Another reason the city has gotten better at minimizing sidewalk camping is that they're being sued [by] several disabled people who couldn't navigate the sidewalks. (Not sure where the suit is at present, but I think it's still active.)

Former homeless man who still lives in oldtown, personally I've seen many other homeless people just play the victim and refuse to try to obtain a job, mental health services, etc. Even though we were living at the RDNC shelter (which is an incredibly relaxed shelter). I have sympathy for these people to an extent; but at some point they actually have to try to better themselves.

There was just a study done that determined 78% of the homeless in Portland are from out of town. Half of them arrived homeless. Our kindness towards the homeless has crushed us.

Here’s another reason I didn’t go to shelters as a homeless person. Safety. Shelters are by no means safe and many actively prey on others in the shelter for their own gear

I miss the days of walking around downtown Portland at night with no issues

Actually it is worse than you let on. They have just moved out of down town out all the way towards Gresham where I live. Also, If you ask a few homeless they will tell you that Portland makes it easy to be homeless and the word has gotten out all over the west.

I live outside Medford, Oregon but used to work downtown cleaning a 5 story office building at night. The homeless have gotten out of hand here also. They would check the doors to my building every night in hopes the door was unlocked or not latched. It never fails that someone can find their way in. They would shoot up in the stairways and would camp out in the bathrooms. They would leave sleeping bags, clothes and garbage all over the place. Let me tell you the smell they would leave behind was not easily handled. So locks were placed on all the bathroom doors and security hired. But the crazy thing is that doesn't matter...the homeless will STILL find their way into the building. So because the bathrooms are locked they now will stay in the stairwell and use the wall and floor outside the basement for a bathroom. N0 matter what you do they get inside, cause havoc and are somehow invisible until you find the mess they left! Eventually one gets thrown out by police but the building is known for being able to get inside so there's always somebody new to camp out. Its such a disgusting cycle that during the winter becomes much worse!

I volunteer doing low income tax prep in Portland. There are a lot of single homeless folks who work but can’t get enough money to actually move into housing. Also when an employer finds out their home address is a shelter they are insulted and obviously don’t get the job. A vicious cycle. These homeless are not walking around downtown or other places-they go to community center and take showers. I’ve lived in Portland since 1985, and live downtown. Sometimes when I watch your videos, I think you don’t know the Portland I do.

I was just talking to a friend the other night, who works in tenant advocacy here in St. Pete, FL, and collects a lot of data on homelessness here. He suggested that the point-in-place survey isn't really reflecting the situation accurately. A lot of homeless people are just starting to camp in more wooded or remote parts of the city, where they're less likely to be hassled, kicked out, or arrested, and are thus not getting counted. Here in St. Pete, rents have risen at an alarming rate over the last 5 years in particular, which has exacerbated the existing homeless crisis, but the data isn't necessarily reflecting the scale of the crisis. I expect it's similar in a lot of other cities.

I grew up in Portland and moved away 5 years ago before it got bad. I’ve been so sad watching it go downhill, but I’m so glad there might be a light at the end of the tunnel ❤️ I love Portland and always will.

I was in Portland not too long ago and there were definitely less tents on the city streets than I was expecting to see, but as soon as we got on I-5 you started seeing large amounts of them just barely out of view off the highway, so I would be inclined to think the issue is not getting a whole lot better, it just moved out of plain sight.

I went there for a week about a year ago and spent a lot of time walking around in and near old town. It was pretty wild. So many homeless people in tents and doing drugs right out in the open.

I live on the Oregon Coast. I am hopeful with the progress that has been made in Portland, but I can tell you that the Oregon Coast is riddled with enclaves of homeless. It is a beautiful place to camp but for those looking to stay here affordable housing is almost nonexistent. So, here this problem may be ongoing for quite some time. I really don't know how our service workers who provide such essential services can find a place to live on their salaries.

Man, Briggs is getting into some heavy stuff lately. Most of the homeless never will get back on their feet. A difference between cities like Portland and most cities of any size is that most cities make their homeless hide, which it sounds like Portland is starting to do. Many folks in my area, central Ohio, think we have a very small homeless population, because our tent cities are hidden from the public. They are in secluded areas, and many don't even know they exist, much less how many live in them. Another "problem" in Portland is that the city spends a lot of money providing medical care and so forth for the homeless. I don't mean to suggest that it shouldn't, but that is a factor that draws people there.

