Solutions > Homelessness
Homelessness
People grappling with substance abuse disorders and mental health challenges are often unfairly stigmatized as potentially harmful, although only a minority actually pose any danger. This unfounded perception deters suburban workers, shoppers, tourists, and residents from frequenting our commercial centers. Consequently, it exacerbates the existing 30% commercial vacancy rate, leading to diminished revenue and property taxes, along with an increase in vacant storefronts and underutilized public transportation services, which are already subsidized. Moreover, the presence of illegal camps, coupled with associated hygiene issues, crime, and vandalism, detrimentally impacts the well-being of all community members.
When reviewing news reports, it may appear that the government is exhibiting a lack of proactive measures, demonstrating sluggish progress, and holding significant financial reserves
Solutions
The newly proposed city ordinance, which prohibits camping on public property or the right of way, mandates campers to accept placement or services, and prohibits fires, among other provisions, is considered reasonable. Numerous municipalities opt not to outright ban outdoor living but rather focus on addressing associated cleanliness issues. Enforcement of this ordinance is not targeted at homelessness but rather aims to promote orderly public behavior.
Supporting the ordinance: In the event that this ordinance faces legal challenge, as its predecessor did, it is imperative for the city to vigorously pursue appeals rather than simply acquiescing to lower court rulings. Following the example of Grants Pass, which is currently pursuing litigation up to the US Supreme Court, demonstrates a commitment to upholding the ordinance’s principles. While it’s essential to empathize with vulnerable homeless individuals, it’s equally crucial to consider the broader impact on the entire community.
Shelters are not Full: Our shelters generally maintain vacancies, although these may not be adequate to accommodate the entirety of our homeless population. It’s important to note that some homeless individuals opt not to utilize shelters except during extreme weather conditions. Therefore, the policy dictating that individuals cannot be asked to relocate their camps due to shelter unavailability should consider the presence of these vacant spots. For instance, if there are 400 unoccupied beds on a given day, law enforcement can continue offering them to homeless individuals until full occupancy is achieved. Failure to accept shelter placement in such circumstances would constitute a violation of the law.
More Shelters Needed: It is imperative that we expand our shelter capacity. For instance, several years ago, there was an effort to emulate a program from Houston, which utilized a sizable area equipped with portable toilets, kitchens, security measures, and lockers to accommodate individuals setting up tents. In Portland, a similar initiative was proposed utilizing a site owned by the Port of Portland. However, the plan encountered obstacles and ultimately failed due to regulatory constraints on leasing the space for this specific purpose. It is crucial to explore alternative locations to establish such shelters.
Alternative Shelters: We must explore innovative solutions such as repurposing parking lots to accommodate individuals living in their cars or campers, constructing additional tiny homes with communal spaces, and providing larger tents such as high-quality yurts, along with more public toilet facilities, among other initiatives. Although ideally, temporary housing should be situated close to essential services, the practicality is that real estate costs decrease as one moves further away from the city center. However, this should not serve as a deterrent to advancing these ideas.
Partnering: The prior endeavor to replicate Houston’s model received funding from Homer Williams, a compassionate member of the Portland community. It is essential that we collaborate with our local business leaders facing financial challenges, our neighborhood associations, and our faith communities to identify suitable space and secure necessary resources.
Services: Many individuals experiencing homelessness require extensive social services to achieve success. Cities that have adopted the Housing First model have seen notable success, offering not only housing but also comprehensive support services such as mental health assistance, addiction treatment, security measures, access to communication technology, and transportation subsidies. However, the implementation of these services entails significant financial investment. In Salt Lake City, for instance, the municipal government collaborated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, while Helsinki utilized federal funding. Portland must devise its own strategies. Although the city possesses federal and state funding sources, it is imperative to explore additional revenue streams without imposing further tax burdens on its residents.
