I live in British Columbia and we have a high homeless population as well. The smaller city I lived in did not start having an issue until 2017. That year, rent almost doubled in some cases. Since then, rent has continued to skyrocket. So much so that some one bedrooms go for as high as 2300 a month. We are also going to have a higher homeless population due to the warmer climate compared to other provinces. The cost of food and gas has skyrocketed as well and its time to hold greedy corporations accountable. The other thing that needs changed is better mental health treatment. It used to be fairly easy to access mental health care in my city. Now, it is over a year to even be able to see a psychiatrist at our Mental Health Unit. We are at a point that a significant number of homeless are 'working homeless'. I know more than one family that were renting for many many years. Some had been in their homes for over 10 years. When rent started to skyrocket, landlords took advantage of that and a ridiculous amount of 'renovictions' or landlords suddenly needing the home for a relative, increased. These people now had to find a new place to live and were in for a shock when they discovered the cost of rentals had massively increased. Not only that, there was a lack of rentals. It broke my heart to know so many that ended up having to live in tents until they could find housing. Here in BC, the average disabled person receives just 375 towards shelter. This is why many disabled end up on the streets. Same with elderly. There needs to be changes everywhere. Housing first is such an important program and its really positive to see more cities doing this.
Years ago I was homeless in McMinnville and took part in a homeless outreach program. I was very hopeful and attended the event. They had hearing tests, eye tests, some used clothing, and a few more booths that didn't do anything. They advertised that if you were homeless, they could help and they were looking for people to tell their stories about how they became homeless, so people showed up. It was all bullcrap. We got new toothbrushes though.
I believe lots of people on the streets do in fact want to fix themselves. I just met a gentleman who had been on the streets for only a few months as a result of becoming injured and unable to work anymore. He spent some time in the hospital but got behind on his rent since he was living paycheck to paycheck, and by the time he got out he had nowhere to go. Pretty horrible :( He had pretty severe injuries after getting hit by a car, that cause him a lot of pain, and he told me he didn't want any pain meds in case he got hooked and that made his situation worse. One of the things I hope people can understand, compassionatey, is the fact that there's many different types of "avatars" of those experiencing houselessness. Some people genuinely got dealt a shitty hand, and the system does not function in a way to support folks that are down on their luck like that.
Maybe we ought to show a photo of a bunch of sprawl and large houses, if not mansions, and ask in light of greed, hoarding, and human driven climate change, "Can we fix this?"
non of this is going to help unless the price of things like rent come way down for all of us.gas,,food,,ensurance..the problem isnt that people dont make enough money its things have just went way up in price.
no. look around. the problem is bigger than portland. homelessness will get worse in all American cities. why? What happened on August 15, 1971. Everything else is just noise. What is money What is blood.
I live in British Columbia and we have a high homeless population as well. The smaller city I lived in did not start having an issue until 2017. That year, rent almost doubled in some cases. Since then, rent has continued to skyrocket. So much so that some one bedrooms go for as high as 2300 a month. We are also going to have a higher homeless population due to the warmer climate compared to other provinces. The cost of food and gas has skyrocketed as well and its time to hold greedy corporations accountable. The other thing that needs changed is better mental health treatment. It used to be fairly easy to access mental health care in my city. Now, it is over a year to even be able to see a psychiatrist at our Mental Health Unit. We are at a point that a significant number of homeless are 'working homeless'. I know more than one family that were renting for many many years. Some had been in their homes for over 10 years. When rent started to skyrocket, landlords took advantage of that and a ridiculous amount of 'renovictions' or landlords suddenly needing the home for a relative, increased. These people now had to find a new place to live and were in for a shock when they discovered the cost of rentals had massively increased. Not only that, there was a lack of rentals. It broke my heart to know so many that ended up having to live in tents until they could find housing. Here in BC, the average disabled person receives just 375 towards shelter. This is why many disabled end up on the streets. Same with elderly. There needs to be changes everywhere. Housing first is such an important program and its really positive to see more cities doing this.
Your channel is very interesting for someone like myself who lives out in the suburbs and is “looking in” to Portland. Thank you for your content!
Thank you for your persistent, optimistic, and educated efforts to make Portland a better place 🙏🏾
Thank you for watching, and for the incredibly kind words! 🙏🙏
Years ago I was homeless in McMinnville and took part in a homeless outreach program. I was very hopeful and attended the event. They had hearing tests, eye tests, some used clothing, and a few more booths that didn't do anything. They advertised that if you were homeless, they could help and they were looking for people to tell their stories about how they became homeless, so people showed up. It was all bullcrap. We got new toothbrushes though.
Thank you for sharing your story 🙏
The fix is easy, the question is are they willing to fire themselves?
Addiction + Mental illness don’t mix well with logic and reason.
Best comment
I believe lots of people on the streets do in fact want to fix themselves. I just met a gentleman who had been on the streets for only a few months as a result of becoming injured and unable to work anymore. He spent some time in the hospital but got behind on his rent since he was living paycheck to paycheck, and by the time he got out he had nowhere to go. Pretty horrible :( He had pretty severe injuries after getting hit by a car, that cause him a lot of pain, and he told me he didn't want any pain meds in case he got hooked and that made his situation worse. One of the things I hope people can understand, compassionatey, is the fact that there's many different types of "avatars" of those experiencing houselessness. Some people genuinely got dealt a shitty hand, and the system does not function in a way to support folks that are down on their luck like that.
Maybe we ought to show a photo of a bunch of sprawl and large houses, if not mansions, and ask in light of greed, hoarding, and human driven climate change, "Can we fix this?"
Do it!
non of this is going to help unless the price of things like rent come way down for all of us.gas,,food,,ensurance..the problem isnt that people dont make enough money its things have just went way up in price.
No. It's because august 15, 1971
Stop giving them Narcan.
Get a job and don't expect free accommodation . Nothing is free
no. look around. the problem is bigger than portland.
homelessness will get worse in all American cities.
why? What happened on August 15, 1971.
Everything else is just noise.
What is money
What is blood.
right, it's already bad in every US city. portland's homeless population isn't even that high if you look at the data