Why they understood the need for “working class” housing in the 50’s and 60’s but not in present day is completely mind boggling…

I’m amazed with how clear those streets were.

I am so glad to see visible progress is finally being made. I spent a lot of time in Portland long ago, we're talking 25 years, and I loved it. I really, really hope that beautiful town recovers, and that some of whatever works in a situation as bad as it had become can be applied elsewhere.

I live in Gresham and commute to downtown Portland on a daily basis. Go check out East Portland. No, Oregon hasn't fixed it's homeless issue.

I’ve lived near Portlandistan for 16 years now and this is an accurate portrayal. If you’re considering moving here, think long and hard. Notice anything about all the footage? That’s right, it’s a virtual ghost town with nearly no traffic or pedestrians. Know why? Crime, assault, rampant drug use and defecation in the streets. Why? One word (as Hunter’s dad would say)-Democrat voters. No, it will not improve anytime soon because of the way people vote, and it DOESN’T CHANGE. Crime? Defund and don’t support the police and the rule of law. Drug use? Simple-legalize hard drugs. Homelessness? Keep funding programs that don’t require negative drug testing and GIVE $1,000/month to each homeless resident. Any idea where that money will be spent and what happens when you broadcast to the entire country that your city provides free handouts, free housing, free medical care, and allows legal hard drug possession and use? What happens when you feed ferile cats off your back porch? Hmmmm…it’s all so mysterious.

Briggs, I am one of your avid followers. In 1975 I worked in Portland, OR. At that time the city was proudly working on their "restaurant scene" near the river. Driven thru many times, in 2016 my wife and I were touring OR and stayed just outside of Portland. We went to Powell's Bookstore, Japanese gardens, the rose gardens etc. We witnessed some homeless and indigents downtown and a big police presence. Now Sept, 2022, we went to Portland for an event. We stayed outside closer to Lake Oswego. I can attest some homeless have moved west of the city. Oregon is a beautiful state we travel the coast Hwy 1 or Route 97. We no longer need to visit Portland.

I have lived in Portland and visited quite often. On my last visit a few months ago, I told my friend who still lives there that it was like Hoarding Without Walls. I first came to Oregon in 1980 and was amazed at how many people lived full-time in tents along the river; this was in Eugene. I see it as a mindset of Oreginians that tolerated alternative living as it was called back then. This belief no longer is valid and hasn't been for a long time. Homeless living does not mean you can trash the area around you. I lived in Pearl District back in 2010 and enjoyed all that Old Town had to offer. It seemed as if the people of Portland lost the will to stop the trashing of their city. I also lived in SE Portland during 2021.

defunding the police does not help

The mental health issue in Oregon is at it's worst in the state and city government

So gotta correct some things you said, I've grown up in Portland for most of my life (15ish years, I'm 20 now), The Chinatown "parking lot" is not a functional parking lot, it hasn't been for years. It was serving as a organized housing relief for homeless people who could not get into the very few and often strict shelters we have, it worked as a okay temporary solution, however around 2015-16ish from my memory after Sam Adams left it was cleared and has been empty most of the time. It was supposed to be made into a community space however it just sits gated off with a single table. Most of the city's homeless issues are at this point directly the fault of the city council and government/landlords who have increased rents at the limit (9.99%) multiple times. The city conducts sweeps on camps constantly which has just displaced and actually made more of a mess in general as the sweepers do not ever seem to care about properly disposing of trash and often rip apart camp sites and leave lots of things scattered around. During a major winter storm this past winter (Feb 2023) the city conducted sweeps during this storm leading to multiple homeless people becoming injured from the cold. The treatment that I've seen homeless people endure in Portland is truly disgusting and hits a almost human rights abuse level of severity. Talking with these people throughout my life in pdx has really given me an insight on how kind and just misunderstood a lot of these people are. Many do want to be in shelters and go throughout treatment there just is not enough existing. If this is gonna be truly fixed it's gonna take actual investment into affordable housing and preventive measures and also investment into rehabilitation that can actually help these people. Please I ask that you just take a second to think about the situations many of these people have been forced into and to treat them with humanity. We cannot make progress without taking the time to uplift people who are in these hard situations. Anyways I hope to see the city I loved so much improve and go in the right direction on helping this people. But currently most efforts on the city's part has been more harmful recently than helpful.

