Governor Abbott's Tent City

xtsho said:

If you're up in the Seattle area then you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Some seem to think these people are just down on their luck or out on the streets because of high rent. Some may be but the vast majority living in these filthy camps are hard core drug users. They're homeless by choice.

Some seem to think that all you need to do is give them access to affordable housing. You have to want to work and earn a paycheck to afford anything. The only thing these people spend their money on is more drugs.

Some seem to think that if we have more programs and more treatment that these people will get off drugs. They won't.

Some seem to think these people can be saved. Most can't because there is nothing left. Their brains are cooked to the point of no return. I posted that video of the lady that was injecting xylazine that had already had her leg amputated and her arm was half rotten and likely to be amputated. Yet she's still injecting xylezine. If you're body is rotting from within and your limbs are being chopped off because of your drug use and yet you still continue to use there is nothing anyone can do to help them. Treatment won't help. Housing won't help. The only thing that can save them is to lock them away and keep them from the drugs. That's not going to happen so they're just going to waste away and die on the streets. That's reality.

Some think there is some program, some treatment, spend more money, etc... and the end result is rainbows and unicorns. That's a pipe dream and is never going to happen. The only thing that will solve the issue is to get these nasty drugs off the streets. Instead here in Oregon they decriminalized their use. Even now though there are efforts to repeal that ridiculous law. Many of those that voted for it are now against it after they've seen the complete failure of the law and the exorbitant amount of money that has been spent on treatment without any meaningful success.

Some are completely naive to the effects of the drugs these people are using today. This isn't 1980's Peruvian cocaine. They are not Keith Richards that can get the good clean heroin. These people are buying and injecting cocktails of very potent synthetic drugs off the streets without a clue as to what's in them.

Someone mentioned ketamine is used to help treat mental illness and that is true. But that treatment is done under medical supervision in much smaller doses and monitored. These people are injecting high doses of it multiple times a day and it has a much different effect than when it's administered in a clinical setting by trained medical professionals.

Anyway, some just don't understand and never will.

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idk man, coming from Detroit area I can say the model of rounding them up and tossing them in prison doesn't work in the long run either.

I think some kind of enormous city sized methadone clinic would go a long way into fixing the nation's long-term homelessness problems, but then you get into the 'Not in my back yard' arguments.

xtsho said:

I never said they are there to party and define "Party". When I think of partying I think of having a good time with friends as I suspect most do. I see nothing related to having a good time the way the hundreds of homeless meth, fentanyl, etc... drug users I see just driving a few miles from my house. The homeless camps around here are filled with drug addicted criminals and piles of trash, stolen bikes, stolen cars, and anything that isn't bolted down.

It doesn't matter if anyone agrees with my opinion but I can guarantee that if you come to Portland Oregon and ask normal people trying to go about their daily lives that a vast majority feel exactly the way I do. If you don't have hundreds of homeless camps scattered across the city that you live in then you really can't understand anything other than some talking points you've read somewhere that were written by homeless advocates.

They've spent close to $500 million dollars in the last decade here on the homeless problem. That's half a billion dollars with nothing to show for it.

And another thing, these homeless advocates have an incentive to make the public think that these are just down on their luck people displaced by rising rents. Those peoples income relies on the homeless. They make large salaries running organizations that are focused on helping the homeless. Much of that money is siphoned off to enrich the well connected. For example, they give tax breaks to developers to include a percentage of homeless units in their developments. The problem with that is that they only have to offer those low rent units for X amount of years. After that they can charge market rate so they kick out the low income tenants and charge market rate.

The publicly funded housing is also a joke. They'll build a low income housing complex and by the time they're done a small studio apartment costs more than building a 3 bedroom house because the developers with connections charge insane rates but yet those contracts are approved. The amount of grift going on is unbelievable.

It's easy to think you know what you're talking about but unless you see it every day you don't really. Apparently many seem to think that these are just normal people living in tents. They are not. Normal people don't have piles of stolen bikes, piles of trash, stolen cars, used hypodermic needles, etc... surrounding them.

I have camps like this just down the street from my house. You can see the young males more than able to work but choose not to and instead live a life on the street stealing and doing drugs by choice.

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Homeless camp chop shop. It looks like they've even got a stolen boat. Those vehicles are also going to be stolen. They just took over some vacant property. It's just a few miles from where I live.

