Global Courant
A Portland resident speaks out about the city’s new “Safe Rest Village” program for the homeless amid complaints of loud noises late at night and an increase in public drug trafficking.
The Safe Rest Village program provides homeless people with a place to stay, restrooms, laundry facilities, showers and more, according to a description on the Portland city government website.
California-based nonprofit organization Urban Alchemy was brought in to run Portland’s Safe Rest Village site on Peninsula Crossing.
The Portland City Council approved a roughly $50 million contract in April for Urban Alchemy to manage its tiny home program, according to the Oregonian.
A look at Urban Alchemy’s tiny home program in Portland. ((Screenshot/Jesse Watters Primetime))
Urban Alchemy offers homeless people a place to stay. ((Screenshot/ Jesse Watters Primetime))
PORTLAND’S POPULATION FALLS WHILE EXPERIENCING CRIME, HOMELESSNESS AND OTHERS
ABC affiliate KATU 2 spoke to residents in North Portland who live next door to the Safe Rest Village. A homeowner complained about people using drugs on his property, stealing his water, and hearing arguments and yelling nearby. Others say the program fails to identify the source of the problems.
“This is honestly just a Hail Mary. They have no idea if this is going to work. And it’s really… It’s an indication that it hasn’t worked so far,” resident Angela Todd told “Jesse Watters Primetime.” “Our neighborhoods… Every time they put up these kinds of Safe Rest Villages, it’s just (an) area around it of organized crime and drugs. We keep looking at this housing first, instead of looking at our mental health and our drug addiction. looking in the streets of Portland and trying to get people to get real help.”
Todd said the state pours millions of dollars into the “homeless advocacy cartel” every year.
Tents line the sidewalk on SW Clay St in Portland, Oregon, on Dec. 9, 2020. Portland, Oregon City Council members will vote on a resolution banning homeless camping on the street. (AP photo/Craig Mitchelldyer, file)
“The truth is… they don’t want solutions. They want to make these people dependent for life, and they want to take away their purpose so they can pass it on to these non-profits and continue to fund Oregon’s election.” she argued .
PORTLAND FAMILIES FORCED TO SELL THEIR HOMES BECAUSE RISING CONCERN ABOUT HOMELESS CAMPS
“We’re totally fed up with our government taking advantage of people’s suffering and saying they’re compassionate. We’ve got people on the street almost… They’ve let this fester so long, Jesse, that we’ve got people with mental illnesses and mental health, drug addiction. It seems almost incurable. It’s really horrible to see this happen to your city,” explained the founder of PDX Real.
Todd said Portland residents are tired of government solutions and the state is “benefiting from people who are suffering.” She added that the state is seeking to “diagnose people with substance use disorders so they can get a six-month federal Medicaid waiver.”
“They plan to house them and then apply for disability, for permanent housing for the rest of their lives. This proposal, all these proposals, it is the money-hungry cartel of the government and their NGOs in the state of Oregon that benefit from people who suffer,” she told host Jesse Watters.
Kirkpatrick Tyler, Urban Alchemy’s Chief of Government and Community Affairs, told KATU 2 the Safe Rest Village in Portland “provides life-saving housing and services to 68 Portlanders who suffered on the streets just a week ago.”
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“Urban Alchemy is proud of the work we’ve done in partnership with the City of Portland to bring it online. We’re taking immediate steps to add two more practitioners per shift to provide safety and service monitoring and the safe sleep areas involved in identifying unauthorized activities,” the statement continued.
Ashley Carnahan is a production assistant at Fox News Digital.