The only reasons Old Town and other parts of downtown don't look a scene from "Escape from NY" is that most businesses have left leaving no reason for the homeless to stay in a part of town where asking working people for money and or just stealing from retail stores is no longer sustainable to the tent folk.

Yeah, my city's homeless seem to have disappeared from view very recently, as well. I, too, am in the Pacific Northwest. We didn't implement any new policies, though. We just had a bunch of storms bring snow and flooding through the area. Is Portland getting better, or do your homeless dislike drowning and freezing to death as much as ours do?

In this particular area of Portland, I have personally witnessed a grown man pull out his -you know what- and do his business on the sidewalk in the middle of the day. With younger children near by, I’ve witnessed homeless ppl shooting up drugs, tourist getting their bags snatched while standing in line at voodoo doughnuts, homeless ppl coming into pine street market and yelling at the top of their lungs..just to name a few of the exciting things Portland has to offer.

Its an awful problem here in Jacksonville, FL too. They've broken up the tent cities downtown before major events, but the people have just shifted to vacant lots and urban wooded areas. Any decent sized area with trees or brush now have a little path into the woods strewn with litter and shopping carts and makeshift tents. Some of these people are working jobs too.

im from LA and as liberal as they come. i see homeless ppl every day and it’s just so hopeless. honestly (and this might be controversial) they need to force ppl into getting help. criminalize the vagrancy and drug use, round them up and make them get treatment. it’s an endless cycle until they force the most vulnerable members of our society to get the help they need :(

Seattle has had some progress too... still a long way to go, but some progress. Last summer I visited Vancouver BC. It was so much worse than Portland or Seattle. It was so sad.

Portland is a hellhole. You'll never change my mind. If Walmart has to leave an area, that tells you something

Sure do miss Portland. Miss the food,miss the shopping,miss the rain and the trees and the smell of firewood. Miss the coffee, miss new seasons,miss the Mississippi St fair, blazers games Also its funny you mentioned boise... had to come back to boise from Portland and I miss alot of the good things as mentioned about Portland

Walmart CLOSED all the WM stores in Portland. Update; Cracker Barrel is also closing all stores in the Portland area...

Briggs, it was around 2017ish that I started seeing tent cities popping up on SE Powell Blvd., by my mother-in-law's house. I had a job at Daimler Trucks on Swan Island from 2018-2019, and I couldn't believe the number of homeless encampments along the greenways on all the roads leading to Swan Island from I-5 😢

There’s more to the story about that lot in Chinatown. It used to be an adult bookstore and one of the city commissioners took offense to it. They use the fire Bureau to shut that down and tear the building down. The owner of the lot, then turned it into a homeless camp out of spite.

I hope you will amend this video because that parking lot you mentioned around 1:45 was NOT just full of tents. That was the former home of the old Right 2 Dream Too, a self-managed fully incorporated non-profit homeless camp. It was a safe, drug free camp, the property owner facilitated against the city's wishes. It's one example of many ways the city is thwarting private attemps to help ease the crisis.

Glad to hear things are getting better, 4 of my favorite west coast cities are San Diego, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. What would also help, don't legalize every drug and bring jobs back from overseas, my whole life was working a trade school job and loved it. Thanks for posting.....

No way. My GF and I were driving on 26 and where it meets 405, there were many tents that were behind a fence that the average person wouldn't be bothered to climb.

Thank you for this video, it was one of the most informative videos I have seen about the current state of portland and the homeless population.

I’m homeless and my problem is it doesn’t feel like there’s any spare money for a place. It takes all damn day to make $100 and all of that goes into my gas tank, my stomach, or a landlord’s pockets that same day. God forbid a car repair needs doing (I have a few piling up right now I just can’t get to right now). Life is very unaffordable nowadays. Even people like me who work every single day can’t comfortably afford rent anymore. Rent feels like this luxury I shouldn’t be splurging on right now. I spend that $70 on not even 24 hours at a cheap motel and it’s gone forever. It’s so so damn hard to get ahead. It blows my mind that drugs are even the conversation nowadays when cost of rent is easily the main factor for the homeless crisis. You know rent is too high when working all day every day doesn’t pay the rent AND be able to have some emergency savings put aside. It just sucks. People will look down on me like it’s all my fault. I’m doing my best. I didn’t get to pump out 5 kids and get section 8 housing and food stamps and a whole free ride. I am single and childless. I work and invest for everything I have. I don’t live lavishly by any means. But I just can’t save up first, last, deposit, etc etc. to get moved into a stable home somewhere I want to be with the way the system is designed. It’s designed to keep everyone SCRAPING by because if we all had a huge savings built up, their precious system would collapse. They need us scraping by so they can treat us like garbage. It sucks but it is what it is. Hoping I die or something so I don’t have to grind my whole life away sleeping in my car. It’s exhausting.

