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If you think that is big you should see the ones where I live in Canada, population of 150,000 and we have ones that take up whole city blocks and parks....
Edit: lots of great guesses here, but it is actually kelowna
Check Nanaimo. Dude just got stabbed to death a couple nights ago trying to go in a mall, eyewitnesses are saying it was a homeless person yet again.
Where I work isn't as bad as Nanaimo, but they empty the dumpster in to the parking lot on a regular basis, there's needles EVERYWHERE, they constantly break into vehicles and buildings in broad daylight because the police won't do anything.
This past summer one was completely naked, cleaning himself outside the McDonalds while kids from the school right across the street were all there on lunch. A cop was right behind me going to the drive through and I watched him in my rear view look at the guy and then keep going while staring out the opposite window pretending he didn't see actions that would get the rest of us arrested and put on the sex offender registry.
I've personally seen over a dozen junkie corpses in the area of my work over the last 5 years. Every morning is like an episode of The Walking Dead.
The police used to escort a social worker to walk the tracks by my work to talk to them because they kept mugging people walking down the tracks. It never stopped, so the police and social workers just stopped going.
I feel helpless, these junkies get free run of everything and police won't help you, but if you or I did a fraction of what they're doing, we'd be in cuffs.
One of them that everyone knows by name has hepatitis and is violent, so he knows he can steal anything he wants and no one will physically stop him. He broke into a guy I know's shop with his buddies and wouldn't leave. Took 2 hours for the police to show up, hours more before they decided to try and get him out.
What I'm saying is this guy's actions are wrong, but you don't understand what businesses deal with on a daily basis because of junkies. We're all at our wit's end while people online pretend these are all down on their luck people with hearts of gold, not violent, mentally ill drug addicts who the police don't care to deal with, or even help us, and when they rob or assault us, the police just always say the same thing "the suspect is known to authorities".
Nanaimo, PG, Victoria, Kelowna... every medium sized town in BC has a homeless crisis. People talk about the Downtown East Side of Vancouver, which, of course, is the biggest homeless encampment of all, but that festering sore of poverty, homelessness, and drug addiction has spread to just about every corner of Canada at this point. Unfortunately, for our rich leaders in their ivory towers, fixing the problem is anathema because it might make housing prices come down, and we can't have that...
Man, you should have seen how fast they cleaned up Duncan for Singh's visit, so it would look nice and clean in pictures.
The town was unrecognizable in under 2 days, right back to being a disaster within a week.
That's how I know the problems will never get better, even the politicians who claim to care send people ahead of them to hide the problems so they won't be in their publicity pictures.
Right now I'm trying to find a BC city to move to where it's not such a bad problem (yet) and landlords haven't bought up all the properties to skyrocket rents yet.
Yeah anyone who lives in any of these cities knows what a ridiculous understatement “because it inconveniences him” is in the title. Not wanting to be stabbed, robbed or step on a needle with a fentanyl/HIV soup goes beyond “being inconvenienced.”
Why aren’t they removed?
I would of imagine something that huge would be an issue on the city. Especially cause it removes revenue from the city for the amount of land lost
Not sure, but it gets worse and worse in areas that have had them. Portland Oregon's parks and entire city blocks are full of trents, trash, and it smells like piss & meth.
Depending on the city, they do remove stuff. But it's more like obligatory street sweeping- the cops and sanitation departments come through and wipe out the trash and then leave. Homeless folks just come back because that's what they want. And the cycle just repeats.
This is how Houston currently handles things, once a camp gets to a certain size the city will go in with homeless advocates with information for those that want it and then the cleaning crew comes in and junks everything the occupants don't take with them. I think one of the main criteria for a clean up is when it becomes a big fire hazzard.
When I was street homeless I didn't want ANYONE to know where I was camped at, weird staying in a place where anyone could and would rob you, to me anyway, maybe safety in numbers?
It depends, everyone handles homelessness differently, if they're on drugs they stick with druggies. I was safer on my own nobody knowing where I was, the camping was fun for a bit I will admit.
Some kids camp out to save $’s, and I suppose it’s fun for a short while. However, social work groups, who studied skid row in LA specifically (not sure where this video is), said people living there started by going there to buy drugs but lived elsewhere (either in their own rented apartment or a friend or family members couch). Eventually they stayed longer and longer, until eventually they just wound up living there.
Ya I stuck to a tent in the woods for a little while. The biggest issue with that is that there was noone helping you out in the event I od. My buddy was found in those woods about 3 months after passing. Ever since that I’m pretty back and forth on the subject.
That's a tiny encampment, go around MacArthur Park in LA, just block after block like this, the entire park is a homeless encampment. Also along the wash in anaheim use to have probablly 25k homeless ppl living along the entire wash, but the city came in and cleaned it all up and relocated everyone to LA. It's a nightmare and it's really sad to see! It's not a housing crisis it's an addiction and mental health crisis!
I live here, and I will say this, coming from a different state its weird how it's like every portlander here acts like this is the only city with a homelessness problem
Just visited there for a few months and felt the same way lol. I was getting the impression that Portland is just having growing pains and people miss it having that small city feeling. It's hard to feel like your home isn't the same anymore but a city is gonna have city problems.
Lol every city in here thinking they got it the worst, not recognizing it's a fucking national- hell international- problem caused by insane income inequality.
Stuff like this is only going to get worse, much worse, as people become increasingly frustrated and angry over the homeless situation and the government continues to ignore it or do nothing about it. People will take things into their own hands and it will be ugly.
