Homelessness in Portland: a Growing Pandemic
Portland is having a crisis. With an estimated 1,900 people sleeping outside every night, sleeping bags and worn out tents litter the sidewalk. Portland mayor, Charlie Hales, has taken action by trying to manage camping throughout the city. With his new “Safe Sleep Policy” homeless people will be able to sleep overnight on sidewalks in a sleeping bag but only from 9PM to 7AM. Hales has also created over 400 shelters for men, women, and families (My View: Helping Others is the Portland way). Mr.Hales plan is good for controlling where the homeless people will stay, but it still leaves us with a major problem: there are still homeless people. What’s the point of managing a problem if you’re not …show more content…
People with many different backgrounds can be homeless for many different reasons: unemployment, substance abuse, a disability, financial troubles (Portland’s rising rent costs). In today’s world we’re told as children that we can be whatever we want to be when we grow up. Having the freedom to choose and pick our own paths in life is how we can learn from mistakes. It’s when people, like the landlords of Portland, force others to conform to their choices. The rent rise is creating homeless people for an unjust circumstance. In reality the world has more control over you than you do of it. It shouldn’t be a matter of whether how to deal with the homeless, it should be a matter of preventing it. Establishing these shelters is a step in the right direction for getting the homeless off the streets. Although these shelters are not a permanent solution, helping the homeless restructure their lives would be the next step (finding jobs, self-sufficiency, education, etc.). Making sure everyone in society has a house and job seems like an impossible task, but it can slowly be fulfilled. Our current situation is like a broken plate, you can either throw it away or fix it with time and
Portland is having a crisis. With an estimated 1,900 people sleeping outside every night, sleeping bags and worn out tents litter the sidewalk. Portland mayor, Charlie Hales, has taken action by trying to manage camping throughout the city. With his new “Safe Sleep Policy” homeless people will be able to sleep overnight on sidewalks in a sleeping bag but only from 9PM to 7AM. Hales has also created over 400 shelters for men, women, and families (My View: Helping Others is the Portland way). Mr.Hales plan is good for controlling where the homeless people will stay, but it still leaves us with a major problem: there are still homeless people. What’s the point of managing a problem if you’re not …show more content…
People with many different backgrounds can be homeless for many different reasons: unemployment, substance abuse, a disability, financial troubles (Portland’s rising rent costs). In today’s world we’re told as children that we can be whatever we want to be when we grow up. Having the freedom to choose and pick our own paths in life is how we can learn from mistakes. It’s when people, like the landlords of Portland, force others to conform to their choices. The rent rise is creating homeless people for an unjust circumstance. In reality the world has more control over you than you do of it. It shouldn’t be a matter of whether how to deal with the homeless, it should be a matter of preventing it. Establishing these shelters is a step in the right direction for getting the homeless off the streets. Although these shelters are not a permanent solution, helping the homeless restructure their lives would be the next step (finding jobs, self-sufficiency, education, etc.). Making sure everyone in society has a house and job seems like an impossible task, but it can slowly be fulfilled. Our current situation is like a broken plate, you can either throw it away or fix it with time and