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I-205 camp. Notice all the trash scattered around. These thing don't care. Max tracks to the left and a trail in the middle of the photo that goes all the way to the Glenn Jackson bridge and continues into Vancouver WA on the other side of the Columbia river. It used to be a nice green space until the drugged out homeless moved in. Now most people are afraid to use it even though they paid for it with their taxes.

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Longtime Portland company says it's losing customers due to large homeless camp - KGW.com - Oregon News

The Impact Reduction Team has assessed this property seven times in the last 60 days. Each time it is scored well above the matrix required for removal.

localtoday.news

‘It’s scary’: North Portland families sell their homes to escape homeless camps, crime

Homeless camps along the Peninsula Crossing Trail have prompted some nearby families to sell their homes.

www.kgw.com

Fed-up Portland homeowners are selling up as homeless set up camps

Residents of once picturesque neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon are now selling their homes to escape the worsening homeless crisis as more encampments pop up on the sidewalks.

www.dailymail.co.uk

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I don't disagree with everything you have to say on the subject, and will be the first to say that where I live, I dont see it so I'm ignorant when it comes to the massive scale of homelessness and all the issues it brings. I've seen plenty posts from you on the subject and imo, you're a bit harsh. Probably because unlike me, you live in it, and have become a bit jaded. Which is understandable. You ever stopped and asked someone in one of those camps how they ended up there? I'd genuinely be interested in some of the answers you got.

The homeless problem will never go away until people who shouldn't have kids, stop having kids. I'm a believer that most mental illnesses start from a young age, due to shitty parents , or none at all.

Ketamine is no joke. I remember the last time I took a little bump, I got stuck in the hole before I could get into the party, talking to the ceiling of my car for three hours. Had a whole on conversation about life with the reflection in my t-tops.

Last time I seen it (definitely don't go looking these days), was a few years ago, after the paramedics arrived to shoot it up in my bro, who just double compound fractured his leg on his new motorcycle track jump. He started laughing and joking around with all the firefighters, EMTs, cops, and I don't even remember how many different kinds of people and vehicles showed up, as he got hauled away on a stretcher.

It was getting dark, and they even accidentally left the liquid ketamine syringe laying in a pile by some gloves, that I found the next day ( along with some other wrappers that I crushed up and put in the trash).

I'm guessing they use it a lot for trauma type emergencies, not just on animals.

natureboygrower said:

I don't disagree with everything you have to say on the subject, and will be the first to say that where I live, I dont see it so I'm ignorant when it comes to the massive scale of homelessness and all the issues it brings. I've seen plenty posts from you on the subject and imo, you're a bit harsh. Probably because unlike me, you live in it, and have become a bit jaded. Which is understandable. You ever stopped and asked someone in one of those camps how they ended up there? I'd genuinely be interested in some of the answers you got.

The homeless problem will never go away until people who shouldn't have kids, stop having kids. I'm a believer that most mental illnesses start from a young age, due to shitty parents , or none at all.

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Am I harsh? Yes I am. Just like the other 650,000 people that live in Portland are sick of it. Well everyone except the homeless living in the filthy rat infested camps spread across the city. An it's not just the 650,000 people living in Portland it's the 2.5 million that live in the Portland metropolitan area where the camps have spread to as well. We shouldn't have to drive down the road and see some dude with his dong hanging out taking a leak in the street next to his tent or the guy taking a dump in the middle of the sidewalk right in the middle of downtown Portland.

People say you should be compassionate. Well where's the compassion for the hard working people that live here trying to raise a family and live a decent life? People can't take their kids to the park, you can't leave things on your front porch, you hear a noise on the side of your house in the middle of the night and have to run off some methed out freak digging through your recycle bin for cans. This isn't when it's been put into the street for pickup. They come right up into your yard to dig through it.

It seems that some want to take the side of these drug fiends and make tax paying people that worked for everything they have out to be the bad guys. That's pure bovine dung. We're the good guys that made this city great only to watch these things destroy it. Ten years ago Portland was a worldwide destination for tourists. Now rock bands skip it on their tours. Nobody wants to come here, businesses are leaving in droves. Starbucks is closing locations because they can't keep their employees safe when there are psycho drug fiends shooting up in their restrooms. The damn commercial vacancy rate is 26%. That is a crazy high number. Between the druggies and the idiots protesters that burned and looted for months Portland went from being a gem to a pile of shit. I don't see how I could be anything but harsh.