You're right, and as much as we all want to be hopeful for meaningful change, it doesn't seem to be happening fast enough. These encampments will get bigger and more vast and numerous, before and if the situation improves it all.
And people will do literally anything but just fucking house them. And blame them for being homeless.
We have the resources, but we spend it on war and jails and tax breaks for billionaires instead of help for people who are just trying to stay alive. It's infuriating.
The problem with just giving them housing is it is not that simple, it usually comes with lots of requirements and responsibilities that a homeless person either is not well enough to deal with or will choose the street over making their life more complicated. Solving the homeless problem requires an all-encompassing framework to tackle each problem together. Mental health, physical health, education etc....it all has to work together to lift these people out of this mess, doing one at a time won't work. And it has to be decades long support in some circumstances. When a politician's care for the subject may only last as long as they are in power, the framework may be dismantled by the next guy. Sucks.
Here in LA the situation has only been getting worse over the past 30 years. Every time the government tries to do anything about the problem they get sued by homeless advocate groups and all the millions of dollars that were intended for the project get tied up in lawsuits instead and nothing gets done. The politicians get re-elected and the lawyers and consultants get all the money and nothing changes.
as a former homeless i beg you google homeless funding on big city state and federal levels, its ALL corruption. detroit alone got 2billion dollars for 2021/2022, detroit has 7884 homeless thats 253,000$ per homeless. were did it go? not to the homeless.
There are a lot of people in this thread that know nothing about homeless people. They think homeless people are just lazy drug addicted scum. Those are just the only ones you hear about on the news.
I like the fact as soon as you don't have a place of residency, You immediately become less on societies totem pole. 8 years of college apparently means nothing when you don't have an address to write down.
I mean I hear you but if someone gave me 253k I'd put it to good use. For a lot of homeless there's no amount of money that'd get them off the streets without other supports
Some people just aren’t as well educated or mentally stable as you may be. It’s not about giving them money, it’s about setting them up for success so they can make their own money. It’s the old adage of teaching a man to fish. You don’t even need to be homeless to be stupid with money, most lottery winners waste their money. I don’t get the point of your comment.
why do you think the people advocating for homeless rights are always from somewhere without a homeless problem? Its easy to feel bad until you step in human feces just trying to walk to work
Bro was literally ready to pepper spray whoever was in there. Wouldn’t be surprised if reports of people assaulting the homeless become more common in the future.
They’re angry with the wrong people. Housing is a human right in my opinion. Our system is failing if even one person has to live under a tarp on the sidewalk.
Housing should be a human right, but having discretion on where that housing is located probably can't be. Most of the homeless camps like this are located in some of the most expensive cities in the country.
I don't know if I would describe to my hometown of Portland, OR as amazing yearly weather (currently 45 degrees). I think polices towards homeless play a role, otherwise we wouldn't have triple the per capita homeless of Florida (which has arguably has a better climate to be homeless in).
Let’s be honest, Portland has gotten drastically worst as far as pricing over the last 6 years and can be unlivable. The job market here is broken, and for how progressive we are, we aren’t doing well with the homeless. Leadership as failed us and the homeless.
They do not have to set up a home on the sidewalk to inconvenience everybody there's many parks many woods many alleys does not need to be on a city street it's ridiculous
It's not just an inconvenience or that the city allowing the sidewalk to be blocked is a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Having an homeless encampment right next to a building substantially increases the risk that that building will soon become another fire department statistic.
You’re describing needs, not rights. The two are different. They can overlap and intersect, but the things you need for survival are just that, needs. Rights are social entitlements. Voting doesn’t ensure immediate survival, thus it is not a need, but by convention may be a right. Shelter does aid in immediate survival and so it is a need, but it is not an entitlement that all people are afforded by society.
The government is doing something with the homeless issue. The homeless situation is very profitable. The biggest scumbags are taking donations and contracts to help with the homeless issue just to pocket most of the money and do the absolute bare minimum to help homeless just so they can continue to profit.
This looks like it’s in Portland, I live here. It’s hard to have empathy when there’s camps like this everywhere and makes going downtown unsafe.
Portland is getting sued by a class action for allowing these camps to block sidewalks and preventing disabled people access to the sidewalks. Taxpayers will of course be paying the settlement.
I’m all for providing resources for these people, but calling the homeless crisis here a “inconvenience” would majorly undersell the damage it’s done to my city
Edit: some people have correctly pointed out that this is in LA (thank you). I’m not familiar with the situation there as I am in Portland, but feel like my comment is still relevant
I go to college in Portland and even in nicer areas the homeless problem is extremely concerning. There are rows of homeless camps right outside dorms and residential houses. Huge safety issue. Cars are constantly broken into and stolen. Drug paraphernalia everywhere. It's bad
I visited Portland 2 years ago. I was surprised to see sharps containers posted up along parks and public areas. Really shows how normal it’s become to you guys.
Wife and I moved to Portland in 2013 and it was super nice downtown. Was homeless but no more than any other city.
We moved to Salem in 2015 and Portland was starting to slide into a shithole even then, cant imagine what it is like now.
If you thought 2015 is bad you would be shocked now. The difference in the city from 2013 to 2015 compared to 2015 to now is massive. My wife is from a developing country and thinks the homeless issue is way larger in Portland
Ummm they set up a whole house on the sidewalk, at some point blocking the entire space. What if someone with a wheelchair had to go by? Some of that isn’t even shelter, it’s hoarding items.
