Czarcasm, thanks for sharing.
Sure. I was in Australia, homeless (those facilities were great, and I wasn’t even a citizen), but the time ran out, and I had to borrow money from the US consulate to get back to the US. I called the old landlord I had and asked if the house was able to rent out. He said yes, so I got on a plane… Of course when I’m in town, he tells me he has to do electric work (and he kept fumbling tasks by hiring those not supposed to be working).
I knew the name of the place, but called, and I heard at least 3x how “This aint no hotel” and that you had to line up by 6pm for a chance to get in. Anyway, the one I knew about didn’t allow you to bring in anything; it was all locked up. I think a book was the only thing I was allowed to bring in. Fine. But there was no freedom of movement, we were all in this room watching awful TV, sitting there until the food was ready, and then like school, we followed. After that, two to a shower - no privacy.
Then, off to bed at 9pm so you could wake up at 6am and work. Fine. But there were way too many people in this one room. At about 11pm, I got my stuff and left, walked around the University, went back to squatting the house I was in before I left Australia for the last time.
Things to keep in mind when criticizing what the homeless eat-when you have no cooking facilities and you have to carry everything you’ve got, prepared meals that don’t have to be cooked are pretty much what you eat-those cheap mystery meat hot dogs full of sodium, sweets for quick energy, 2 day old bread the stores couldn’t sell off their “Day Old” shelf etc. If you have to eat like this for a period of time you have no energy either mentally or physically and your immune system is shot to hell. It is a constant state of depression and/or sickness that you have to deal with, and hopelessness sets in fast.
At least around here, many homeless have dogs they use to protect themselves and their belongings. AFAIK, most shelters to not allow pets, so these people do not go to the shelter.
In this area we have a large greenbelt parkway along the American River that cuts thru the urban area. A couple of years ago the parkway flooded and many homeless camps had to be abandoned for a few weeks while the water receded. Some people had to be rescued as the water rose. This, along with increased law enforcement of the restriction on camping in the parkway scattered many people to areas where they previously were not seen very often. So, it looked like the problem suddenly got worse, but being in CA with the nicer climate, the issue has always been there. But yes, in recent years it does seem to be increasing.
Sacramento has a winter shelter available in a warehouse, and they are looking to expand this sort of thing, but a lot of neighbors typically are against these plans. Even with the effort, there are vastly more people in this situation than there services to provide for and protect them. Los Angeles near downtown is nearly apocalyptic with people camping right on the sidewalks. Such a situation is a tragedy in any city of any size.
“Warehousing” the homeless some place out of sight is always a popular idea. Here in Portland there is constant talk about turning the never-used Wapato Jail into a homeless center. Leaving aside the fact that a concrete and metal building surrounded by high walls topped by barbed wire isn’t the most inviting place in the world, the facility is miles away from downtown and all the agencies that are supposed to be helping them.
But I suppose that would solve the problem for those of you that are unnerved to see those doing less well than yourselves.
Not nearly as bad as say, Seattle (where my sister lives), but I do see a “homeless” person at nearly every major intersection with a cardboard sign where, especially by places people with money are going to frequent (like our very busy mall, or our very busy Costco, etc). I’ve heard numerous anecdotes that a large number of these people are frauds, but never looked into it.
Here in Dallas, it seems worse where I live (NE Dallas), although that seems to be a direct result of the city authorities eliminating a number of bum colonies in the southern and central parts of town. As in, they announced the elimination of the second one, and within a week or so, we suddenly went from the occasional homeless person being seen by the freeway intersections to there being multiple at every corner, and lurking by the public transit stations, post offices, and any other public facility.
I work downtown, and there seem to be quite a few around, but I do work near the Library, City Hall and a couple of the larger soup kitchen/homeless shelters, so I suspect it’s more a matter of location than anywhere else.
There aren’t large Austin-style encampments or anything like that, mostly because the populace and city government aren’t nearly as tolerant as in Austin.
In London it is common to see people purporting to be homeless begging on the subway trains. They walk through the carriages making some sorry speech about being homeless and trying to raise enough for a bed in a hostel and a bite to eat. They are unfailingly polite and move on if they see they are being ignored. If someone gives a few coins they are very grateful and wish every blessing for their generosity. Sadly, it is all something of a charade. They are usually heroin addicts who make a living by pretending to be homeless. The real homeless are hidden away in substandard temporary accommodation run by the local government or charities. Or they live in Dickensian squalor that is the dog end of the housing market in this crowded city.
