Homelessness spending surges in Portland, Oregon area. Local governments and nonprofits will spend more than $500 million in 2023 alone, but the problem remains.
One can’t help but wonder whether the city government would be better off handing the cash directly to homeless people instead of using it to fund various programs that clearly don’t work.
Of course, if this happens, then everyone who makes a living by “solving” problems will have to find new jobs.
Fox News:
Homelessness costs in Portland metro area soar to ‘shocking’ amounts
Portland-area local governments and nonprofits spent more than $500 million to combat homelessness last year, a 70% increase from the year before, according to a new report.
“The numbers themselves are shocking,” John Tapogna, senior policy advisor for ECOnorthwest, which crunched the numbers, told KOIN 6 News.
Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties, which make up the Portland, Ore., metropolitan area, spent $531 million on homeless interventions in fiscal year 2023, according to an analysis by ECOnorthwest.
Reports show the huge increase is driven in part by nearly $90 million in federal pandemic relief funds, as well as a regional homeless tax approved by voters in 2020…
About 7,500 people in the three-county area live in emergency shelters or on the streets. But the report also includes more than 13,000 people who have recently emerged from homelessness and are currently receiving rental support, and more than 81,000 people considered to be at risk of homelessness due to low incomes and high housing costs.
Will anyone hold city leaders accountable?
$500 million spent in one year @OregonMetro About homelessness.
increased by 50%.
Where does it go? A full review is required.
This certainly won’t help the homeless.
— PDX_Full of hope! (@Pdx hope) June 19, 2024
This is a shocking result that no one could have foreseen! Surprisingly, instead of solving the problem, it attracted even more homeless people to the area! https://t.co/GwpT9n8BlK
— LocutusOfBorg (@BattleofWolf359) June 20, 2024
Why do the city’s taxpayers put up with this?
