As homelessness has exploded around the country, so-called advocates have focused energy on badgering people to change the language they use. “Homeless” is out, replaced by either “people experiencing homelessness,” or “the unhoused.” That latter seems to be a deliberate suggestion that some outside force failed “to house” people in order to take away any responsibility for being homeless from the person themselves.
But no matter what language is used, the alleged “solutions” to the problem are coming up short. It turns out that despite the pie-eyed optimism of advocates who believe homelessness can be “solved” by simply giving people free homes, it doesn’t work out that way.
Few will be surprised to learn that uber-progressive Portland, Oregon, is learning this lesson in real time. Those who live in the University Park neighborhood of Portland say the homeless residents who moved into a new “tiny home” complex have driven crime through the roof.
Portland opened this tiny-house-homeless-shelter in July of 2023. It’s a piece of land with itty bitty “tiny homes” that are heated and air conditioned, and come with one free meal a day to anyone who is occupying one. The total cost for this free room and board has already exceeded $44 million, and Portland officials are hungrily eyeing another $206 million from Joe Biden’s “American Rescue Plan” legislation. Actually, it’s money from you and other American taxpayers.
Surprise, surprise, lawlessness is now out of control. The daintily named Peninsula Crossing Safe Rest Village appears to be the cause of most of it. From the time it opened in July, 2023, to that time this year in 2024, crime has almost doubled, and it’s not just rumor: police reports back it up. From 2022 to 2023, the neighborhood reported 482 crimes. A year later after the village opened, that total was up to 923.
Residents report increased theft, public disorder, and breaking and entering into people’s cars, for example.
Peninsula Crossing Safe Rest Village is one of six similar facilities in the city. Other cities, such as Burlington, Vermont, have constructed similar tiny home “villages” for the homeless.
Peninsula Crossing Safe Rest Village was built in response to Multnomah County’s homeless population skyrocketing by 21 percent in 2022, according to the Portland Mercury.