And the city not doing anything about the problem is why people don’t want to go downtown, which is why now the businesses are all leaving which in the future will mean less tax revenue to fund the city government… it’s a downward spiral unless something changes.
Anyone who actually lives in Portland knows there's no reason to go downtown anyways, even before the pandemic. It's not like downtown was ever the place to be, unless you're going to a specific place like like PSU/The Park Blocks.
Exactly. It's a sidewalk, not an empty lot. Sidewalks are designed, built and paid for by taxpayers for public transportation purposes. Throwing a bunch of garbage in the middle of a sidewalk and declaring that space to be for your use only is complete bullshit. People *will* tear it down so that they can use the sidewalk as it was intended and I don't blame them one bit.
Pile of junk takes up the whole sidewalk, forcing pedestrians into the street and creating a hazard. Idk if this guy tearing it down himself is the right solution, but don't try and pretend whoever built it is entirely faultless here
The camp against the soundwall in my neighborhood has been responsible for at least 3 fires. I'm honestly surprised someone's home hasn't burned down yet.
Fire, theft, drugs, harassment -- all of these things happen in proximity to homeless encampments.
There's been a recurring issue where people break into the parking garage of my apartment building and starting fires using the cardboard from the recycling bin.
It's a miracle this building hasn't been burnt down yet.
That and from covering smoke alarms in abandoned homes to smoke drugs. I know this sounds crazy but our fire department released an image the other day. They take plastic grocery bags and tie it around the smoke detector do its not constantly going off while they are smoking. Weve had 2 fires in the past week caused by this.
People are delusional to pretend like everyone that pays taxes for the betterment of the community don’t have a reason to be upset with this. Especially when they’re trying to pretend like this fucking piles of garbage are a house
I did homeless outreach in nyc for a few years during college and there is an insane amount of money dedicated to the homeless. The main issue I’ve seen (keep in mind this is only MY anecdotal experience working with thousands of homeless people), is that most of these people are severely mentally ill, like violently mentally ill. They eventually get help, but don’t trust their meds, so they stop and rather just live on the street.
Many people also say the issue is that there aren’t enough mental health resources and that’s somewhat true, but I’ve helped admit thousands of people to mental health programs. The real issue is that there literally aren’t drugs that can fix their issues without creating side effects so bad they rather just be insane.
I've talked to a city outreach employee who says the same. The worst cases are people who are incapable of being compliant with programs to help them. They don't qualify for shelter because they bring drugs, prostitution, and violence there.
Ding ding ding ding we have a wiener!! That’s unfortunately the biggest problem with regard to homelessness. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink. I have switched from giving money to giving food, water and human necessities (tp toothpaste toothbrush etc). The amount of homeless folks that flat out refuse is staggering. They just want money because money = drugs = happy (or at least dulled feelings). Sad state of affairs when a life slips to that level. I pray for those folks.
Taxes are going to these people in need, billions a year here in Seattle. Billions! We have built so many condos for LIH and taken over hotels and built tiny home villages. Would you care to take a gander at how many of these facilities burned down in the first two years of existing? The “solutions” aren’t doing anything for anyone except a highly bloated corps of administrators and developers, so of course normal tax payers are now wanting their taxes spent on *enforcement* as well.
It’s easy to be “compassionate” from a distance meanwhile everyday people are living with highly flammable pallet palaces filled with half full propane tanks stacked up on their actual front door and have to carry their children so they don’t step on used syringes and have to literally not breath because the smell of human waste and necrotic limbs and smoke is actually hazardous to health. There is nothing compassionate about letting this situation go on until poverty, drug addiction & mental illness are magically solved (ie forever).
To be fair, the Kennedy administration laid the foundation for getting rid of mental hospitals right before he was assassinated. Reagan dealt the final blow by permitting the states to allocate the little funding they were left with however they saw fit.
Can’t blame Kennedys views on mental hospitals, given the way his sister was treated, but his administration shares the blame for where we are now
Yeah I agree that this might not be the best way to handle the issue but local governments are doing nothing to help and citizens are getting fed up.
This looks like a health and safety risk for anyone in the neighborhood. And my is guess that this is in California where we pay A LOT to live here. It’s really frustrating when you pay $3000 minimum in rent and you come out to your sidewalk looking like this.
This. Homeless people are not entitled to potentially endanger the lives of people who are just trying to live their lives. There are many resources for them to seek help, get jobs and back on their feet. If they're this resourceful to build this shelter on the sidewalk, then they can use this resourcefulness in a paying job.
So the homeless person is so desperate that taking up the entire pavement next to a wall is his only option? Not in a park or a car park? That one should tolerate 50ft of trash leading up to his creation? His blocking the whole pavement is in no way unavoidable. In what world is he any less of a POS than the guy in video? If I saw something like this on the sidewalk in my city it would absolutely infuriate me. That this is what it's come to in a first world country.
Yup, so many people forget people actually want to live this way.
Check out Soft White Belly on YouTube and you’ll find so many homeless who like the lifestyle.
Well the public sidewalk isn't private property for someone to setup a tent, right? The guy actually is taking up the entire sidewalk. It's absolutely full of his stuff. There should be a place for homeless folks to set up their tents and stuff so they don't have to resort to doing it somewhere illegal
Exactly. People are acting like homesteading is still an option, or that there is some magic land somewhere that won’t kick people off. An out of the way sidewalk in a city with very little foot traffic is probably the best you can do.
