PORTLAND, Ore. – On a sidewalk affected by tarps, bicycles and discarded meals containers, one tent sat farther away from the remaining. It was clear, with the rain fly eliminated, showcasing the vacant inside.
“That is an empty tent erected by activists to encourage individuals to stay in tents,” Kevin Dahlgren stated.
Kevin Dahlgren, a drug and alcohol counselor, appears to be like into an empty tent erected close to occupied tents on a Portland sidewalk on Feb. 17, 2023. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox Information Digital)
Dahlgren’s day job is decreasing homelessness within the Metropolis of Gresham, however he spends most of his free time speaking to those that stay on the streets of Portland. He usually posts movies of his conversations on Twitter, hoping to make clear the West Coast’s “dysfunctional system” for addressing homelessness.
Throughout his 27 years in social providers, Dahlgren stated he is seen a shift from everlasting options to Band-Support approaches.
“While you’re not truly serving to the everlasting options, the previous homeless keep there and the brand new homeless are available in and every part simply grows,” he stated.
Oregon has one of many highest charges of homelessness within the nation. An estimated 17,959 individuals have been homeless within the state in the course of the nationwide depend final yr, 11,000 of whom have been unsheltered, in line with the Division of Housing and City Improvement.
The state — and its largest metropolis — have struggled to reverse the pattern.
“I have not seen any actually everlasting options being provided to anyone,” stated Anthony, who instructed Fox Information he turned homeless earlier this yr. “Probably the most that I’ve seen is simply, , ‘Right here, let me provide you with a very skinny blanket. Let me provide you with a tent.’”
Anthony instructed Dahlgren he is sober, so Dahlgren really useful he take a look at a transitional housing facility in North Portland.
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About 80% of the homeless have a historical past of dependancy, Dahlgren stated. Within the wake of Oregon’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization effort, open air drug use has turn into the norm, and bystanders have turn into “desensitized,” in line with Anthony.
“They’re going to do their medicine proper in entrance of cops and the cops do not do something,” he added. “Which, I imply that is good that the cops aren’t ruining their lives much more.”
Widespread fentanyl is growing overdose deaths and desperation amongst Portland’s homeless inhabitants, Dahlgren stated, contributing to the town’s rampant property crime.
“I do not, like, steal from shops. I attempt to maintain every part like authorized as greatest I can,” stated Josh, 33, as he huddled in a doorway for heat on a chilly February day, a lighter clutched in his hand and a blackened piece of tinfoil at his ft. “I personally simply panhandle.”
Nonprofits in Portland distribute clear syringes, pipes and overdose-reversing naloxone — providers they name hurt discount.
“The quantity of lives that I’ve saved with the Narcan is wonderful,” stated Matthew, who has been homeless off-and-on since 2013. “I’ve saved like, 20 individuals.”
Kevin Dahlgren speaks with Josh, 33, about his expertise with dependancy and dwelling on the streets of Portland. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox Information Digital)
However Dahlgren referred to as Portland’s present method to dependancy and homelessness “all hurt and no discount.”
“They will not even supply the sobriety resolution or the restoration resolution,” Dahlgren stated. “You are giving an individual who already lacks crucial considering and rational thought the means to proceed to make use of, and that is insane to me. And it feels at occasions actually inhumane.”
Not one of the homeless individuals Fox Information spoke with had been inspired to get dependancy therapy or discover a approach off the streets. Matthew stated he is by no means even been approached by an outreach employee.
“I am the primary outreach employee to speak to him in 9 years in Portland, Oregon,” Dahlgren stated. “I hear this on daily basis. So the place are they?”
With tons of of unsanctioned camps unfold throughout 146 sq. miles, it is “unattainable to rent sufficient outreach staff to meaningfully join individuals to providers, together with shelter,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler stated in a current video.
That’s a part of the rationale Wheeler has pushed for the creation of six massive, city-sanctioned homeless camps, regardless of fierce opposition from some residents who likened them to “focus camps.”
“There’s nothing humane concerning the state of affairs on Portland’s streets,” Wheeler stated. “Our collective purpose ought to be to get rid of unsanctioned, unsheltered tenting in Portland.”
Wheeler expects the primary of these camps to open by summer season and maintain as much as 150 people, KOIN 6 reported.
Kevin Dahlgren approaches a person in a wheelchair who’s lacking each his legs. A lady wrapped in a blanket lies on the sidewalk close by. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox Information Digital)
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Dahlgren helps the town’s plan for designated tenting spots, calling it a “good first step.”
“Plenty of homeless that I’ve met proper now will not be eager about any sort of housing,” he stated. “They wish to be outside for a wide range of causes. It might be trauma, might be the dependancy, it might be that is the place their household is and transition off the streets could be very tough.”
Dahlgren stated he sees “a lot potential in everyone on the streets” and hopes to proceed serving to people construct a future for themselves.
“That ought to be the primary purpose with homeless outreach,” Dahlgren stated. “How will we make them self-sufficient? How will we make them thrive?”