All posts tagged: Homelessness

Proposed Oregon legislation would allow homeless people to sue property owners if they harass the homeless or ask them to leave

Published by

Oregon Democrats have presented a bill in the state legislature, the Right to Rest Act, that would legally allow homeless people to set up camps on public and private property, Fox News reports. But the legislation doesn’t stop there. If passed the homeless person would have the right to sue the owner of the property for $1,000 if the owner tries to remove their tent or harass the homeless person in any way. If passed the legislation basically decriminalizes these encampments in a state that is overrun by this type of behavior, which is negatively impacting people’s lives. Fox News reports: “I love Portland, and I love where I live,” Portland homeowner Jacob Adams told “Fox & Friends” in February in a plea to elected officials to do something about a homeless encampment next to his house, where fires and drug activity have terrorized his family.  “I’m asking you to please do something, so the people of the city feel safe.” Armand Martens, an 83-year-old Vietnam veteran who also lives next to Adams, told a …

How Coronado, California ended homelessness

Published by

The city of Coronado has done what most people would think impossible, considering it’s located in California, it has ended homelessness, Fox News reports. The city, which is located in San Diego County and across the bay from San Diego, has the lowest homeless population in the state. This is because the city has taken a unique approach to the problem. Instead of feeding the homeless crisis by providing free drugs and paraphernalia, pandering to their criminal behavior and allowing them to live wherever they want, the city took a hard line. In an interview with Fox and Friends, Mayor Richard Bailey (R) stated that city policies can actually have an impact. He said there are basically two types of homeless, those who want help and those who don’t. The city, along with the police and its homeless services, has implemented policies leaving the homeless with only one option, which is getting the help they need. Along with providing services to help people ‘get back on their feet,’ the mayor said: “We also make it …

Is the left loving the homeless to death? The homeless think so.

Published by

An interesting interview of a homeless woman by KATU TV in Portland, Oregon revealed the failure of the left-wing politicos when it comes to dealing with homelessness, The Blaze reports. When asked what it is like being homeless in Portland, the woman who went by the name of Wendy, said it is a piece of cake: “I mean, that’s why you probably got so many out here because they feed you three meals a day, You don’t have to do s*** but stay in your tent or party. Or, if you smoke a lot of dope, you can do that.” Then Wendy added, “They are loving us to death.” Kevin Dahlgren, who works with a homeless outreach called, We Heart Portland, explained what she meant: “Not just Wendy, but multiple homeless have said that the system is ‘loving us to death. They hate the idea that they’re being enabled. They may not say no to it, but they still don’t like it. What they want is to be empowered. They want responsibility. They want accountability.“ …

What should we do about the homeless?

Published by

We have a dangerous cult in our society, or possibly two working together. Have you met any homeless people lately? Mentally ill, drug addicts, and criminals; that is how most of us see homeless people. I live near a city center, and homeless people are being chased out of their usual neighborhoods by new construction. I think that is why so many are moving into our community. They come with shopping carts and tents, and they settle in public parks. One couple put their tent, and large amounts of personal property, in a corporate parking lot. Imagine coming to work in the morning, and your parking spot is occupied, by a family in a tent. The ‘personal property’ was probably salvaged from garbage bins. I think the problem is growing this summer because the weather is warm. Another driver of this issue is that people, who are not good personal managers, are being chased out of their homes by high costs. When rents go up and people are evicted, they look for a new place …

A New Year’s Resolution: What if I want to start over?

Published by

I am writing this on January 1, 2022. That means we have a new year in front of us, and everyone I know is tired of the old one. We had an endless stream of bad news about our health, and the health of the economy, and political arguments. For me, the news every day was a toxic mix. This morning, I had text messages from friends and a relative, and they feel the same as me. There is not enough optimism at the beginning of this year. We need something new, and better. It might comfort you to know that God thought of this first: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43: 18 and 19) Those are the instructions from a higher source, the highest source, when we get lost in things that happen around us. It is easy to …

How to be homeless: Coping without God

Published by

2020 is an interesting year, so far. I don’t think we know how much the world around us is changing, mostly because of the COVID 19 pandemic. Some changes were happening slowly, but our response to a virus is making things move faster. I met some people a few days ago, and they surprised me. I was working at a site, and I took a break for lunch. For me, that’s a fast food snack. As I walked into the food outlet, I saw some young adults standing near me, and someone said ‘We need face masks to go in there.’ They wanted food, and the rules are to wear a mask inside a business. I have a government job and my employers supply me with more PPE than I need, so I gave them face masks and showed them how to use them. We talked for a while, and I remember one man saying that he needed to get a driver’s license from the Government some day. I think the whole group agreed, and …

Credit: Harold/Flickr/Creative Commons

But We Can’t Afford That

Published by

A few days ago, a young woman who lives near me overdosed on Fentanyl. Her family drove her to a hospital and I think someone did CPR during the ride. She almost died, but the hospital staff were able to save her. Something bothered me about that story, and then I noticed that they drove her in the family car; they didn’t call an ambulance. I don’t know the family but I guess they can’t afford a five-hundred-dollar ambulance ride every time their addict overdoses. Transporting critically ill patients in a private vehicle is something we should never do; the ambulance crew might save a life before arriving at the hospital. But that ride has a cost, the whole system costs millions, with dispatchers, EMTs, vehicles and equipment, and sometimes helicopters. And life-threatening problems like drug addiction are becoming epidemics. And another story; I keep the tickets from McDonald’s coffee cups. Where I live, each cup has a peel-and-stick ticket and a detachable card. Seven tickets will buy one cup of coffee. I don’t need …

Sleeping on paper and pavement in 40 degrees. Photo Graf Spee/Foter/CC BY

What is the biggest cause of homelessness?

Published by

It seems we regularly hear calls by activists and politicians to end homelessness and frankly governments have been trying to do it for years, without success. To effectively deal with homelessness, you have to find its cause and cut it off at the root. I was surprised, and then I wasn’t, when I read Emma Woolley’s article on her thoughts on the reasons for homelessness. Woolley writes for the Canadian arm of Homeless Hub that looks for solutions for homelessness. Many people point to the obvious — job loss, drug and alcohol addictions and mental illness as key reasons for homelessness — and though these are major contributors, oddly those who specialize in the care of homeless people do not consider them as the number one reason for homelessness. In her article What are the statistics on homelessness due to divorce?, Woolley pointed to two organizations Homeless Link and Crisis who both stated divorce or relationship breakdown was the number one cause homelessness. This can be between spouses or children and the family resulting in …