As for talking to them, yes I have. I've talked to them when I told them to pack their crap up and get the hell out from in front of my house. I've talked to them when I've gone into the store for a six pack of beer only to come out to find some freak harassing my lady asking for money and I had to run them off, I've talked to them when they've tried to panhandle from me and then get aggressive when I tell them I don't have any change, I've talked to them when I've seen them trying to break into cars in parking lots, I've talked to them a lot. I'm sick of talking to them and I'm sick of seeing them smoking meth and shooting up in public. I'm sick of them trying to assault children on their way to school. I'm sick of looking at the piles of trash they leave wherever they go. I'm sick of them and I'm not alone. I'm in the majority not the minorityposters trying to defend this crap or make excuses for these fools.

natureboygrower said:

I don't disagree with everything you have to say on the subject, and will be the first to say that where I live, I dont see it so I'm ignorant when it comes to the massive scale of homelessness and all the issues it brings. I've seen plenty posts from you on the subject and imo, you're a bit harsh. Probably because unlike me, you live in it, and have become a bit jaded. Which is understandable. You ever stopped and asked someone in one of those camps how they ended up there? I'd genuinely be interested in some of the answers you got.

The homeless problem will never go away until people who shouldn't have kids, stop having kids. I'm a believer that most mental illnesses start from a young age, due to shitty parents , or none at all.

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he just doesnt like unhoused people, and uses the same ole excuses which have no founded background on.
its always the same,

I personally volunteer here in many of the grass roots organizations for our unhoused Tent city here where I live. and there are some Really great grass root people in Seattle area as well.

You wont find anyone changing their tune when they believe that only people who are sober deserve housing, shelter and medical care.

Just loss of compassion. and humanity, really.

sunni said:

he just doesnt like unhoused people, and uses the same ole excuses which have no founded background on.
its always the same,

I personally volunteer here in many of the grass roots organizations for our unhoused Tent city here where I live. and there are some Really great grass root people in Seattle area as well.

You wont find anyone changing their tune when they believe that only people who are sober deserve housing, shelter and medical care.

Just loss of compassion. and humanity, really.

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I wanted to like your post, but the first paragraph in which you have decided on your own how someone else feels about an issue, which they themselves have not attested to in such a way, prohibits me from clicking the like button.

PJ Diaz said:

I wanted to like your post, but the first paragraph in which you have decided on your own how someone else feels about an issue, which they themselves have not attested to in such a way, prohibits me from clicking the like button.

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i dont care you dont dont have to like anything im just going by what they wrote his words speak for themselves.

As someone with extended family that has been - still is? no longer have contact with them due to drug use and other issues - homeless, I feel compelled to chime in here.
Someone above stated someone else 'just doesn't like unhoused people,' and I must say - neither do I.
Why? Regardless of the circumstances that brought them to that situation, the same problems tend to follow them.
In San Diego local government has pushed homeless out of the downtown area into the surrounding suburbs; given the abundance of unbuildable open space, unattended campfires are a real concern.
Even those unaffected by drugs or mental illness can still be problematic; I would probably care less if you slept in your car in my neighborhood - or anywhere for that matter - if you didn't throw your trash out the window on to the curb, or used the bushes as your personal toilet.

Our country could solve the homeless problem, but - to paraphrase Colonel Kurtz - we lack the will.
The consensus seems that the homeless could be broken down into a few groups: those with mental health issues, those with drug issues, those with both, and those that are legitimately down on their luck (homeless, but employed) and want assistance - and are willing to put in the effort.

If you're homeless with mental health issues (with/without drugs), living on the street doesn't help anyone; these people need to be domiciled somewhere where their health needs to can be met. If they need long-term, continuous care I'm all for tax dollars paying for it - but it needs to be productive. Do I think a potentially dangerous homeless schizophrenic should be housed against their will? Absolutely. If you do not, I'm sure we'd all like to hear your rational.

If you're homeless with drug issues, living in the streets doesn't help anyone; whether or not it directly leads to mental health issues I'll let others debate, but hopefully we can agree that a hard-core heroine/meth user isn't someone any of us would like camped out on the sidewalk in front of our home - and if you don't have an issue with that, I'd very much like to hear your rational (and ask if you have one currently?). These people need to be domiciled as well. If you're homeless, jobless, and a steady drug user I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that maybe you're also involved with criminal activity - which, again, doesn't benefit anyone and is something I don't think any of want in our neighborhood. Do I think a homeless meth addict should be housed against their will? Absolutely.