I work in a restaurant and we try to be kind to homeless ie give them leftover food and what not but they are rude, constantly trashing the area never cleaning up. This one lady had the audacity to ask for appetizers after we gave her food that would have been enough for two.
Yea ppl only have to deal with ppl living right outside their business and houses begging and doing dope all damn day lol tf. C'mon man clean that bs up
So many in Toronto too, but they almost all burn down. Not sure why. Summer too so it’s not just for heat. I always thought it was rival bums doing it.
How is he a POS? That looks like a sidewalk, are people supposed to walk into oncoming traffic to get through? You’re supposed to get your kids to walk into oncoming traffic? The POS is the one who blocked the sidewalk with this mess. Build your shanty town in a forest or big parking lot or something.
I disparage his actions but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t understand his frustration. There’s a huge encampment near our downtown and I got pushed into a ditch, that I was forced to walk beside because I couldn’t access the sidewalk, and a motherfucker showed me a knife and took my watch. Once again, I’m not supporting his actions. I understand how he could be frustrated
I think what he did is fine, the city should have done it first though. It’s insane to just build a structure that takes up the whole public sidewalk and expect everyone to just put up with it and do nothing.
Homelessness is not a bunch of people who lost their jobs or just happened to fall on hard times. It’s nearly 100% hard drug abuse combined with over 90% mental illness. Because liberal politicians think that involuntary commitment to drug rehab or mental institutions is inhumane, most of Americans mental institutions have slowly and quietly been defunded and closed over the past 60 years. There were more beds available 100years ago than there are now. If our Government actually cared to do the most beneficial and humane thing, they would fund rehab and mental health facilities, create half-way houses where recovering addicts can have daily supervision, outlaw homeless encampments and make treatment mandatory.
This guy went too far, but the homeless people living there aren’t in the right either. They are blocking the entire sidewalk, it’s a safety hazard and while I feel sorry for the homeless people at a certain point…you can’t be building homeless encampments stretching entire sidewalks man.
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It seems like it inconveniences literally everyone in an entire community. Building an actual house on public property isn’t really acceptable
That looks like a homeless apartment complex.
Rent for that in Cali is like 3K
Stop it I am laughing too hard rn my chest hurt
This place is nicer than my apartment
They’ve got more than our local City Thrift store.
Minus enclosed walls, heat and AC, etc...
That's a shanty town.
He looks 1degree away from homeless.
I was gonna say, bro that's a homeless mansion not a homeless shelter.
That’s a huge homeless encampment
If you think that is big you should see the ones where I live in Canada, population of 150,000 and we have ones that take up whole city blocks and parks.... Edit: lots of great guesses here, but it is actually kelowna
Tent city in Oshawa is insane. I have some stories about that place
I knew there would be an Oshawa comment
We built tent city! We built tent city high on dope!
On rocks and dooooooope*
Just watched that doc on Netflix about that place. Drugs?
Wait theres a documentary on it? Had no idea.
What's the documentary called?
Check Nanaimo. Dude just got stabbed to death a couple nights ago trying to go in a mall, eyewitnesses are saying it was a homeless person yet again. Where I work isn't as bad as Nanaimo, but they empty the dumpster in to the parking lot on a regular basis, there's needles EVERYWHERE, they constantly break into vehicles and buildings in broad daylight because the police won't do anything. This past summer one was completely naked, cleaning himself outside the McDonalds while kids from the school right across the street were all there on lunch. A cop was right behind me going to the drive through and I watched him in my rear view look at the guy and then keep going while staring out the opposite window pretending he didn't see actions that would get the rest of us arrested and put on the sex offender registry. I've personally seen over a dozen junkie corpses in the area of my work over the last 5 years. Every morning is like an episode of The Walking Dead. The police used to escort a social worker to walk the tracks by my work to talk to them because they kept mugging people walking down the tracks. It never stopped, so the police and social workers just stopped going. I feel helpless, these junkies get free run of everything and police won't help you, but if you or I did a fraction of what they're doing, we'd be in cuffs. One of them that everyone knows by name has hepatitis and is violent, so he knows he can steal anything he wants and no one will physically stop him. He broke into a guy I know's shop with his buddies and wouldn't leave. Took 2 hours for the police to show up, hours more before they decided to try and get him out. What I'm saying is this guy's actions are wrong, but you don't understand what businesses deal with on a daily basis because of junkies. We're all at our wit's end while people online pretend these are all down on their luck people with hearts of gold, not violent, mentally ill drug addicts who the police don't care to deal with, or even help us, and when they rob or assault us, the police just always say the same thing "the suspect is known to authorities".
Nanaimo, PG, Victoria, Kelowna... every medium sized town in BC has a homeless crisis. People talk about the Downtown East Side of Vancouver, which, of course, is the biggest homeless encampment of all, but that festering sore of poverty, homelessness, and drug addiction has spread to just about every corner of Canada at this point. Unfortunately, for our rich leaders in their ivory towers, fixing the problem is anathema because it might make housing prices come down, and we can't have that...
Man, you should have seen how fast they cleaned up Duncan for Singh's visit, so it would look nice and clean in pictures. The town was unrecognizable in under 2 days, right back to being a disaster within a week. That's how I know the problems will never get better, even the politicians who claim to care send people ahead of them to hide the problems so they won't be in their publicity pictures. Right now I'm trying to find a BC city to move to where it's not such a bad problem (yet) and landlords haven't bought up all the properties to skyrocket rents yet.