As a former resident of Troutdale we all know that the solution is to move all their problems to East County. They want to push their problems to have Gresham and Troutdale to solve. They tried to do it with the Spring water Trail but Gresham pushed back. Portland needs to deal with their issues and quit diverting them to East County. My opinion.

I don’t understand how a lack of affordable housing causes homelessness .. The people I encounter couldn’t pay for housing even if it was considered affordable .. I mean they don’t have jobs .. How would they pay rent or a mortgage ?

Thank you, Briggs, for this really important perspective.

Thank you for this more realistic view of the Portland situation. I was there last year, and the homelessness is/was surreal, but it's still an amazing city with some of the best people I've ever met.

In my opinion what they’re doing is like sweeping dirt under the carpet.

It hasn't gotten better overall, just in Old Town. Homelessness isn't just a liberal city issue. I've visited Phoenix 3 times over the past few months & they have a ton of homeless people. The Phoenix homeless folks seem a bit more mellow though. The ones in Coronado Park were polite. There are encampments in Portland that are basically chop shops defended by guys with guns.

You stated that its not as bad as the media makes it out to be ,yet big retail businesses are leaving one after another.

My daughter lived in Portland and went out to go to work and found a homeless guy sleeping in the back of her truck. It's definitely out of control

Another thing that affects all west coast cities is that we're the end of the line. There's nowhere else to go.

Portland's anti 2A laws and avoidance of prosecuting criminals means I am not interested in visiting again.

I drive a tow truck in portland, and Imo all the tents have just.moved out east and even west of downtown. It's amazing how many encampments are in neighborhoods. Portland is never going to be the city it was 😢

Ways to actually fix concentrated homelessness 1. Build a ton more homes (single family) 2. Build even more homes (multifamily) 3. Fine every small city/state/county that ships their homeless to big cities with programs instead of actually helping their people 4. Build even more housing ( huge apartments with small businesses at the bottom) Its that simple (this will also fix a lot of other problems)

When a Briggs employee arrives at work, Briggs says: "Welcome to work, now start typing."

the homeless problem in Portland was still terrible back in 2013. What you said about Chinatown existed back then.

As an Oregonian it is great to see this progress, and I hope it continues in outlying areas that are not Portland ! We might be liberal up here but you don't get to live for FREE !!

I feel like they’re migrating. I live over on 23rd and moved here from LA back in 2021. Up until around the last 6 months it was pretty quiet and there were barely any homeless people. And when there were one or two homeless people around I didn’t feel that alarmed and they were just minding their own business. Being from LA, a homeless crisis is not new to me in any way, shape, or form, but I definitely feel less safe to walk from my car to my building and never do so without pepper spray. On multiple occasions I’ve walked past tweakers shamelessly smoking crack in the middle of the sidewalk, and I’ve seen some pretty scary activity going on in front of my building so I’d have to wait in my car sometimes for half an hour until they leave. Another thing that never happened to me in LA is my very clean and clearly empty car getting broken into twice within a three month period. Can’t wait to leave when my lease is up.

Dang! Portland is looking lots better than Denver and the Denver Metro area. We have folks who have been sleeping in the same doorway for at least 2 years...kids used walk by there on their way to school. And in a different part of town they had a tent city across the street from an elementary school where residents complained about the feces and drug needles on the ground. Portland is looking pretty good, compatibility.

When I lived in Clackamas and visited Portland in 2000, rentals were quite reasonable and pet-friendly. Sad how things have turned out in 23 years,

Thank you Briggs. I’m glad to see you haven’t written Portland off for the quick clicks like so many others. Appreciate you and your channel.

I was just in Portland for a week. It seems like there are a lot of designated spaces for tent encampments and a lot of tents along the freeways. It also seems like all the tents are new and the spaces are mostly cleaned up. The city itself was pretty clean compared to other cities I have visited. If they keep trying to make it clean and designated I think it's a step in the right direction.

