Rant: The more the biz community & gov repeat the myth that ppl on the streets are to blame for urban America’s problem the more they do a disservice to their own agenda, like having people frequent businesses. Not to mention it’s a false/damaging narrative for housing justice.

This is not a new narrative. It’s old. It’s lazy. It’s racist. It’s unsophisticated. We’ve heard it all before. It happens during every recession. The poor/homeless are creating an untenable reality on our streets that’s negatively impacting tourism, commerce, safety. We must act

Let’s be clear. The pandemic, a cruel Congress (No relief for biz, workers, housing), corporate welfare & an already existing housing crisis are reshaping urban environments everywhere, especially on the West Coast. Ppl on the streets are products of this crises not the cause.

We aren’t facing this recession/depression & a changing landscape in theory, or in any one city, or because any one city gov did something right or wrong. We are facing these realities in real life because the system we have is broken. Blaming the poor is Not the answer.

More so, reverting back to a law & order strategy for the homeless would a be A. Giant. Step. Backwards & lead to a war of attrition between the people, advocates, local city governments & the biz community. We’ve been there before. It. Doesn’t. Work.

The reality is the storm is just beginning & the next few years are going to be hard. Hard for everyone. Hard for businesses. Hard for people. Hard for governments. Creating an environment where the poor/homeless are the scapegoats is wrong & we shouldn’t stand for it.

In Portland, while it may not seem like it, we are luckier than most. We have two housing bonds & a homeless service ballot measure at our backs. Most cities don’t have shit. Nada. Nothing. We have the opportunity to create real change in people’s lives/housing for years to come.

So when we repeat that Portland somehow is losing the fight against “the homeless” then people really aren’t seeing the bigger picture. Shit is sideways everywhere. Again, we are experiencing a global pandemic, a massive economic downturn, climate & housing crisis.

To listen to powerful people gather around & say we haven’t been doing enough or that our current local housing strategy isn’t working in PDX & that the alternative is to create simply create more shelters & increase policing it’s hard to actually take you seriously.

If that’s the strategy cities land on just know it’s a strategy that’s been done before. It will horribly fail. It will lead to more division. It will lead to us wasting time fighting over sidewalks & ideologies instead of fighting for more housing legislation & resources.

The reality is it’s hard everywhere. We are going to be witnessing a level of human suffering we may have not witnessed before, even after 40 years of modern day homelessness. This isn’t a drill. We must rise above & do better.

If we want to create more shelters, fair enough. Let’s just not take away from our strategies & resources to give people housing, & please leave the police & laws criminalizing people on the streets out of it. Everyone deserves a safe place to call home & jail isn’t one of them.