There aren’t enough resources, at least not yet. The Portland metro area passed a levy in 2020 that is collecting hundreds of millions of dollars per year to fund services for homeless people. This includes build outs of various types of short term housing, preventative measures like rent assistance, and mental health services. There are resources and people do get out of homelessness.
There are also related efforts like just building more affordable housing, such as the large hollywoodHub project near a light rail station. A stabilization of housing prices should help people avoid becoming homeless to begin with. Just avoiding homelessness can be huge because a period of homelessness can a lasting impact. For example, one person in an article was discussing developing an addiction to sleep medication that she was using because sleeping in a tent is absurdly stressful.
My beef isn’t with someone where they tried and the system failed them. My beef is when the system is actively trying to help them, like when there are people specifically for helping them access housing and services, and they refuse help. It’s the whole “your fist ends where my nose begins” principle, having freedoms doesn’t mean being an unlimited license to acquire common spaces that people need to use.
My beef isn’t with someone where they tried and the system failed them. My beef is when the system is actively trying to help them, like when there are people specifically for helping them access housing and services, and they refuse help
And in your mind, this is the majority of the homeless people in Portland?
