Local media dutifully—and brainlessly—repeated the talking points in the annual census of the “homeless” in the three-county region.
To save you a quick trip through the deep weeds, let us agree that the Tribune got it approximately right, despite the tortured sentence-construction…
The numbers released Wednesday show a substantial increase in homelessness in Multnomah County. Overall, 1,200 more people were counted this year compared to 2019, with 5,228 people and 4,015 counted in those years, respectively.
The Oregonian’s homeless-beat reporter, Nicole Hayden (who really loves this bureaucratic stuff) also averred that…
The number of people living unsheltered in the Portland area has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic first swept the nation, the first official count since January 2019 found.
Interesting that Hayden linked the Covid hysteria to homelessness. It was a throat-clear for the various members of the progressive machine who glommed onto the virus as the fall-guy for the lousy numbers.
Try this, from Willy Week…
The Joint Office of Homeless Services said in a statement this morning that much of the reason for this increase was due to rising housing costs and the effects of the pandemic.
“The pandemic continues to present serious challenges for vulnerable community members—sharply affecting service providers and leaving unsheltered homelessness far more visible in the tri-county region,” the office wrote. “In fact, even during the pandemic, rents and home prices in the Portland-area have continued to grow at one the nation’s fastest paces.”
Short version: “Don’t blame us. Not that the pandemic was largely a matter of governmental overreaction and our own lockdowns, edicts, regulations, silly mandates. And how about those rents?”
And, most interesting of all, not one local journo attached a dollar-number to what the various overlapping governments have spent to grow the homeless problem in the last two years. Add up the bond issues and soak-the-rich tax measures, and routine government give-aways and you’re probably talking something edging toward $1-billion. With expenditures locked in for the foreseeable future.
Nor did any of the homeless beat reporters tally the number of people working full-time to “service” or, more likely, “advocate” for the homeless.Best guess: It’s more than the homeless population.
Nor did any of the journos allow any skepticism about Homelessness Inc’s story-line—It’s about housing, stupid—to intrude on the reality that this is about far more than a roof over someone’s head (which can be easily solved by giving the building industry scads of money to build grossly-overpriced “affordable housing.”) Things such as drugs, insanity, sub-culture sociology, bad luck, etc.
Too complicated for the bureaucrats.
As usual, our local homeless czar, Commissioner Dan “Ten Feet” Ryan, barged into the discussion…
“Across the country, it is common knowledge that the methodology behind the Point in Time Count is fundamentally flawed,” Ryan said. ““The fact is the count is only conducted as a federally mandated compliance mechanism. However, the approach in Multnomah County is to add in-depth interviews and layers of complexity. This approach gets us even farther from the requirements of this federal compliance exercise, and it simply doesn’t work.”
Got that? All that “in-depth” stuff and we’re even further from the truth? Does that have the smell of more money for more bean-counters, from a commissioner up for re-election and who lucked into an opponent who is even nuttier than he is?
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Ryan’s Joint Office dropped this fascinating tidbit into the salad…
“…the Joint Office supplemented the one-night count with existing live databases that track homeless Portlanders, including a list that tracks homeless adults, families and veterans: “Because they are by-name lists, we were able to add people to the count who might have been missed.”
Which begs the question: if the Joint Office knows who’s homeless, by name, why don’t they peel off a few bucks, cut ‘em checks, and send them on their merry way?
Which brings us to the last takeaway: Homelessness belongs to Portland/Multnomah county. Any way you count, even in the dead of winter when the smart vagrants are down in Santa Monica, the suburbs have vastly lower numbers.
You might think that a smart editor might suggest that reporters pose one simple question.
Why?
With the follow-up: Ever heard the expression, “Build It and They Will Come?”
I was a volunteer for this year’s Point in Time Count. I actually took two different shifts., one at the Blanchet dinner service, and the other in the
Hollywood district.
I also did some personal interviews at some of the larger camps after the Count was over.
At some of Multnomah County’s largest camps, no one had anyone come by with the PITCount questionnaires to record these people. A camp near Blue Lake Park has easily 100 residents, but no one counted them! Probably because it is hidden in the trees, and looks dangerous.
The most interesting comments, and there were two identical ones, were answers to the survey question why did you come to Portland from the place you lived before? Two guys said it was because of the Vancouver Police who told them “either go to Portland, or go to jail”!
Welcome to our two new arrivals……🤣😂🤣🥲🤣😢😢
Excellent analysis on the media’s failure to honestly report on “homelessness.”
Did you see this? It’s worth a read on all the ways well-meaning people, including parents, enable drug addicts and homelessness:
https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2022/05/03/normal-families-struggle-with-abnormal-lives/
Trevor undoubtedly was part of the homeless count. Note this:
“Trevor knows which stores have a ‘no touch’ policy where store employees are directed not to physically stop a thief. That makes it easy to walk out with stolen goods. …
“He has an arrangement with a security guard at one high-end retailer downtown that he asked not be named. If Trevor avoids it during the week, the guard turns a blind eye to his theft on the weekends. He even holds the door open when Trevor walks out with an armful of merchandise.”
The rest of us pay for Trevor’s thievery. He belongs in jail/prison. Hard way to get off drugs, but for some it’s the only way.