Controversial Oregon bill that would have made camp ‘sweeps’ illegal gets national attention

The legislation, House Bill 3501, is dead — having missed the deadline to advance in this legislative session. However, there will still be public testimony on it later this week

[caracoates]

They let them camp with barely any consequences for over three years. Look how that played out. Ridiculous!

[Jms]

If they’re going to let people set up camp wherever they want, then they should also drop property taxes on home owners

[johnnygavin]

So it's ok to ruin the businesses?

[davidwood]

The people pushing this bill need to have a camp next to their home. As soon as possible.

[nikkicole]

Living in Oregon has been my lifelong dream and now that I'm here it is being ruined. Remember the 20th Century when Oregon was a jewel of a city that people were proud of????

[Netizen_]

W….t…..f…..whoever supports that bill can open their home to them. WHO WANTS TO LIVE IN A CITY FULL OF TENTS ON PUBLIC STREETS? They really wanna drive the tax payers away, then they’re left with bunch of vacant properties for the tents.

[Dagreenberg]

Stop this bill in its tracks at every juncture

[Chris-emfl]

Vote those those elected officials out. What a joke..

[justincase]

And Portland keeps voting for these people.

[AlexandarHullRichter]

There's a line between being compassionate, and enabling bad decisions. One is something we must do. The other is not compassionate.

[beckyparker]

It should be the tax payers suing the homeless for stealing public property. We also need to stop paying taxes to maintain these properties-they belong to the homeless- let them contribute for a change.

[Sunshine-lovd]

That is extremely insulting to animals. Whomever introduced this bill, should open their front yards and homes for all the homeless. If you’re so kind, caring and compassionate. And the public will find out who you all are !

To all the homeless playing the victim. We understand that many of you were born from a drug addicted, street walking, mentally I’ll mother alongside an alcoholic father that probably should have not procreated to begin with. You did not choose to be born, especially under such unwanted circumstances. Plus many of you were probably thrown away and discarded at a young age. But these are not excuses to continue to fail and be a burden to society especially when there are programs to help you alongside other options. Lacking responsibility and choosing a life of drugs and alcohol use (for whom it may apply) is self sabotaging and you will not receive any form of compassion from the rest of the working population. What will happen if everyone just stopped working ? Who would the government tax then to pay for stuff? Society will collapse. But maybe that’s what they want.

[garys.]

Put them into Work Camps out in the desert. Problem solved.

[crabkilla]

Look . . . nothing is going to change until the law-abiding, tax-paying citizens stand up for THEIR RIGHTS.

[alphacharlietango]

No one should be living on the street.

[garbagemanbear]

How about these homeless people camp in front of these politicians houses.

[redtrinitygirl]

They can't even keep public porta potty's for these people! The city has tried and they get trashed.

[ckmbyrnes]

The two homeless people they highlighted are perfect examples of why people have problems with the homeless. Josephine Allen is disabled and poor; aren't there programs to help someone like this? Isn't there city, state and federal housing available to get people like this into any housing? Granted, the waiting list is probably long, but it seems like she had been on the street for years. If she were on a list her number would have come up by now, shouldn't it?

The other man, Charles Lindsay, is the more extreme case. He seem, by the brief view, healthy and able to work. He is well dressed and articulate. Why doesn't he have a job? He could have a number of good jobs that would get him off the streets immediately. If he doesn't like the work in the city, they are always looking for strong young men to work on the farms in the east of the state. Why is he still here, homeless, then?

[mikef]

That has to be the world DUMBEST BILL in the history of the world. Please drive out all the business owners, homeowners and see who will pay the taxes to pay these politician's salaries.

[OpinionPiece]

Mental evaluations need to be done on many of these homeless people along with drug interventions, it's quite clear they are not just all 'down on their luck'. Oregon is enabling not helping them.