his reporting on homelessness here. He spent 10 months amongst the homeless back in the early 90’s. This is city guy who knows every square inch of Richmond. He’s turned not Trumpy but old and grumpy since he retired. It was a very interesting insight into that world.

Having worked around the social services world I can tell you that the unspoken truth is that the counties tell the homeless to move into the city. Easier access to services (at the city’s expense) and out of the county’s hair. Cities and counties are separate in Virginia.

Last point - the homeless are families and they do work. Someone posted here a long time ago a list of what homeless people need. Pens, paper, socks, tampons - the list was amazing in the everyday things we take for granted. The pens and paper are for job searching. Google found that they had a guy who worked there living in a pickup bed camper in their parking lot. Being google they immediately set up a plan to allow this to happen (while lessening their liability) and they found a lot of their employees making “good money” were living in the parking lot or in very elaborate tent cities in the woods nearby. They couldn’t afford housing in anywhere near their work.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. We had that problem here in STLMO where the homeless were picked up outside the city limits,

and then driven to STLMO and dumped off. I wouldn't be surprised that it still happens. Heaven forbid that La La Rich Suburb town next to STLMO get any sizable homeless population.

I do get mad at these outlying cities/suburbs making fun of the city, dumping thier problems literally on our doorsteps, w/o trying to help solve/resolve the problem instead of dumping them here.

[underpants]

6. St. Louis I believe is one of the three independent cities outside of Virginia

St. Louis
Baltimore
Carson City NV

38 cities in Virginia separate from the 95 counties.

[Luz]

3. I live in my van by choice. I'm retired with very little income.

I have everything I need, and it allows me to travel wherever I want. To be honest, i have no desires to live in a "normal" home.

Being houseless doesn't mean homeless.

[Yandex]

12. How do you get electricity and such?

Store food? Bathroom? Heat? Cooling? Security?

[BlackSkimmer]

13. Yeah, the bathroom thing would be paramount for me.

Lived in a tent once for months in the Florida Keys. I was young then.

[Luz]

14. Food is stored in a box pantry and small fridge using my

solar panels. I have a small coleman stove for cooking, and a small chem toilet for...that. I can run a small heater if needed, otherwise I stay south of I-10 in winter, and go north in summer.
I have a dog for security, and can move anytime i need to.
I took a year preparing for this and knew what I was getting into.

Would not trade my tiny traveling home for anything.

[Luz]

15. Food is stored in a box pantry and small fridge using my

solar panels. I have a small coleman stove for cooking, and a small chem toilet for...that. I can run a small heater if needed, otherwise I stay south of I-10 in winter, and go north in summer.
I have a dog for security, and can move anytime i need to.
I took a year preparing for this and knew what I was getting into.

Would not trade my tiny traveling home for anything.

[milestogo]

4. One of my neighbors manages a shelter for women.

She told me that its a totally different mindset. Some people just cannot function indoors, or cannot deal with other people. There are times when someone is brought to the shelter, and there is room for them but they just walk away.

We had a homeless camp in a city park for about 6 months last year. It was close to resources, and highly visible. And it kept growing so it looked like a messy campground. It was also close to an area where children played sports and close to a residential area. The more the camp grew the more the neighborhood complained. And yes, there was drug selling and drug use. The police were called constantly.

About 30 "tiny houses" were built elsewhere in the city, and people were moved into those gradually. There was a vacant hotel property owned by the city nearby so they took about the same number.

Everyone was moved out by early December. Whoever cleaned up the park did an amazing job. It looks like a park again.

Whenever I drove by in cold or rainy weather I would imagine what it was like to be living in a tent in the park. I don't think I would last very long. Its 10 degrees today, and people living outside would not last very long.

[MissB]

7. It was more of a bike chop shop than a bike shop

He didn’t ask questions about where the bikes were coming from.

Sounds like he is on a list for some help from the VA.

Portlanders are losing their patience. The city is building some small villages for homeless folks, but not that quickly.

[captain queeg]

9. I lived in the Park blocks I guess it's called, just in an apartment

I never saw any tents around there but I know there were homeless in the area. There was a Starbucks right down the road from me with a tiny park across the street, maybe 30 x 30 ft with a couple benches. Sometimes I’d stop for an early morning coffee and they seemed to come out of the woodwork, and gather over there. They weren’t sleeping there. At night they’d be in building entrances sleeping. A pretty rough way to go, sleeping on concrete. Anyway, I noticed people who lived around there hated them. I certainly thought it was better than a bunch of tents going up. I got panhandled once in awhile and my car sort of ransacked. Really I think someone had slept in it. I guess I’m generally more compassionate but I could see if you were a homeowner or had kids you wouldn’t appreciate them around. And I know some areas they are pretty obnoxious. When you get a big homeless camp it only takes a few percent to ruin i for everyone.

[MissB]

10. homeless are everywhere right now.

Remember being on the Eastside traveling south down MLK and taking the Hawthorne Bridge on-ramp? Tents everywhere. Actually, lots of tents all along MLK and every bridge on-ramp.

I-84 inbound from the airport to I-5? Homeless encampments all along.

Hawthorne blvd around 30th? Spilling onto the sidewalk. All over downtown. Tents every.where. Its... a lot.

BTW, not entirely disconnected from some of the homeless is our current stolen car extravaganza. Something like 1100 cars a month from the metro area get stolen. There are more encampments out along Columbia blvd and pretty much... everywhere. Random cars/trucks/burnt out along Delta Park. Ruined the use of the park completely.

I'm not against homeless folks. I voted for a tax increase that will definitely hit me, to help the homeless. It's just so very much right now. It's like they forgot that there is a bit of a social contract to not litter every square inch of space they occupy. The city provides garbage and portable toilets in some places, but debris is just everywhere.

I live on the edge of Pdx so I don't see the homeless unless I'm driving around the City.

[captain queeg]

11. I used to work right across from Holliday Park (aka Prescrition Park)

I never saw tents there, but there was a little strip shaped like a triangle netween 84 and the W blound exit, not more than 10 ft at the widest and it had several tents. I don’t think they are allowed to camp in the park. I was walking to my car one afternoon and a woman in front of me on the sidewalk stopped and pulled down her pants a crapped right in the middle of the sidewalk. I wish there were public toilet facilities, but I’ve heard they always get trashed.

My kid used to play sports at Delta Park so I know about that. They took down a couple camps just south of there recently, probably some new ones by now.

I moved to Vancouver and am now retired so I don’t see it as much nowadays. But they are springing up here too.

I know about the car theft problem. I have a Honda Civic which I guess is the most stolen model so I’m glad I don’t live in Portland anymore. When my son starting driving I bought him a used Subaru with a manual transmission. I guess manuals don’t get stolen as much because most people don’t know how to drive them nowadays. There’s a lot bad going on in Portland and I hate to say it but it’s lost a lot of desirability lately including excessive prices for housing.

[haele]

8. Most homeless hate the shelters -

And "transitional" or temporary housing is usually just a respite with rules, especially if local rent and housing prices are one of the primary reasons a person or family is homeless to begin with. The other reasons may be associated with mental health or personality issues - or just bad luck - but being unable to make rent and utilities on your household income is the primary reason one becomes homeless.
Housing has to be affordable - as in maybe a quarter of monthly expense - to those on SSI or working within the minimum wage range - and there just isn't enough of that sort of housing around.
Lots of homeless would rather just take their chances in the rough than put up with the condensention and hoops they have to go through for a promise of "help" that might not actually materialize.
As a society, the US likes to throw losers away. There is also an acceptance of ensuring there's always going to be some group to look down on.
Haele