{"id":1989811,"date":"2023-08-03T14:31:05","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T18:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/portlanders-see-homelessness-as-citys-biggest-issue-but-reject-police-intervention\/"},"modified":"2023-08-03T14:34:51","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T18:34:51","slug":"portlanders-see-homelessness-as-citys-biggest-issue-but-reject-police-intervention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/portlanders-see-homelessness-as-citys-biggest-issue-but-reject-police-intervention\/","title":{"rendered":"Portland residents view homelessness as the most pressing issue facing their city, but they oppose involving the police in addressing the problem."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">44<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fportlanders-see-homelessness-as-citys-biggest-issue-but-reject-police-intervention%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1989811&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Residents of Portland, Oregon Concerned \u200cAbout \u200cHomelessness Crisis<\/h2>\n<p>According\u2062 to a new \u200bsurvey from the Portland Budget Office, \u2064residents of Portland, Oregon, are deeply troubled by the ongoing homeless\u2062 crisis in\u2064 their city. The survey, which included 5,000 Portlanders, revealed that nearly half\u2063 of the respondents\u2063 identified homelessness\u2063 as the\u200c biggest problem plaguing the city. The cost of living came in second, with 21.8% of residents expressing concern \u200cabout it.<\/p>\n<h3>Police Intervention Not Seen as the Solution<\/h3>\n<p>Interestingly, despite recognizing the severity \u200cof the homeless crisis, a significant majority of respondents (58%)\u200d stated\u2064 that they do not believe the police should respond to emergency calls\u2062 regarding unsheltered homeless individuals. Additionally, 47% of respondents expressed the\u200d same sentiment when \u200dit\u2064 comes to\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/portlanders-see-homelessness-as-citys-biggest-issue-but-reject-police-intervention\/\" title=\"Portland residents view homelessness as the most pressing issue facing their city, but they oppose involving the police in addressing the problem.\">emergency \u200bcalls involving individuals experiencing<\/a> a \u2064<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9-year-old-girl-pepper-sprayed-during-interaction-with-rochester-police\/\" title=\"9-Year-Old Girl Pepper Sprayed During Interaction With Rochester Police\">mental health crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Many Portlanders don\u2019t want police responding to 911\u200d calls about the street\u2063 homeless or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oregon-promotes-program-focused-on-dismantling-racism-in-mathematics-says-finding-the-right-answer-a-sign-of-white-supremacy\/\" title=\"Oregon Promotes Program Focused On \u2018Dismantling Racism In Mathematics,\u201d Says Finding The Right Answer A Sign Of White Supremacy\">mental health crises<\/a>,&#8221; said\u200d Portland trial attorney Kristin Olsen. &#8220;But that ignores\u200c the reality that Portland\u2019s street homeless pose a\u200b real danger\u200c to the public, given\u2064 the intersection between guns, fentanyl, severe\u200d mental illness, and violence on\u200b our streets.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Olsen&#8217;s concerns \u200bare not unfounded.\u2064 Recent headlines\u200b featured the story of Dr. \u200dMary\u2062 Costantino,\u200d an interventional radiologist and \u2062close friend of Olsen, who was attacked by a\u200c homeless person. The assailant threw a metal bottle \u200bat her, knocking her unconscious.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, a staggering 72% of Portlanders \u2062admitted to feeling unsafe\u2063 walking at night in their own\u200c city.<\/p>\n<h3>Seeking Alternative Solutions<\/h3>\n<p>Instead of relying on police intervention,\u200c the majority of Portlanders surveyed expressed a preference for alternative solutions. 65.2% supported the idea of \u2062opening substance \u200dabuse or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/there-are-many-potential-problems-with-the-bipartisan-gun-deal\/\" title=\"There Are Many Potential Problems With The Bipartisan Gun Deal\">mental health clinics<\/a>, while nearly 62% favored the construction of subsidized \u200bapartment buildings. Additionally, 54% of respondents stated that they would\u200c like to see the city pursue indoor shelters.<\/p>\n<p>However, implementing \u2063these solutions may prove challenging due to limited\u200b mechanisms for requiring unsheltered\u200d homeless individuals to seek care, particularly \u200bfor issues such as drug addiction. Oregon&#8217;s\u200d Measure 110, \u2063which legalized all hard drugs in the state without a treatment apparatus, has exacerbated the problem.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We need to grapple with the reality that Oregon\u2019s decriminalization\u2062 of drugs coupled with the ubiquity of fentanyl in Portland has caused \u200da significant rise in the street homeless\u2064 and, predictably, a rise in violent \u2063crime committed by the street\u200d homeless who are plagued with fentanyl\u2063 addictions,&#8221; explained Olsen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Joel Griffith, a housing expert and economics policy fellow at \u2062the Heritage Foundation, emphasized \u2062the need for a broader discussion on \u200dthe homeless crisis. He \u200dhighlighted the fact that many unsheltered homeless individuals reject housing and\u2064 shelters due to restrictions on drug and alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;This idea of \u2063allowing people\u2064 to destroy their\u2063 lives by \u200dliving on the streets in decrepit conditions, \u2063or by using these hardcore narcotics that \u2063have been\u200b decriminalized, \u2063that \u2062is hardly humane,&#8221; Griffith stated. \u2062&#8221;It\u200d shows a lack of compassion\u2062 and respect for the citizens of these communities.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Unfortunately, Oregon has experienced\u200c a \u2062significant spike in homelessness, growing 23% from 2020 \u200dto\u200c 2022, well above the national average. Additionally, the \u2062state&#8217;s overdose death \u200crate increased by 6.76% from December 2021 to December 2022, following the implementation of Measure 110.<\/p>\n<p>Griffith believes that \u2064some form of institutionalization should be part of the\u2062 discussion in every city grappling \u2063with the homeless\u2062 crisis. He \u200bargues that while no one \u2064wants to\u2062 see an \u2062increase in the prison\u2062 population, it can lead to a better quality of life\u200b for both the community and\u200b those \u2062undergoing rehabilitation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">Click here<\/a> \u200d to read more from the Washington\u200b Examiner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>living and traffic congestion. However, despite this concern, a majority of respondents expressed that police intervention is not the solution to the homeless crisis. The survey conducted by the Portland Budget Office involved 5,000 residents, with almost half identifying homelessness as the city&#8217;s primary issue, followed by living costs and traffic congestion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1989813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1989811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1989811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1989813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1989811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1989811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1989811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}