I live in the Pearl & work downtown and actually go into the office every day. Definitely fewer tents on sidewalks in front of businesses, but I’ve seen a lot more tents under the Steel bridge on-ramp off Naito and under the Fremont bridge on-ramps in Slabtown.

i remember the 1st time going to portland as an adult, was driving around at about 2 am, every store front along every street had homeless people sleeping on it, never went back.

I think I missed out on watching that Nick Johnson video about Portland a few years ago. Anyways yeah looking at what you showed That isn't a particularly bad homeless situation. Where I'm from in Santa Rosa which I mean at least when googling the average rent here is higher than it is in Portland although that could just be dependent on where you go, but there's definitely a noticeable homeless problem here. I mean you go anywhere in the Bay Area you're going to find homeless. Anywhere in wine country you're going to find homeless people. I had actually thought about moving a few hours up north to eureka because it's a much more affordable part of California but it's been stated there's a lot of homeless people there too and I've taken a visit there and yeah there's definitely some homeless people but I mean to me it's nothing new because we get plenty of almost people here in Santa Rosa. It's cool to see that Oregon or at least Portland itself is trying to Actually do something about the homeless situation. Would really pisses me off here in California is it twice I've seen during elections there had been a proposition on the ballot that would have enforced rent control and each time it failed. The voters were too stupid to realize that the ads that are talking against it are just looking at one minute detail that makes it look like it's bad when if you actually read the proposition the con is kind of non-existent. All the con was was to get rid of the old system in favor of the new system which is what these real estate companies used against the proposition in their advertisements because that was technically true but in reality it wouldn't have hurt anything to pass the proposition it would have just been beneficial to all except I guess the real estate companies. They're trying again with putting rent control on the ballot this year, but I'm afraid it might fail again. Another thing that's really infuriating is that every election I see so many propositions on the ballot that talk about raising taxes to do something and they keep passing in flying colors and look I understand taxes are important I'm not like completely anti-tax, but when there's propositions that propose raising taxes to actually make improvements to the state and all that has happened from them are the taxes increasing and we have never seen the results of it then just vote no on those stupid propositions because it's just an excuse to raise our taxes and get nothing out of it.

You are ignoring East Portland. The Portland east of 82nd. Things aren’t better here. We are used to being ignored and called Gresham even though we have a large percentage of Portland’s population. “Fixing” the homeless crises everywhere else and leaving us to suffer doesn’t mean homelessness is better in Portland.

It won’t be fixed as long as antiwhitism is the prevailing ideology of the city

That of what I just saw looks mild. Sad s(h)ituation, but mild. In Chicago, it's still kinda bad. But the governor of Illinois took the pandemic money, put people in hotels, put money into job training and helped 1000's of people get their lives together. And a friendly reminder... Not all homeless people have mental issues or do drugs. Many people had a natural disaster (think of California and Turkey/Syria). Many people lost their jobs. Many people got sick. Got divorced. Lost a spouse or a loved one. Lastly... If people, as in people within their own communities, would help each other, the need for government help would be less needed. As in if parents don't teach financial responsibility to their kids, kids won't know how to earn or manage money.

as a Portland resident who's lived in a tent for a time in the past (not in Portland, though), I'm continually amazed that anyone would choose to be IN the city in a tent. That said i just stopped going into downtown at ALL -- and honestly am kinda happier for it. Downtown sucked before the tents took over, too (entitled pedestrians and bikers walking into traffic constantly, no parking, etc...), but I still had to go down there sometimes, now I don't. Kinda doesn't matter if they clean it up, the habits broken now ;)

I've been to Los Angeles, CA, Seattle, WA, and Honolulu, HI where there are a lot of homeless people, but they are not very aggressive compared to the homeless living in San Francisco. I have never been to Portland, OR, but I hope someday I can travel there and other cities in Oregon.

You know it’s bad when Walmart closes its doors and leave. That’s a lot of tax money saying goodbye

Plus Portland is the homeless solution for many areas outside of the area. Number of years ago I watch channel 12 interview with an Idaho official who said a bus ticket to the west coast was their policy with the homeless

your delivery is on point....and your honesty is appreciated....love your channel...

Online shopping has had the most dramatic impact on downtowns and malls, along with the pandemic and work from home.