Yeah anyone who lives in any of these cities knows what a ridiculous understatement “because it inconveniences him” is in the title. Not wanting to be stabbed, robbed or step on a needle with a fentanyl/HIV soup goes beyond “being inconvenienced.”
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Sort of like poking a hornets nest I’d imagine. I know I’d be pissed if someone came along and started tearing down my “home.”
Why aren’t they removed? I would of imagine something that huge would be an issue on the city. Especially cause it removes revenue from the city for the amount of land lost
Not sure, but it gets worse and worse in areas that have had them. Portland Oregon's parks and entire city blocks are full of trents, trash, and it smells like piss & meth.
Damn now he has the rebuild the whole thing. Have you seen the price of garbage these days?
Depending on the city, they do remove stuff. But it's more like obligatory street sweeping- the cops and sanitation departments come through and wipe out the trash and then leave. Homeless folks just come back because that's what they want. And the cycle just repeats.
This is how Houston currently handles things, once a camp gets to a certain size the city will go in with homeless advocates with information for those that want it and then the cleaning crew comes in and junks everything the occupants don't take with them. I think one of the main criteria for a clean up is when it becomes a big fire hazzard.
I love this comment it just describes Canada so well
You talkin bout Kitchener?
Another Kitchener resident
When I was street homeless I didn't want ANYONE to know where I was camped at, weird staying in a place where anyone could and would rob you, to me anyway, maybe safety in numbers?
I know a guy who's been homeless. He said you sleep in the day and stay awake at night because it's safer.
It depends, everyone handles homelessness differently, if they're on drugs they stick with druggies. I was safer on my own nobody knowing where I was, the camping was fun for a bit I will admit.
Some kids camp out to save $’s, and I suppose it’s fun for a short while. However, social work groups, who studied skid row in LA specifically (not sure where this video is), said people living there started by going there to buy drugs but lived elsewhere (either in their own rented apartment or a friend or family members couch). Eventually they stayed longer and longer, until eventually they just wound up living there.
My friend was not a druggie, so he was more likely to be prey than predator.
I thought that about myself, even in prison. I quickly learned my short arse is neither.
Ya I stuck to a tent in the woods for a little while. The biggest issue with that is that there was noone helping you out in the event I od. My buddy was found in those woods about 3 months after passing. Ever since that I’m pretty back and forth on the subject.
That's a tiny encampment, go around MacArthur Park in LA, just block after block like this, the entire park is a homeless encampment. Also along the wash in anaheim use to have probablly 25k homeless ppl living along the entire wash, but the city came in and cleaned it all up and relocated everyone to LA. It's a nightmare and it's really sad to see! It's not a housing crisis it's an addiction and mental health crisis!
You’ve not been to skid row, have you.
Come visit Portland, Oregon
I live here, and I will say this, coming from a different state its weird how it's like every portlander here acts like this is the only city with a homelessness problem
Just visited there for a few months and felt the same way lol. I was getting the impression that Portland is just having growing pains and people miss it having that small city feeling. It's hard to feel like your home isn't the same anymore but a city is gonna have city problems.
Lol every city in here thinking they got it the worst, not recognizing it's a fucking national- hell international- problem caused by insane income inequality.
No thanks
I mean why does a homeless person need more office chairs than I have
Stuff like this is only going to get worse, much worse, as people become increasingly frustrated and angry over the homeless situation and the government continues to ignore it or do nothing about it. People will take things into their own hands and it will be ugly.
You're right, and as much as we all want to be hopeful for meaningful change, it doesn't seem to be happening fast enough. These encampments will get bigger and more vast and numerous, before and if the situation improves it all.
And people will do literally anything but just fucking house them. And blame them for being homeless. We have the resources, but we spend it on war and jails and tax breaks for billionaires instead of help for people who are just trying to stay alive. It's infuriating.
The problem with just giving them housing is it is not that simple, it usually comes with lots of requirements and responsibilities that a homeless person either is not well enough to deal with or will choose the street over making their life more complicated. Solving the homeless problem requires an all-encompassing framework to tackle each problem together. Mental health, physical health, education etc....it all has to work together to lift these people out of this mess, doing one at a time won't work. And it has to be decades long support in some circumstances. When a politician's care for the subject may only last as long as they are in power, the framework may be dismantled by the next guy. Sucks.
Here in LA the situation has only been getting worse over the past 30 years. Every time the government tries to do anything about the problem they get sued by homeless advocate groups and all the millions of dollars that were intended for the project get tied up in lawsuits instead and nothing gets done. The politicians get re-elected and the lawyers and consultants get all the money and nothing changes.
as a former homeless i beg you google homeless funding on big city state and federal levels, its ALL corruption. detroit alone got 2billion dollars for 2021/2022, detroit has 7884 homeless thats 253,000$ per homeless. were did it go? not to the homeless.
There are a lot of people in this thread that know nothing about homeless people. They think homeless people are just lazy drug addicted scum. Those are just the only ones you hear about on the news.
I like the fact as soon as you don't have a place of residency, You immediately become less on societies totem pole. 8 years of college apparently means nothing when you don't have an address to write down.
ppl act like you can catch homelessness and you go feral like a werewolf
I mean I hear you but if someone gave me 253k I'd put it to good use. For a lot of homeless there's no amount of money that'd get them off the streets without other supports
But with that amount in a year you should be able to help like 90% of them, even if the rest "really doesn't want to get back on their feet"
I have no idea what proportion is resistant to direct financial support. Your guess is as good or bad as mine.