Christmas seems to be the time when concern over homelessness is at its most acute and the homeless charities are very active at this time of year. But now that the holidays are over it is not difficult to see ‘rough sleepers’ in central London. I saw many yesterday in the doorways of the grand theatres in the entertainment district. I guess they were waiting for a hostel to open. There are locations where the homeless gather to meet soup runs by charities who distribute food and drink. Central London is a place where people can make money on the streets, where you can get free food and so on.
Rough sleepers and begging is the most public manifestation of a problem not only with homelessness but also many other social ills. Drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness and relationship breakdown. It is regularly the subject of political finger pointing about the flaws in the welfare system and public policies that allow this problem to persist. It usually results in some loudly proclaimed initiative to identify how many ‘rough sleepers’ there are find them places in hostels or night shelters. These things are always temporary, the funding stops and the problem comes back again.
There are not many homeless encampments in London, though there is one corner of the huge Hyde Park that seems to be frequented by homeless Romanians. That is another story.
Appreciate your insight.
I think it is unfair for you and others to characterize folk as having a “problem” being “unnerved to see those doing less well than yourselves.” I know I am not the only person who disfavors large numbers of homeless, but who would gladly support increased services such as mental health care, vocational rehab, subsidized housing, education, etc. Or even expanded general welfare or a universal minimum income.
If the old jail building exists, then why not use it for a good purpose? Staff it appropriately, and run regular busses between it and social service/employment locations.
I’m not going to apologize for the fact that I would prefer not to have ranting persons wandering in traffic or charging down the street, as I experienced in Denver over Thanksgiving. Or my preference to not have odorous, apparently mentally unfit individuals sleeping in our library, following the high school library pages around the stacks (my daughters’ experiences). Defecating on streets and alleys. …
Final anecdata - I have 2 nieces and a nephew who lived in your fair town over the past decade. All of them EXTREMELY liberal. And all 3 of them were uncomfortable with the homeless dynamic in Portland.
There is a Talmudic principle that if someone asks you for bread, you should give him food, without first checking into his CV and finances.
(Yet AFAIK nobody is obliged to distribute a Benjamin to each and every passer-by.)
Here is a video called "Top 10 Fake Panhandlers".
Number 8 admits making over $100k a year. Number 7 though is my favorite, its a woman who did quite the act of being the poor crippled old woman.
Unless your goal is to demonize homelessness, what exactly are you trying to say here? Are the people in those overflowing shelters just con artists? Are the people coming to the food pantry I work at just selling that food for profit? Are the tarps with people inside I see by the dozens on the side of the road just there for show?
If you have a point to make with this vulgar video, make it.
Echoing everything in this post.
And adding:
It’s not about being uncomfortable with the homeless/down on your luck folks.
It’s about being uncomfortable and scared because of those among the homeless who are confrontational, aggressive, hostile, threatening, leaving trash and needles all over the place–particularly in the city parks, making such places unsafe for anyone, especially kids. People in my local city parks are pulling their kids and teens out of programs there because of the problems I just described.
And setting fires wherever they feel like it, possibly burning down residences and businesses? Hell, no. Not okay. Not ever.
No non-prescribed drugs, no alcohol, and in domestic violence shelters, no contacting the abuser. Whether they can bring in pets depends on the shelter; some people in my city started a shelter just for people who are facing homelessness to drop off their animals so they can go into shelters, although anyone can also use it, and of course adopt from it if the animals are available.
I’ve said this here before, but around here, the people who stand on street corners with a sign are generally the ones who have been banned from every shelter in the region for refusing to follow rules. One of them has been “PREGNANT”, like, forever.
Here in the upper Midwest, it’s mostly an issue during the winter, and shelters put out news releases letting people know where they are and who can stay there; some shelters are men- or women-only, and others do allow families.
I lived in that general region before I moved back here. That town’s homelessness problem wasn’t visible, because it was composed mainly of couch-surfing teenagers who couldn’t live with their meth-addicted parents. 
It’s pretty bad in Honolulu. It was bad when I was in school here 25 years ago, and it seems worse today since I returned, but the government claims it’s actually started to go down. But if you’re homeless on the mainland, you can always go someplace else even if you have to walk. Here, you’re just stuck. Even here in Waikiki, there are some standard characters sleeping on the streets, and we often hear maniacal screaming at night. But downtown can be pretty dicey even in the daytime with all the homeless camped out around there, many of them mentally ill. Would not want to spend too much time there at night.