If you're homeless without these issues - regardless of whether you have employment - you should be given an opportunity to improve your situation, as it not only benefits you but also society. That said, beggars can't be choosers - and, in my opinion, if you're making use of tax funds to improve your station, there may be some stings attached. And while these folks may not be a danger, it benefit everyone to ensure they're domiciled (I don't think anyone wants to sleep in a Civic, and I'm tired of finding trash on the curb).

This country has an abundance of open land, though - unfortunately - it may not be near the coast or have the best weather. A development consisting of dormitories, medical services, educational services, entertainment (though probably no bars/clubs), etc. could be established. Those with mental health issues would have a safe, contained place in which to get better - access to doctors and medication, and someone to ensure they adhere to treatment. Those with drug issues would have a similar place in which to get clean. The 'working homeless' - or whatever term you like - could have a permanent, safe place in which to get back on their feet. Employment within the development - for those without drug/health issues, but no job - could be had (maintenance or landscape services, administration, perhaps working in the dorm cafeteria) - with the goal of eventually moving to permanent housing in a conventional neighborhood. Those with drug issues, once clean, could be employed in similar fashion - also with the goal of permanent housing/employment on the outside. Those with mental health issues, once better, could embark on a similar journey.

Let's be honest, no one wants a filthy tweaker taking a shit on the curb or leaving needles in the school playground; likewise, I'm sure we're in agreement that these people need help. If you're unable to be a productive, contributing, and SAFE member of society, perhaps society isn't the place for you at this time. What is outlined above could serve as a roadmap to a better life for some, and a significant improvement for many others.

I don't have a problem with helping people in need, but there needs to be results; I've long stated I have no problem with tax funds going to EBT as long as it cannot be used for soda/junk food... I don't want to pay for crap food if it means I'll be paying - through medicare/etc. - for your related health issues later on.

sunni said:

i dont care you dont dont have to like anything im just going by what they wrote his words speak for themselves.

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Weird, because as I read his words, he doesn't like drug addicts who are homeless, but you somehow extended his dislike to ALL homeless people.

sunni said:

i dont care you dont dont have to like anything im just going by what they wrote his words speak for themselves.

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My words do speak for themselves. I don't like the homeless drug users that have turned the city where I live into a garbage dump. There are plenty of homeless people that have taken advantage of the resources provided by state, county, and city. Not to mention all of the non-profits and churches. There are different types of homeless. There are those that use the resources available to them as an opportunity to get back on their feet and improve their living situation. Then there are the drug users in the very filthy camps that do nothing but stay high 24/7 that will not use those resources and instead choose to spend their days stealing and doing drugs.

There are homeless that are trying to get off the streets and there are homeless that choose to live on the streets. Many are young able bodied individuals without any physical issues that prevent them from working. They choose not to work and do drugs instead. The unemployment rate in Portland/Multnomah county is 3.5%. There are plenty of jobs. They don't want any assistance or a bed in a shelter because they do not want to follow the reasonable rules that are imposed such as no alcohol or drugs, having to be in by a certain hour unless your work schedule has you returning after that time. And that brings up another point, you can't just use these places as flop houses. You have to either be working, looking for a job, attending drug and alcohol treatment, or school/job training. They don't want to do any of that. It's all drugs all day and all night. There is help available but instead of accepting it and using resources available they choose drugs and a tent over a future and a real roof over their head.

No I don't have any sympathy for some 25 year old that has chosen to live his life in a tent and stealing bikes or anything they can get their hands on to pay for the meth habit. There are plenty of jobs available so there is no reason many of these people should be living the way they do. They choose it and their choices affect others. I guess if you're not one of the others affected it's easy to take the stance some of you are.

That's fine. While some of you are trying to chastise me I'll be out raking up used hypodermic needles from the sidewalk strip in front of my house, calling the City Hotline to try and get someone to pick up the shopping carts full of trash that show up in front of where I live from time to time, and taking a nice leisurely stroll through the city I live in.

I guess I'm the bad guy for not liking people that leave this behind.

The homeless problem will never go away until people who shouldn't have kids, stop having kids.
holy fuk i wish i never came in here and never read that.

I don't remember seeing a single child living in a tent city or homeless encampment.. Anywhere, and yes I been in and around them for a few years now, and even volunteered time to help before it got too bad this year (I don't wanna get stabbed now, and because I dress nice and "look like the CIA", don't have purple/rainbow hair like the social workers, etc)

He must be right, that if people who shouldn't have kids stop having them, the homeless situation will go away. Many of them "stopped having kids", and there they are, sitting in a homeless camp smoking meth and blues. They must not be homeless then, because they "stopped having kids", even after they were born. There is no problem.. It's not the drugs in any way, couldn't be.. Got it.