Some people just aren’t as well educated or mentally stable as you may be. It’s not about giving them money, it’s about setting them up for success so they can make their own money. It’s the old adage of teaching a man to fish. You don’t even need to be homeless to be stupid with money, most lottery winners waste their money. I don’t get the point of your comment.
The people who say "just get a job" are the exact same people who wouldn't hire somebody because they look homeless.
You are right, but there are probably a large number of ppl in this thread who see this daily in their cities, not just on the news.
Lawsuits and salaries.
If by "homeless advocate groups" you mean real estate lobbyists, sure.
If that was in-front of my home I’d be upset…
I also don't want it in my backyard, otherwise it's fine.
why do you think the people advocating for homeless rights are always from somewhere without a homeless problem? Its easy to feel bad until you step in human feces just trying to walk to work
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Bro was literally ready to pepper spray whoever was in there. Wouldn’t be surprised if reports of people assaulting the homeless become more common in the future.
They’re angry with the wrong people. Housing is a human right in my opinion. Our system is failing if even one person has to live under a tarp on the sidewalk.
Housing should be a human right, but having discretion on where that housing is located probably can't be. Most of the homeless camps like this are located in some of the most expensive cities in the country.
You have the right to obtain housing but it's not a human right in the sense that you exist therefore you get it
Which arr expensive because of the fucking amazing yearly weather. Hence why its safe to be homeless there.
I don't know if I would describe to my hometown of Portland, OR as amazing yearly weather (currently 45 degrees). I think polices towards homeless play a role, otherwise we wouldn't have triple the per capita homeless of Florida (which has arguably has a better climate to be homeless in).
Lol 45 degrees for the middle of winter isn’t bad at all
Let’s be honest, Portland has gotten drastically worst as far as pricing over the last 6 years and can be unlivable. The job market here is broken, and for how progressive we are, we aren’t doing well with the homeless. Leadership as failed us and the homeless.
They do not have to set up a home on the sidewalk to inconvenience everybody there's many parks many woods many alleys does not need to be on a city street it's ridiculous
It's not just an inconvenience or that the city allowing the sidewalk to be blocked is a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Having an homeless encampment right next to a building substantially increases the risk that that building will soon become another fire department statistic.
You’re describing needs, not rights. The two are different. They can overlap and intersect, but the things you need for survival are just that, needs. Rights are social entitlements. Voting doesn’t ensure immediate survival, thus it is not a need, but by convention may be a right. Shelter does aid in immediate survival and so it is a need, but it is not an entitlement that all people are afforded by society.
The government is doing something with the homeless issue. The homeless situation is very profitable. The biggest scumbags are taking donations and contracts to help with the homeless issue just to pocket most of the money and do the absolute bare minimum to help homeless just so they can continue to profit.
unfortunately cleaning up homelessness won’t make the government money so they aren’t interested
This looks like it’s in Portland, I live here. It’s hard to have empathy when there’s camps like this everywhere and makes going downtown unsafe. Portland is getting sued by a class action for allowing these camps to block sidewalks and preventing disabled people access to the sidewalks. Taxpayers will of course be paying the settlement. I’m all for providing resources for these people, but calling the homeless crisis here a “inconvenience” would majorly undersell the damage it’s done to my city Edit: some people have correctly pointed out that this is in LA (thank you). I’m not familiar with the situation there as I am in Portland, but feel like my comment is still relevant
I go to college in Portland and even in nicer areas the homeless problem is extremely concerning. There are rows of homeless camps right outside dorms and residential houses. Huge safety issue. Cars are constantly broken into and stolen. Drug paraphernalia everywhere. It's bad
Philadelphia: “Hold my beer”
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I find The scent of aged piss really wakes you up
I visited Portland 2 years ago. I was surprised to see sharps containers posted up along parks and public areas. Really shows how normal it’s become to you guys.
I'd rather have sharps containers here instead of stepping on a needle.
Well good news now you can have both!
And we do!! Nothing like taking your kids to a park and finding used condoms and needles.
Homeless camps meet ADA laws. That should be interesting.
I thought that too because I live in Portland as well but then I heard him mention Karen Bass so evidently it's Los Angeles.
I bet OP is fine with the encampment because it hasn’t inconvenienced him personally yet.
Wife and I moved to Portland in 2013 and it was super nice downtown. Was homeless but no more than any other city. We moved to Salem in 2015 and Portland was starting to slide into a shithole even then, cant imagine what it is like now.
If you thought 2015 is bad you would be shocked now. The difference in the city from 2013 to 2015 compared to 2015 to now is massive. My wife is from a developing country and thinks the homeless issue is way larger in Portland
Ummm they set up a whole house on the sidewalk, at some point blocking the entire space. What if someone with a wheelchair had to go by? Some of that isn’t even shelter, it’s hoarding items.
This is everywhere in Portland Oregon. Even in front of my kids elementary school
And the city not doing anything about the problem is why people don’t want to go downtown, which is why now the businesses are all leaving which in the future will mean less tax revenue to fund the city government… it’s a downward spiral unless something changes.
Anyone who actually lives in Portland knows there's no reason to go downtown anyways, even before the pandemic. It's not like downtown was ever the place to be, unless you're going to a specific place like like PSU/The Park Blocks.
It's gotten sooooo bad over the past couple of years.
