Reply #47: Huge homeless

[libpunkmom]

problem in Portland. I live downtown so it's something I see everyday. If I gave $1 to every person that asked me for money on a daily basis, I would have to carry around at least $100-$150 a day. I take my son to school on the "trolley" every morning, on the really cold, rainy mornings, usually one car is full of people camping out, some of the drivers let them camp out for at least on full "run through" just so they can get warm. It's heart breaking to see 2-5 homeless kids sleeping in a doorway right next to a toy store every morning. The public library (Central-main branch) opens at 10 am. Homeless people start lining up around 9:45, they use the restrooms to wash up, change clothes, taking care of their basic hygiene the best they can. An article in Rolling Stone (roughly 2 years ago) was written by a writer who followed a group of "gutter punks" (their name for themselves) around the country. Portland was ranked as their 2nd favorite city in the country (Eugene was #1) because of our social programs for homeless youth and because we are one of the few cities that allows "spanging". I have worked with homeless kids for nearly 15 years (started in college & worked in social services until I quit 4 years ago) and I have seen the homeless problem continuously grow.