As someone who's lived in Oregon their whole life, I can say whole heartedly that it's the laws that cause 90% of the problem. HUGE encampments all over Portland, Salem, Eugene, etc. I'm done with the rain, cold, homeless, laws, traffic, tax, etc. Everyone in this state is miserable and wants to keep to themselves. Exploring the country, I've realized that a lot of these states don't have these problems (especially the grouchy, bitter people). Moving to Florida and never looking back.

You should drive down the I-5 corridor and down Barbur, and even check out the Sandy River North of Troutdale. There are sprawling camps tucked in among the trees, with dug-out driveways for their “rigs”. They are the “less visible” camps, and aren’t even on the city’s vaunted “dashboard”. Some day, there will be a fire that starts at these camps that will take out a neighborhood. Doubt the crime will stop either. I just had two new attempts at car theft. (Four total that I know of). All I got from Wheelers office was that I should work the issue with the police (I had the police report number in the email subject)!

I appreciate the dashcam footage as well as your experiential comparisons I drove west from the Portland airport a few years ago and in one section of the highway, the ENTIRE THING was lined with tents like it was Walking Dead or something

I really don't want to minimize suffering, but I genuinely think the problem isn't lack of mental health services, at least it's not the main issue. The main issue was the legalization of hard drugs. It's not working, it's decreasing people's quality of life, more people are becoming addicts, and it's attracting the worst kind of people. People are moving to the area because drugs are legal, and they can't be jailed. It's just how it is. That in combination with cost of living and failure to put the foot down on encampments is why Portland is in the mess it's in.

It's not the lack of mental health services. It's the lack of public education, particularly to that of children, about drugs and their dangers, and of law enforcement's inability to get rid of drug dealers because of stupid policies. Oh and for the record, it IS as bad as they say it is, because I've been there over recent years from time to time and have witnessed the decline with my own eyes, and after my last visit will never again return. What a dump!

Hi Briggs. This is different than what I see on the news. I think you're right about the media "click bait". Thanks and have a great weekend.

Out of state developers buying up properties en masse and driving up prices hasn’t helped. A lot of the homeless problem hasn’t gone away, it’s just moved. Salem has become increasingly overrun and now those folks are being pushed further out into rural areas.

There are some people who just want to live on the street, doing drugs or what ever, but you touched on the truth about rampant homelessness when you mentioned that the cost of living is too high. Can people afford a tiny one room apartment for $1,200 dollars a month? No. Back in the day, the rule of thumb was that your "rent" should be one week's salary, so to live comfortably with a $1,200 rent you would have to be earning, at the least, $4,800 dollars per month. I also want to mention that I've been following the news about massive homelessness in America since long before the pandemic. The pandemic may have killed off a lot of homeless people, so it may look like the homeless situation has improved, but the economics situation in America is getting worse. We see empty shelves in a lot of stores all over America, and the cost of goods has risen sharply. The sharp rise in prices is partially hidden by the fact that we are getting less quantity for much higher prices. The box that holds the chocolate brownies is about the same size as it was before but the contents slosh around in that box like an entire brownie is missing; yet, the count of brownies is still 8 per box. "Profit = income - expenses" puts the entire environment, including ourselves, on the 'expense' part of the equation. Businesses want to avoid and or eliminate all expenses. If we want to eliminate homelessness and rescue our environment, then we will need a new "Global Economic Model" that is based on an entirely new dictionary definition of profit. How about this definition: Profit = our gratefulness and loving care for the environment and sustenance that it provides to all of us.

Homelessness is a national problem and needs to be treated as such. A state/city can try to fix it, but they will just attract more homeless people from other states/cities.

From someone who lived in the Portland area who left late last year I can tell you that this is a really accurate video on Portland homeless issue.

Previously Police used to remove homeless under the State Camping Regulations. I had heard they stopped doing that because there was a court ruling against them for removing homeless, not managing their "possessions" and not providing them with somewhere else to go. Also, there was an Oregon State law passed in 2021 preventing these Police Homeless Sweeps. I think the recent change is that complaints were filed that homeless that are on sidewalks are violating ADA access rules - this trumps the State rules.

Starting to have a bad homeless issue here in Vancouver, WA now sadly.