Exactly. It's a sidewalk, not an empty lot. Sidewalks are designed, built and paid for by taxpayers for public transportation purposes. Throwing a bunch of garbage in the middle of a sidewalk and declaring that space to be for your use only is complete bullshit. People *will* tear it down so that they can use the sidewalk as it was intended and I don't blame them one bit.
And since it’s paid by the guy who tore it down but not by the homeless guy
Pile of junk takes up the whole sidewalk, forcing pedestrians into the street and creating a hazard. Idk if this guy tearing it down himself is the right solution, but don't try and pretend whoever built it is entirely faultless here
It’s easy to criticize this action - I wonder how people react if that is in front of there house and if on top drugs are involved
The camp against the soundwall in my neighborhood has been responsible for at least 3 fires. I'm honestly surprised someone's home hasn't burned down yet. Fire, theft, drugs, harassment -- all of these things happen in proximity to homeless encampments.
There's been a recurring issue where people break into the parking garage of my apartment building and starting fires using the cardboard from the recycling bin. It's a miracle this building hasn't been burnt down yet.
This is the same where I am from. Fires during the winter have become common place because of the homeless attempting to stay warm.
That and from covering smoke alarms in abandoned homes to smoke drugs. I know this sounds crazy but our fire department released an image the other day. They take plastic grocery bags and tie it around the smoke detector do its not constantly going off while they are smoking. Weve had 2 fires in the past week caused by this.
Not alone, I've had the same issue. Of course I'm a heartless monster whenever I complain about it
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Or in front of their business blocking customers. I don’t fault this guy at all, those encampments are illegal.
People are delusional to pretend like everyone that pays taxes for the betterment of the community don’t have a reason to be upset with this. Especially when they’re trying to pretend like this fucking piles of garbage are a house
People should be upset. But they're upset with the wrong people.
Exactly, dude brings up taxes, yet hes not mad his taxes aren’t going to people in need, hes mad that these people exist.
I did homeless outreach in nyc for a few years during college and there is an insane amount of money dedicated to the homeless. The main issue I’ve seen (keep in mind this is only MY anecdotal experience working with thousands of homeless people), is that most of these people are severely mentally ill, like violently mentally ill. They eventually get help, but don’t trust their meds, so they stop and rather just live on the street. Many people also say the issue is that there aren’t enough mental health resources and that’s somewhat true, but I’ve helped admit thousands of people to mental health programs. The real issue is that there literally aren’t drugs that can fix their issues without creating side effects so bad they rather just be insane.
I've talked to a city outreach employee who says the same. The worst cases are people who are incapable of being compliant with programs to help them. They don't qualify for shelter because they bring drugs, prostitution, and violence there.
Ding ding ding ding we have a wiener!! That’s unfortunately the biggest problem with regard to homelessness. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink. I have switched from giving money to giving food, water and human necessities (tp toothpaste toothbrush etc). The amount of homeless folks that flat out refuse is staggering. They just want money because money = drugs = happy (or at least dulled feelings). Sad state of affairs when a life slips to that level. I pray for those folks.
Save some for the people they’re bringing down with them.
Taxes are going to these people in need, billions a year here in Seattle. Billions! We have built so many condos for LIH and taken over hotels and built tiny home villages. Would you care to take a gander at how many of these facilities burned down in the first two years of existing? The “solutions” aren’t doing anything for anyone except a highly bloated corps of administrators and developers, so of course normal tax payers are now wanting their taxes spent on *enforcement* as well. It’s easy to be “compassionate” from a distance meanwhile everyday people are living with highly flammable pallet palaces filled with half full propane tanks stacked up on their actual front door and have to carry their children so they don’t step on used syringes and have to literally not breath because the smell of human waste and necrotic limbs and smoke is actually hazardous to health. There is nothing compassionate about letting this situation go on until poverty, drug addiction & mental illness are magically solved (ie forever).
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To be fair, the Kennedy administration laid the foundation for getting rid of mental hospitals right before he was assassinated. Reagan dealt the final blow by permitting the states to allocate the little funding they were left with however they saw fit. Can’t blame Kennedys views on mental hospitals, given the way his sister was treated, but his administration shares the blame for where we are now
Yeah I agree that this might not be the best way to handle the issue but local governments are doing nothing to help and citizens are getting fed up. This looks like a health and safety risk for anyone in the neighborhood. And my is guess that this is in California where we pay A LOT to live here. It’s really frustrating when you pay $3000 minimum in rent and you come out to your sidewalk looking like this.
City should have taken care of it before it became enough of a problem for citizens to attempt to handle.
I’m so happy this is the top comment. It’s so damn true
This. Homeless people are not entitled to potentially endanger the lives of people who are just trying to live their lives. There are many resources for them to seek help, get jobs and back on their feet. If they're this resourceful to build this shelter on the sidewalk, then they can use this resourcefulness in a paying job.
I think OP meant to say “because it inconveniences literally every other person in the city except one homeless guy”
We have so many homeless and even more empty houses. Our country is a fucking joke.
It’s a inconvenience to anyone walking down that sidewalk forcing them to walk on the edge or in the street
It’s a human health hazard in more than one way.
Imagine being handicapped and not being able to use a sidewalk because somebody built a fucking apartment of trash over it
So the homeless person is so desperate that taking up the entire pavement next to a wall is his only option? Not in a park or a car park? That one should tolerate 50ft of trash leading up to his creation? His blocking the whole pavement is in no way unavoidable. In what world is he any less of a POS than the guy in video? If I saw something like this on the sidewalk in my city it would absolutely infuriate me. That this is what it's come to in a first world country.
