Homelessness is solvable. You work and pay rent like the REST OF US. Or, apply for help from the LEGIONS of Federal, state and city programs we pay for.

D: Tell that to someone who has to sleep on the sidewalk in the rain tonight. Could you get a job, get paid, get an apartment, and get government help in the next 10 hours? Add in illness/handicaps/debt or whatever problems these people are facing that you are not, and I'm pretty sure it's not possible.

Pretty sure you offer no evidence or facts to back up your assertions, but then again, this is all about feelings and intentions anyways.
Rescue mission? Salvation Army?

Here is a FRACTION of services in Portland (not even taking into account state and federal):

Food Stamps, Emergency Food, Housing and Utilities, Federal Housing, Assistance, Low-Income Energy Assistance (LIEAP), Portland Water Bureau's Financial Assistance Program, Children and Family Resources, National School Lunch Program, Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program(WIC), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Employment Related Day Care (ERDC), Health Care, Oregon Health Plan, Veterans' Services, VA Health Care System, Veterans' Education Aid, Veterans' Home Loans, Financial Benefits, Senior and Disabled Services, Social Security,
Social Security Disability Insurance,
Supplemental Security Income
Medicare and Medicare Savings Program, Medicaid Long Term Care, Senior drug Program, Employed Persons with Disabilities,

Most people deal with illness, debts and even handicaps at some point.
If you can walk around in front of city hall all day with a sign, you can hold one that says 'mattress sale' and get paid.

If they can flout the entitlement mentality of 'give us homes' I can also demand the city 'pay my mortgage'

I think the city needs to crack down on the homeless even more! They need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, get a damn job and become productive memebers of society. (and yes- there are plenty of jobs out there!)

Portland needs to stop catering to homeless NOW!

D and Yep, sorry to bust your bubble, but YOUR lack of knowledge is showing. Let's address some of your points. No kids, No TANF. No housing, no LIEAP or other such services. OH, and a gap of about 1438 shelter beds, using the city's figures, which are low, btw. And heaven forbid if you have health issues you need to address, because if you are lucky enough to be seen by a doctor, no meds. Sry, just out of luck all around. If you think it is so easy, leave mommy and daddies house and come out and play for a week without your credit cards.

Yep and D,
I feel that you are insisting on actions that make little to no sense to anyone who has expierence with of homelessness.

Food Stamps - for 3-6 months...

Emergency Food - not sure what you mean? food boxes? got a can opener and a fire?

Housing and Utilities - yes, that is the point... people can not afford housing an utilities...

Federal Housing Assistance- and the Federal HUD budget was short about 60 BILLION dollars this year over what it was in 1978 (when the population was smaller)

Low-Income Energy Assistance (LIEAP)
, Portland Water Bureau's Financial Assistance Program - great if you have housing to get energy and water assistance at...

Children and Family Resources - and if you have no children or family?

National School Lunch Program - see above

Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program(WIC) - ... a truely great program for Women, Infants and Children. not so great for you and I.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) - and if you are not a needy family?

Employment Related Day Care (ERDC) - no one there needs day care (there was one puppy?)

Oregon Health Plan - which sadly can not provide health care for 600,000 Oregonians in need...

VA Health Care System - which is well deserved and earned.

Veterans' Education Aid ditto

Veterans' Home Loans - you need a job to get a loan, even if you are a Vet.

Financial Benefits - how about living wage jobs?

Senior and Disabled Services - there was probably 2 people over 55.

Social Security - I am not sure how many of the people protesting at city hall can collect, but I would be suprised if it was enough money to afford a life

... the rest of your list is the same... services that range from good to decent to adiquite. services all needing more funding. and services that in some cases very few people meet the criteria of.

there are jobs out there, but if you have a criminal record the double score of job and housing in close proximity of each other can be hard, especially when you are a felon. often that felony can be traced to being unable to pay a lower tickets bill.

D: Food assistance and very basic medical care doesn't help anybody get housing or a job. There are homeless housing programs already and many more to come soon in Portland. The point isn't that there aren't resources available, it's that there aren't enough of them and they currently take a long long time to take effect. None of them solve the problem of having to sleep on the sidewalk in the rain tonight.

Even if you're eligible to hold up a mattress sign -- no felonies, handicaps, medical problems, mental illness, pregnancy, or drug addiction, and the mattress company likes the way you look -- a part-time minimum wage job isn't going to get you housing anywhere. Many homeless people do have jobs.

There are TONS of jobs in the agricultural and meat packing industries in this country (you may have heard about how many immigrant workers come here illegally for these jobs) The simple fact here is that these so called "homeless" people are lazy bums with a major sense of self entitlement. They do not "deserve" jobs, they have to work for them,they have to work at them, and they have to work to keep them. And if the pay in this city isn't enough to provide them a place to live in this expensive city, they can move on to somewhere else where it's more feasible. Millions do it every year.

El Seven,
So you know for a "fact' that all those homeless people out there are just simply plain 'ol lazy huh? Wow, you sure are smart! Just where are you getting these "facts"? Obviously you must work with the homeless in some way probably helping them to get all these jobs you're talking about, to give you such an intimate knowledge of all of their individual situations. Surely you wouldn't just be spouting your own personal opinion based on nothing but your gut reaction and listening to oh, say Lars Larson or something. Armed with the facts and all such as you are...

Give me a break.

"Yep" and "D" are obviously of the crowd
holding double-digit IQ's and we all know
who that gang is...they go OINK! OINK! and
kick & stomp mentally ill people to death
and then lie about it and break more laws
than they actually uphold and worst of all
is the fact they "think" as a group and
that is called GROUPTHINK. This is what
happens when one is too dimwitted to think
for themselves and use logic and rational
thought to see reality as it is and not
as GROUP tells them how to think.

Yep, that's a FACT too!

I saw the protest on channel 8 news last night. They did a decent job of covering the situation for the minute thirty seconds they gave it.

Indy media has a posting from yesterday from the group asking for homeless advocates to get involved. I think the people their can speak for themselves, but they could use someone in the background working with them to set up a process to define their message.

Does Portland have any homeless advocates willing to do this work?

Hi Dan, long time no hear!

Short answer, yes. This is an organic, spontaneous protest, and the protesters (rightly, IMO) want it to remain theirs. However, a number of individuals and organizations are providing background support and advice.

poverty is big business in very many ways and the impoverished are increasing but who questions this? do you know how your tax dollars and donations, stipends and contributions are doled out? do you match the figures from both angles? do you ask or do you assume? i am one of the grassroots protesters in solidarity out at city hall. we are a diverse peoples together knowing our rights and advatanging ourselves and i ask you, do you think?

poverty is big business in very many ways and the impoverished are increasing but who questions this? do you know how your tax dollars and donations, stipends and contributions are doled out? do you match the figures from both angles? do you ask or do you assume? i am one of the grassroots protesters in solidarity out at city hall. we are a diverse peoples together knowing our rights and advatanging ourselves and i ask you, do you think?

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