Government Summit: The city, County, and Metro should promptly convene a summit aimed at formulating a comprehensive three-year plan to tackle short-term housing challenges. There should be a cessation of further studies and turf disputes regarding program administration. The primary focus must shift towards assisting individuals currently experiencing homelessness rather than prioritizing those who have already been housed, who constitute a relatively small percentage.
Policing: Navigating the intersection of Measure 110 and other pressing issues posed challenges for law enforcement, as distinguishing between political expression and unlawful conduct became increasingly ambiguous. While acknowledging our ongoing journey toward improvement, it remains imperative to uphold law and order. This entails augmenting police presence, ensuring adequate staffing levels, and increasing patrols within communities.
The overwhelming majority of police officers demonstrate competence and integrity in their duties, and it is essential to offer them our support. Recent political events have underscored the critical role of law enforcement in safeguarding public order, as demonstrated by many incidents at the local and national level. However, it is imperative to recognize that unchecked power can lead to corruption. Thus, it is equally vital to foster robust citizen engagement, implement effective political oversight, and establish rigorous police accountability mechanisms.
Homeless – Long Term: A significant portion of the homeless population comprises individuals who are employed but experiencing temporary financial hardships or earning insufficient wages to secure housing. Consequently, they often resort to living in vehicles, couch-surfing, or camping as temporary measures. Research indicates that these individuals are eager to receive assistance and support.
General Prosperity: The long-term housing problem begins with a prosperous city that has good jobs with good wages. This means having an environment that attracts and keeps businesses and workers. Thus, solving the homeless, drug and litter issues will have spillover benefits to long-term housing. Maintaining our much better than average minimum wage is also important.
Urban Growth Boundary: The fact of the matter is that Portland is an attractive city, where the supply of housing is less than the demand, and therefore the price of housing is high. It has been said that removing the urban growth boundary would change this equation but this is not true. Every attractive American city has a housing problem but only Portland has an urban growth boundary.
Public Housing: The academic solution to housing is building public (or ‘social’ ) housing. After all, in Portland 1 percent of housing is public while New York has 5% and large European cities have between 20 and 25%. But this is a long-term solution due to the cost. Cities that have a great amount of public housing have been building it for decades, if not a century. Nonetheless, we must begin. The steps may be small but we need more and high-quality public housing projects.
LocaMetro has already taken this to account with its master plan clumping housing along Max and bus lines. Generally, I believe in a right to housing. But if someone else is going to pay for it, like the taxpayer, the beneficiary doesn’t choose where it is. The right extends to safety and quality, not location.
Zoning: The recent Oregon law that allowed Portland to double density in most places will be a help in driving down the cost of housing. Portland’s ordinances should be for further improvement. One ripe area is allowing downtown buildings to smoothly transition from commercial to residential. This would have a consequence in our neighborhoods in that there are many commercial centers with great vacancies.
NIMBY: The price of public housing is driven up by the fight with communities that do not want it. In Portland, that would be the neighborhood associations. While this is not noble, it is human. The place to begin addressing this is by starting out with plans that spread out public housing fairly evenly among all neighborhoods. That at least brings fairness. Of course, there are some neighborhoods where it would just be too expensive so this is not a perfect plan. Also, the neighborhood associations and residents need to have input on practical matters, such as appearance, egress and egress, public spaces, etc..
Alternative Housing: As with short term housing, we need to be creative with long-term housing solutions. For example, a Seattle developer has built small apartment buildings with very small apartments that share some public space such as a kitchen. These buildings were based on a code provision that allowed for monasteries or convents. Another national developer is buying houses and repurposing them as boarding houses. A typical three-bedroom two-bath house might be converted into a five bedroom house with the only common spaces being the kitchen and bathrooms. None of these models are as good as a quality house or apartment, but they are improvements over the current situation.
ADUs: Portland’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) law got a lot of attention and, once the permit fee went down, quite some use. While I am not familiar with any studies, my guess is that a lot have served as places for older parents or adult children to live while others are short term vacation rentals. It is still a good idea and should be promoted through low-cost and easy permitting.