Seems all this is nothing new. Portland had shanty towns once before.
Homelessness was present before the Great Depression, and hobos and tramps were common sights before 1929. Most large cities built municipal lodging houses for them, but the depression exponentially increased demand. The homeless now clustered in shanty towns close to free soup kitchens. These settlements were often formed on empty land and generally consisted of tents and small shacks. Authorities did not officially recognize these Hoovervilles and occasionally removed the occupants for trespassing on private lands, but they were frequently tolerated or ignored out of necessity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooverville
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hoooverville_williamette.jpg
http://www.koin.com/2013/08/28/fight-over-burnside-homeless-camp/
But we have a “10-year plan to end homelessness” so we’re going to lick the problem once and for all!
FASCINATING! So, what you’re saying, Anon, is that homelessness also happened in the past, and that finding an adequate location for them to hang their hats has always been a problem.
Next up, on today’s edition of ‘Counter Arguments to Nonexistent Arguments’:
Seems all this rain in Portland is nothing new. Back in 1929, it rained. It even rained here in 1928, one year before 1929. Occasionally Portlanders constructed systems to divert it into drains, but it was frequently tolerated or ignored out of necessity.
Actually, it didn’t used to rain in Portland. There was only a continual, fine, light, mist, back when Foster Road was only a dirt path through a thick forest of old growth fur trees. The mist turned to rain after the trees were cut.
What makes the old shanty town story relevant is the way that history is repeating itself in Old Town., today.
Do you really think the people living in those tents at Burnside are really going to move all the way over to Broadway? If that is where they wanted to be, that would have been their first choice.
How about letting them sleep on the floors of the hallways in the basement of Peter Stott Center at Portland State University, adjacent to the locker rooms, where they can get up in time to shower so that the janitors can clean before classes start?
That way, the PSU Safety Patrollers won’t have to search all over campus at night to find them and will more easily be able to kick them while they sleep.
‘Dignity’ Village is enough.