There is a misconception that Hawaii will fly the homeless to the mainland, but this is not completely true. There is a program but with all manner of restrictions. To begin with, it is NOT a free ticket. The homeless person must somehow come up with half the fare. And they won’t just dump them onto someone else’s jurisdiction on the mainland but rather the homeless individual must demonstrate some sort of support system in existence back home. It is also a one-time deal. To date, five homeless that I know of actually made it back to Hawaii, then tried to get the same deal for being sent back, and that was a big no. And while the program is administered by the state Institute for Human Services, it relies completely on donations, and not one penny of taxpayer money is used.
I was pretty naive until just the last couple years, these are the interactions I’ve had or neighbors have had that have changed my opinion (I assume most of this is drug addiction related):
1 - People camped out in forest area near our house tried to break into our house with us in it, the fire department ultimately cleared the camp site and they moved on to somewhere else
2 - Neighbor hired handyman that was homeless, he stole her car and jewelry
3 - Guy across the street (mid 30’s) was attacked by homeless group outside Walmart (they wanted his receipt for his purchase, he said no), they beat him up and set him on fire - he lost his lower left leg and had multiple strokes during surgery and after, now confined to wheel chair
4 - I was almost attacked by a guy in Home Depot parking lot because I didn’t give him 2 dollars. The guy just kept getting more and more mad and coming at me, screaming at the top of his lungs, I thought I was going to have to defend myself. I mentioned it to one of the store guys and he said “ya, that crap happens all the time, one of those guys stabbed someone a few weeks ago”.
5 - Four guys tried to break into a house near us with the family inside (were they homeless? not sure. drug addicts? most likely based on their appearance.)
I’m sure there are some people that just hit a rough patch and need some help to get back on their feet, and my wife and I try to do our part with donations (typically directly to single mothers via some group my wife is part of).
But I am far more cautious about the people living in tents around the area than I used to be.
The shelter I stayed in was run by the government. You had to be referred by a local agency, and sign in between 7 and 8 p.m. to sleep there. You got three meals a day. Breakfast and lunch came from the next door prison, and were not so good. But the shelter had deals with the various churches to bring in supper, which was often fantastic.
The shelter had two big rooms downstairs with space for 100 people. Upstairs were rooms that house 2 to 6 people each. You had to prove you were a good person to get upstairs, based on various items. I got upstairs in a week, because I followed the rules, and most important, I was working full time.
Any other questions, just ask.
Say what you like about Wapato, but here’s a short list of what’s available in that building, already constructed and ready to go: sleeping quarters for 600 people, showers, toilets, laundry facilities, kitchen facilities, recreation areas and offices where service providers could have easily been brought in to get people hooked up with longer term programs. The site also has 18 acres that could be used to accomodate those who for whatever reason can’t manage a typical shelter situation–tiny homes could be built and brought in or camping accomodated with access to sanitary facilities and cooking. Tri-Met was 100% onboard with running a free shuttle to the Max station. Sisters of the Road could have been brought onboard to do what they already do and feed people. A teensy bit of out of the box thinking could have made Wapato an absolutely fabulous solution for all but the very most service resistant homeless people.
Instead, we have crappy camps everwhere (one just got busted up from a median strip a few blocks from me, outside the parking lot of a vacant business) and the Springwater and 205 Multi Use Path have become outright fucking dangerous with the needles and glass and people threatening anyone who dares to walk or bike past the bike chop shops and garbage dumps. Some poor bastard dared to ask a homeless person to stop doing nasty shit on his property and got seventeen stab wounds for his trouble. Stabbings and rapes and miscellaneous violence are an everyday part of homeless camp activity–and the sheer number of used needles and piles of human shit in this town is absolutely mind boggling.
A report came out that 52% of all arrests by Portland police were of homeless people–it’s not profiling, there’s no bias there, they’re just the ones doing pretty much all the property crime and a big slice of the violent stuff too, and that’s not even factoring in the rampant drug use.
I live by the Springwater trail and it’s become a nightmare–18 years I’ve lived in this house and I never had a bit of trouble until the homeless camps moved in. I’ve had my car broken into, stuff stolen right out of my yard behind a six foot fence and mounds of garbage tossed around–that I get to pick up if I don’t want my neighborhood to look like shit. I have all the sympathy in the world for the homeless and down on their luck, but fucking A I live here too, I pay money every month in taxes and mortgage and the like and I don’t see why I have to be penalized and terrorized because of a problem I did not create nor contribute to.
As the Portland subreddit says, “it’s complicated,” but I’m sorry that my setting of healthy social boundaries seems like some sort of assault to the criddlers. Tough.
Just curious, if you don’t mind sharing, how did you get from living in a shelter to ‘back on your feet’?