Matt,
If I could live in a world with unicorns, candy canes and gumdrops, I would but this post is just utter bullshit. Since you can't ask the hard questions, I will. I'll even throw in the answers for free!

Who is going to pay for all of these new houses?
Oh yeah, everyone else--in the form of new taxes.
Who is going to pick up the tab on the property taxes?
Oh yeah, everyone else again--in the form of new taxes.
What happens when someone doesn't take care of their house?
Order them to clean up? Or kick them out? Then they would be *gasp* homeless again and we'd give them a new home!
How is this fair to everyone else who saves up their own money and buys a house and then has to pay more taxes?
It's not fair. It's not even close.

And don't try to be cute with the "We'll save money on taxes!" bit because we all know that you would double everyone's taxes if you were king.

Let's not forget there is an organization out there trying to help those who are not fortunate enough to own their own home: Habitat for Humanity. It may not be at the pace you'd like, but they're helping.

Nopo'er: I'm not being cute. Well, actually, I'm always being cute, by virtue of my looks, charm and personality. But I'm not being "cute" in the sense you mean it.

This approach is what your tax dollars are funding. If you're pissed about it, talk to the Bureau of Housing and Community Development. Don't get snippy with me.

Sounds like a good idea when we're only paying for the 400 people currently homeless. But what happens when 300 additional people head this way looking for a handout because Portland is, well, the city that gives freebies to everybody? Hell, you think I'm just throwing out theory here? Look at Santa Cruz, CA. They were forced to confront their liberal bias in the face of glaring common sense and eventually, so will you Matt.

Common sense? Were still in the process of debugging that code. Until a working hotfix is released, expect kernel errors when working with progressive processors. There are several known issues with MDavis & SMoore parts.

Despite what people here think, Portland is WAY BEHIND other cities when it comes to providing services for the homeless, especially those who don't fit a particular niche. For a single woman with no drug or alcohol problems, there is, at a very minimum, a three month wait to get into a shelter right now --- not transitional housing or a program to help get back on your feet, but just to get out from under the bridge for a night.

People get sick when they have to be outside overnight and most of the day. They end up in emergency rooms, and then back on the street to get more sick.

When you don't have an address, phone number, or a place to shower, it is nearly impossible to get a job. The way things are set up in this city right now, there are sober, motivated homeless people who cannot find a way to lift themselves out. These are real people, and I hate the idea of putting money amounts on what should be a moral issue. However, Matt is absolutely correct, for once, that it would be cheaper (and more humane) to provide housing than to provide for the vast amounts of emergency services that are used by those living on our streets.

Did someone just diss Californian homeless people? Holy fuck. Just give me a second here to get warmed up...

wow, I could go in to detail about how wrong Nopo'er is but that would lead in to a long winded reply. how about I just share a few facts
in 1978 the Federal Government spent 83.3 BILLION on the HUD budget and 37.8 billion on Federal Tax subsidies and expenditures (money payed out to people for owning a house or not collected taxes). in 1978 Downtown Portland had 5,183 low income housing units (0-30% of median income)
in 2006 the HUD budget had dropped to 29.2 billion and tax expenditures and subsidies had risen to 121.7 billion, downtown Portland had 3,330 low income housing units...
how to replace that 54 BILLION dollars in HUD money for low income housing? why with 1.2 billion in McKinney Homeless Assistance Money of course, which is not even for housing but for Shelters.
maybe the national level stuff is boring or not relevant to Portland, how about the fact that for JOIN to help someone find housing it costs 19 dollars a day, and your average homeless shelter in Portland costs 25 dollars a day to find someplace a mat to sleep on in a gym... (I would assume both are paid with tax dollars and donations both)
Matt, keep up the good work.

Sources:
www.wraphome.org
2004 Downtown Portland Affordable Housing Inventory (Northwest Pilot Project)
www.joinpdx.com

"The way things are set up in this city right now, there are sober, motivated homeless people who cannot find a way to lift themselves out."

Really? Have they ever heard of farm work? No W-9s or business casual attire needed there! There are tons of jobs every harvest season but I didn't see one, ahem, white face out there picking pears or cherries. Oh shit, I didn't just say that did I? Sorry, didn't mean to make it out to be what it is.

Dear Nopo'er,
From your post I assume that the worse thing in the world that can happen is for you to check your pay-stub and find out that one more cent has been taken by the government and applied to something other than fighting freedom on the other side of the planet or incarcerating someone you'd rather not see on the street. If so you do live in a world of unicorns. In reality your anquished fear-mongering cry of "more taxes!" without any evidence to back it up sounds a little Chicken Little. I particularly like how you suggest we'd have "MORE TAXES!" to pay for the taxes that the homeless people are not paying on their houses (which will probably not be given to them, but remain in the public trust).

Then there's your soul searching question, "how is this fair to everyone else who saves up their own money and buys a house and then has to pay more taxes?" It's not, so should such a proposal ever be implemented in the city of Portland I encourage you to take advantage of the system, sell everything you own, and go live on the street long enough to get a free house, just to prove how broken the system is. Everyone else will likely be doing the same, I'm sure.
It's really too bad that we don't have a publicly funded organization that has such lofty goals as, say, insuring Domestic tranquility, promoting the General Welfare, and ensuring the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, that'd be really neat. Heck, I'd even settle for someone who can post arguments against supported by fact and logic and not rambling cries of hysteria.

I recommend:
http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_02_13_a_murray.html

Gladwell's approach to chronic homeless and how homeless advocates are approaching it is quite interesting. I think it offers a wider perspective to some of the problems at hand. While it may not change your mind about how to handle chronic homelessness, it will get you to think about some of the complexities.

"Really? Have they ever heard of farm work?"
Logan5 we had this arguement a few months back, dont you remember?
how do you get to the farm?
how do you afford a place to live while you are working?
how do you get the job when you walk in to the interview with your backpack and the first thing that runs through the bosses mind is "loser".
as for Gladwell's approach, I tend to agree, it would be much cheaper to provide housing and move from there, allowing the person the space and resources to become clean and sober rather than either A) telling him to stay sober 30 days on the street so he can move in to A&D free housing where the first time he makes a mistake he is back on the street or B) giving them 3 or 4 weeks of sobriety then turning them out on their own, both of which are proven methods of not succeeding for most...
give people a safe place to sleep where they can rest and recover from months or years of sleeping on the street then allow them the time and resources to move on with their lives.

Ooo! its great idea. Bat lets speak about girls guide to giving head . I like it

Mark, you're kidding right? We've got people making 2000 mile treks from Mexico for work all over the US but a bunch of homeless people here can't "commute" to day jobs is the immediate vicinity? And do you think any of those migrants have a valid address? Although I never liked it, I've moved a couple times to find better work and I didn't have any motivation like homelessness and hunger to drive me so WTF is holding these people up? I've got a guy working on my bathroom remodel right now who is a straight out, 12-step-be-damned alcoholic who lives with four other people and he's doing just fine (besides the alcoholism of course but that's on him).

Ooo, baby, I love your way, everyday... Do not pay attention, simply good mood... Friends, happiness to you, health, love, success, maiken wexo nogen
, all all the best. Thanks

Logan: "WTF is holding these people up?"

Maybe it's a lack of compassion in people around them. Like, er, you.