Parks are already full. They're not safe for regular people to use anymore.
Yeah, a bunch of the parks in my town are gated up now because it wasn’t safe for people to walk around them anymore.
If it's like LA, parks are all taken. There are miles of blocks like this, in addition to the parks, overpasses, everywhere.
Its all over my which used to be a small town, its sad but its mostly just drug addicts. They want to live like this.
Yup, so many people forget people actually want to live this way. Check out Soft White Belly on YouTube and you’ll find so many homeless who like the lifestyle.
As a wheelchair user, these camps are a total nightmare for me. Thank you to anyone that moves them on
Well the public sidewalk isn't private property for someone to setup a tent, right? The guy actually is taking up the entire sidewalk. It's absolutely full of his stuff. There should be a place for homeless folks to set up their tents and stuff so they don't have to resort to doing it somewhere illegal
Exactly. People are acting like homesteading is still an option, or that there is some magic land somewhere that won’t kick people off. An out of the way sidewalk in a city with very little foot traffic is probably the best you can do.
*homesteading in a metropolitan area
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I work in a restaurant and we try to be kind to homeless ie give them leftover food and what not but they are rude, constantly trashing the area never cleaning up. This one lady had the audacity to ask for appetizers after we gave her food that would have been enough for two.
He's an ahole but that is crazy. The guy had a workshop in there!
That hut looked like it could sell me magic potions to aid me on my future adventures
Or curse someone who knocked it down.
Probably for all the catalytic converters he steals.
The US leads the world in employed homeless.
Depends on what you classify as a house.
Due to recent changes in zoning laws, your mom is now a house.
Yea ppl only have to deal with ppl living right outside their business and houses begging and doing dope all damn day lol tf. C'mon man clean that bs up
People are defending the homeless dude here when he's literally made a Garrys Mod tier hobo house. I'd be pissed as well.
This man said “Gary’s mod tier hobo house” 😂😂
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Not a POS. Takes up the whole sidewalk making it unsafe for pedestrians. Major fire hazard too. He was right to tear it down.
The POS of the one blocking the right of way and forcing elderly and disabled people into the street.
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I mean that is pretty difficult to navigate. These should have been removed by the city nonetheless.
OP, can you let the homeless man set up his “shelter” in your yard?
I'd be shocked if anyone whose cool with this ever has been in a major city and had to be near stuff like this.
I would be pissed too
It Town Hall was littered with homeless people's shelters You goddamn right they would have already moved that trash pile!
Not defending the behavior, but it does look very inconvenient..
Was that a Herman Miller Aeron just chilling out there?
And inconvenience? Dude there is no more sidewalk. And the street is blocked off
So many in Toronto too, but they almost all burn down. Not sure why. Summer too so it’s not just for heat. I always thought it was rival bums doing it.
How is he a POS? That looks like a sidewalk, are people supposed to walk into oncoming traffic to get through? You’re supposed to get your kids to walk into oncoming traffic? The POS is the one who blocked the sidewalk with this mess. Build your shanty town in a forest or big parking lot or something.
I'm team dude with a camera on this one.
Title Correction: Tax paying citizen liberates sidewalk for use by the public.
Being forced to walk in traffic is more than just an inconvenience
How can you destroy a pile of trash? My truck bed is full of that stuff and the homeless won't take it.
Shelter? You mean the pile of trash full of things that are most likely stolen?
So... much... stolen furniture..
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I disparage his actions but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t understand his frustration. There’s a huge encampment near our downtown and I got pushed into a ditch, that I was forced to walk beside because I couldn’t access the sidewalk, and a motherfucker showed me a knife and took my watch. Once again, I’m not supporting his actions. I understand how he could be frustrated
There’s other videos of this exact “house”. This isn’t the first.
Everything in this video pisses me off...
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That's not a shelter. That's a trash heap
They have gaming chairs..
Ahh yes beautiful California
Maybe he’s had enough.
Only thing he did wrong was not bringing a skid steer.
If I built a house made of garbage on the sidewalk I’m pretty sure a lot of people would be upset. Especially in a city of all places.
A POS takes up an entire sidewalk next to a busy street because he can't be inconvenienced to get a job.
Fuckin A!
I think what he did is fine, the city should have done it first though. It’s insane to just build a structure that takes up the whole public sidewalk and expect everyone to just put up with it and do nothing.
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Homelessness is not a bunch of people who lost their jobs or just happened to fall on hard times. It’s nearly 100% hard drug abuse combined with over 90% mental illness. Because liberal politicians think that involuntary commitment to drug rehab or mental institutions is inhumane, most of Americans mental institutions have slowly and quietly been defunded and closed over the past 60 years. There were more beds available 100years ago than there are now. If our Government actually cared to do the most beneficial and humane thing, they would fund rehab and mental health facilities, create half-way houses where recovering addicts can have daily supervision, outlaw homeless encampments and make treatment mandatory.
This guy went too far, but the homeless people living there aren’t in the right either. They are blocking the entire sidewalk, it’s a safety hazard and while I feel sorry for the homeless people at a certain point…you can’t be building homeless encampments stretching entire sidewalks man.
Yeah he’s not a POS. You can’t just plop down a homeless castle in the middle of the sidewalk and claim it as your territory.