The left downtown Portland. But, they're all in the suburbs now. Moving their way towards beaverton and hillsboro. Crazy drug addicts trying to get into my car after I got in. Running infront of my car when I got the green. Almost got a few

I have heard all the Walmarts are closing in Portland from mass shoplifting and kinda wondered if it's true or just some news blowing things out of proportion as usual

I grew up just outside of Portland and still live nearby. 20 years ago, I could take the MAX to pioneer square as a teenager and stay out till midnight, and not once was I concerned for my safety. That is not the case now, and I'm a grown adult.

Hey Briggs, I live in downtown Seattle. Would you be interested in doing a homeless situation video here? It is a mess.

Portland is doing something, but it looks for the most part that it's just the police forcing people to move on (at last - Portland cops doing something 🙄). Check out some of the other areas across the river and let us know what's going on in the Hollywood District and over a long 82nd please. It's been several months since I have been there, but there were a few places I recall that there were quite a number of tents, RVs, etc.

Wow, that was a lot of words to say: "No. Portland hasn't solved the homeless problem. Not even a little bit." Idaho solved it. If the whole country would do what Idaho does, the homelessness crisis would end. If the whole country did what Portland does, like it's been doing, it'll just get worse.

Downtown Portland Native here. The problem isn't any better - it just shifts from street to street. I don't think it's going to get any better under Mayor Ted Wheeler, either - he's too focused on being everybody's friend and doesn't want to be the bad guy in any scenario.

The first time I remember seeing the homeless was on our way to a mall in St. Louis when I was a teenager, I couldn't understand it at that time, there were so many. The we came across someone "pretending" to be homeless at the mall that refused to take what little change we did have to offer. I might've seen some in Chicago when I visited when I was a little girl but I was probably too young to process it.

They're moving them all out to southeast Portland. Opening homeless camps on 82nd ave, a main thoroughfare on the eastside. Crime was already bad out there. Now it's going to be insane. Thank Portlands horrible Mayor and city Commissioner's for that. They are taxing people right out of Portland to pay for homeless. People are leaving. 12 thousand plus have left Portland area. Businesses are leaving in droves. Yes Downtown looks a little better because they've been pushed out Eastside.

Just a heads up about shelters. It's not the case that the only reasons a homeless person might not want to stay in a shelter are if they don't want to follow rules or they want to do drugs. Shelters are incredibly dangerous. Other homeless people steal their stuff or attack them. Shelters are also generally pretty dirty and badly maintained. It can also be hard to consistently get a bed, depending on demand, and if you can't call a place your own it often feels better to just have a consistent place to be, even if that place is a tent by the train tracks. Many homeless people feel safer on the streets or especially in encampments, and if the weather isn't too bad I can see their point. Shelters aren't the answer, especially if they're privately contracted, as the management company has a profit motive to keep costs down and tends to cheap out on maintenance and security. Obviously this is a generalization and not all shelters are badly run or dangerous, but I've heard these complaints from multiple homeless people and in multiple investigations.

Affordable housing is not the issue. Yes it has risen a bunch over the past 20 years. The homelessness is a direct result of piss poor leadership. They have no plan to address the drug addicts that have come there. They have encouraged and enabled drug addiction. You can’t buy or rent when you have no job because you decided you wanted to become a drug addict.

"....they are just someplace else...." - Briggs. Yes, that's like Santa Monica, California. The city does not allow anyone to set up a tent, build a shack, or live in a van. Hence they have no homeless but, the homeless are just someplace else.

The causes are drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness and a permissive culture regarding addiction. Local officials are more concerned about catering to fringe activists than to the quality of life in the city. If the government won't respond and they can't be voted out of office, then boycot downtown businesses and public events until things change. At this point, instead of taking public transportation through Portland, I'm driving rental cars to and from the airport. Downtown Portland transportation is unsafe once the Metro police stop riding after the evening rush hour.

It seems to me that putting up an area to camp with, bathrooms and sanitation, allowing them to camp for a reasonable fee. they can live their lives as they please within the campground limits and offer resources to get back on their feet and help with drug addiction. They don’t belong on the city streets..

Briggs.. Here in San Francisco the homeless is as bad as in a few years ago or even worse. Your right people doesn't want a shelter because of the rules just to get a fix.

I like how you did not at all even bother to mention the blm and antifa riots night after night for 200+ days while the local government consistently made excuses for them. Way to see what’s really going on.