I did however see many young people under 18 asking if anyone had "blues". Me included. I get randomly asked if I have any blue pills every time I go to town now. Where the hell are these kids/young adults parents while they run the streets and now hang at the camps? I used to run the streets at that age too, but I forgive my parents for not paying as much attention to me.. If they didn't have me, there would be no homeless situation, because I wouldn't be around to see it.

It does kind of make sense, but what about the people who should have kids? I wanna hear more about them..

cannabineer said:

There is no documentation of the precipitation of persistent psychosis in those not “previously disposed”.

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what about those that are previously disposed?
because there are a lot of those people. some people will respond to treatment, to improved circumstances, but at least as many are just fucked up people who will never fit into society, or even a healthy life, no matter what they're offered. it seems to me the best that could be done for such people is to put them in a safe place, for them and the rest of us, and continue to supply them what ever it is they're addicted to, until they die. to do anything else is to be cruel to a fatally ill person, and subject the rest of us to the deprivations such people will commit to guarantee their supply of their poison.

hanimmal said:

idk man, coming from Detroit area I can say the model of rounding them up and tossing them in prison doesn't work in the long run either.

I think some kind of enormous city sized methadone clinic would go a long way into fixing the nation's long-term homelessness problems, but then you get into the 'Not in my back yard' arguments.

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it's not just the nimby aspect, where would you place such a place regardless of internecine politics? the homeless seem to be everywhere, but it's not like they have their own interstate bus system...how are homeless people in Alaska, Florida, California, and Michigan all going to end up in the same place?

sunni said:

he just doesnt like unhoused people, and uses the same ole excuses which have no founded background on.
its always the same,

I personally volunteer here in many of the grass roots organizations for our unhoused Tent city here where I live. and there are some Really great grass root people in Seattle area as well.

You wont find anyone changing their tune when they believe that only people who are sober deserve housing, shelter and medical care.

Just loss of compassion. and humanity, really.

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i was on broadway in Nashville the other day...there were some homeless people who were playing instruments, singing, even just being friendly and smiling...then there were some homeless people who were walking around with signs that said "will lick clit for $100.00" and "saving for a hooker, please help."....
i know who deserves my compassion and humanity, and who doesn't...and it's NOT every homeless person in existence. i am happy to help those that are trying to help themselves, but i gave up on the ones who don't try a long time ago.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

what about those that are previously disposed?
because there are a lot of those people. some people will respond to treatment, to improved circumstances, but at least as many are just fucked up people who will never fit into society, or even a healthy life, no matter what they're offered. it seems to me the best that could be done for such people is to put them in a safe place, for them and the rest of us, and continue to supply them what ever it is they're addicted to, until they die. to do anything else is to be cruel to a fatally ill person, and subject the rest of us to the deprivations such people will commit to guarantee their supply of their poison.

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Previous disposition to psychosis. Usually a matter of heredity.

mudballs said:

The homeless problem will never go away until people who shouldn't have kids, stop having kids.
holy fuk i wish i never came in here and never read that.

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so do i...

I'm not a big sports fan..

Football, baseball stadiums?

cannabineer said:

Previous disposition to psychosis. Usually a matter of heredity.

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mentally ill people should not be wandering the streets...thank you fucking ronald mcreagan.
they truly need to reopen state mental hospitals, there are way too many people on the street who are a danger to themselves and others, and should be housed somewhere they can be helped, and prevented from harming themselves or anyone else.
it wouldn't be like one flew over the cuckoo's nest anymore, there are way too many cameras and observers for that kind of shit to go on now.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

mentally ill people should not be wandering the streets...thank you fucking ronald mcreagan.
they truly need to reopen state mental hospitals, there are way too many people on the street who are a danger to themselves and others, and should be housed somewhere they can be helped, and prevented from harming themselves or anyone else.
it wouldn't be like one flew over the cuckoo's nest anymore, there are way too many cameras and observers for that kind of shit to go on now.

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It’s the seamy side of a libertarian ethos. The freedom to pursue my ambition often equates to the freedom to ignore or even deride your misfortune.

oh, and to defund even basic mercy programs.

I heard it said once that if you are young and not a leftist, you have no heart. If you are old and have not become conservative, you have no brain.

Despite that, my trajectory has been the opposite. That says something about the aphorism, my nature, or both.