Portland residents view homelessness as the most pressing issue facing their city, but they oppose involving the police in addressing the problem.
Residents of Portland, Oregon Concerned About Homelessness Crisis
According to a new survey from the Portland Budget Office, residents of Portland, Oregon, are deeply troubled by the ongoing homeless crisis in their city. The survey, which included 5,000 Portlanders, revealed that nearly half of the respondents identified homelessness as the biggest problem plaguing the city. The cost of living came in second, with 21.8% of residents expressing concern about it.
Police Intervention Not Seen as the Solution
Interestingly, despite recognizing the severity of the homeless crisis, a significant majority of respondents (58%) stated that they do not believe the police should respond to emergency calls regarding unsheltered homeless individuals. Additionally, 47% of respondents expressed the same sentiment when it comes to emergency calls involving individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.
“Many Portlanders don’t want police responding to 911 calls about the street homeless or mental health crises,” said Portland trial attorney Kristin Olsen. “But that ignores the reality that Portland’s street homeless pose a real danger to the public, given the intersection between guns, fentanyl, severe mental illness, and violence on our streets.”
Olsen’s concerns are not unfounded. Recent headlines featured the story of Dr. Mary Costantino, an interventional radiologist and close friend of Olsen, who was attacked by a homeless person. The assailant threw a metal bottle at her, knocking her unconscious.
Furthermore, a staggering 72% of Portlanders admitted to feeling unsafe walking at night in their own city.
Seeking Alternative Solutions
Instead of relying on police intervention, the majority of Portlanders surveyed expressed a preference for alternative solutions. 65.2% supported the idea of opening substance abuse or mental health clinics, while nearly 62% favored the construction of subsidized apartment buildings. Additionally, 54% of respondents stated that they would like to see the city pursue indoor shelters.
However, implementing these solutions may prove challenging due to limited mechanisms for requiring unsheltered homeless individuals to seek care, particularly for issues such as drug addiction. Oregon’s Measure 110, which legalized all hard drugs in the state without a treatment apparatus, has exacerbated the problem.
“We need to grapple with the reality that Oregon’s decriminalization of drugs coupled with the ubiquity of fentanyl in Portland has caused a significant rise in the street homeless and, predictably, a rise in violent crime committed by the street homeless who are plagued with fentanyl addictions,” explained Olsen.
Joel Griffith, a housing expert and economics policy fellow at the Heritage Foundation, emphasized the need for a broader discussion on the homeless crisis. He highlighted the fact that many unsheltered homeless individuals reject housing and shelters due to restrictions on drug and alcohol consumption.
“This idea of allowing people to destroy their lives by living on the streets in decrepit conditions, or by using these hardcore narcotics that have been decriminalized, that is hardly humane,” Griffith stated. ”It shows a lack of compassion and respect for the citizens of these communities.”
Unfortunately, Oregon has experienced a significant spike in homelessness, growing 23% from 2020 to 2022, well above the national average. Additionally, the state’s overdose death rate increased by 6.76% from December 2021 to December 2022, following the implementation of Measure 110.
Griffith believes that some form of institutionalization should be part of the discussion in every city grappling with the homeless crisis. He argues that while no one wants to see an increase in the prison population, it can lead to a better quality of life for both the community and those undergoing rehabilitation.
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