Unintended Consequences Of Portland's Attempt To Help The Homeless

See In Portland, Art Therapy and Other Lures for the Homeless: Is the city helping the destitute, or merely attracting more to its neighborhoods? by ETHAN EPSTEIN, WSJ 5-28. Excerpts:

"Straddling Portland's Chinatown and the Pearl District, a neighborhood of reclaimed warehouse spaces, the eight-story Homeless Service Center cost $46.9 million in city, county and federal stimulus funds to construct."

"It's a noble mission. The trouble is there are no time limits for those living in the center's studio apartment units. The job training, GED courses and writing classes that the center will offer will be entirely optional. The center's taxpayer-funded yoga sessions and nutrition classes, meanwhile, will be available to anybody who shows up."

"Over the past two decades, government and nonprofits in the city have built over a thousand shelter beds and provided numerous services, including transition programs, to the homeless. Yet the homeless population continues to rise. A 2009 report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development found that Oregon has the highest rate of homeless people in the country. No doubt some of this is due to the recession, which hit Oregon harder than most states. But Portland has become a real destination for homeless people."

"Portland has justly gained a reputation as a place with a high tolerance for vagrancy."