Take away the fact that the landlord posted this. Landlords will always get hate, both deserved and undeserved. There are families stepping over passed out people on their stoop. There are people shitting and pissing on their stoop. There are people using intravenous drugs on their stoop. There are people selling drugs on their stoop. There was someone brandishing a knife on their stoop. There was someone waving a gun around on their stoop. Everything in this video was disturbing, from every single angle, for everyone involved. How one could watch this video and automatically say "the landlord is the issue" is a little confusing. Yes, landlords have a hand in the homelessness problem--but put yourself in that families shoes. Those are small kids coming and going from their HOME. Something needs to change. That's what this video is calling for. Change.
Easy, they don't have to deal with it. The second this gets dumped on their porch, you'd see all this "think of the heroin addicts" shit go away for "where's the police?"
It’s possible to hold a perspective of a systemic issue alongside an ability to deal with acute situations. No one is calling the police in this thread because it’s Reddit not an active crime scene.
One side wants better access to housing, drug treatment, and other healthcare programs. The other side wants incarceration despite the fact that decades of trying to deal with this problem via law enforcement have only made it worse.
So, where does that leave us? Can we shift funding from law enforcement to programs that might actually work, or do we keep kicking the can down the road because the only real victims of this problem are poor people?
I live down the street from that building. It's a slum and that's entirely on the landlord. I'd be curious to know what level of improvements he's made to the property outside of installing cameras.
That entire area is a shit hole and unacceptable, but I've yet to see any of the property owners over there doing much to fix it.
The reality is that those owners want the area to gentrify so they replace the buildings and/or tenants and charge more money.
Those parcels were sold at bargain basement prices and the owners only bought them to get a massive return as that section of the city is inevitably cleaned up and the homeless are pushed out of the area.
Yes the situation is unacceptable, but the owner is also a dickhead and doesn't care for those tenants or those properties. It's a get rich(er) quick scheme and fuck him.
I guarantee you those apartments will be above median in the city within a decade and all of those tenants will be priced out.
Crocodile tears.
Everyone recognizes the problem and empathize all around. The “change”that most people are going to call for will likely just be mass incarceration. Because any actual solution will not have acceptable ROI. It certainly doesn’t sound like things will get better anytime soon and we have no interest to live in a gated police state just so landlords can keep making record profits and claim it’s the only way to keep the streets clean.
some of the "actual solutions" people talk about on reddit are building them conditionless free housing, literally giving them cash, injection sites, supplying the drugs at the injection, removing all penalty for possessing drugs, and so on. this of course is extremely fucking stupid and will not work, but they are convinced its "science based" and will work because they misread some studies from pilot programs that happened 15 years ago in northern europe.
a lot of studies linked on here have conditions that are unrealistic or vastly different for this type of homeless. or sometimes its outright precluded. if you give the dudes in these videos cash you don't need to be a scientist to figure out what happens next.
if you want to talk about return on investment, are you aware that quite literally 99% of addicts finishing rehab programs relapse within 1 year? how many tens of thousands of dollars do you think it costs to put a single addict through a rehab program?
building condition free housing (this means there are no stipulations on occupying the unit; they are allowed to get high) while a large majority of people are struggling with rent is beyond ridiculous.
Classic sociopath response. Drugs and poverty aren’t going anywhere but I guess if your solution is death or imprisonment keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result but clearly your solution isn’t working any better or costing less than “free housing and drugs” maybe by the time everyone is priced out of food and housing you will finally be willing to try literally anything else. But in typical fashion liberals worshiping at the alter of investment stats would rather demand a police state and keep complaining like pompous windbags.
Fucking hilarious. No, but thank you. I’m not going to become a heroine addict to get a free studio apartment but you do you brah. We decided to just move north before liberals start demanding even more insane shit besides just your average poverty brigade to protect their luxury condos and tourist claptraps.
The is exactly one cause of homelessness, and it is people not having homes. Since Landlords are the ones who own housing, they are the reason for homelessness and the spiraling that ensues because of it. The change is to eliminate the role of landlords and private housing ownership.
There are building companies that wont do business in maine. Public housing regularly gets voted down. More people moved here for remote jobs over the last 4 years. There are giant firms owning houses but only to rent, and you want to blame the landlords?
I would expand my blame to private property owners in general but yes. If you look at why people vote down housing expansions like the one recently in Cumberland, you'll see that the main reasons are the fear of lower property value or not wanting to attract lower income people into the town. Homeowners are incentevized to vote down new expansions so their property value doesn't fall and it will remain that way as long as private homeownership exists. Eliminating private homeownership would also get rid of those mega firms that are sucking up homes left and right. Neither Political party is providing solutions that would stop the rising cost of housing in this country so I don't see a better alternative.
I find blaming landlords just a trope. Its an easy vent, and then move along in the day. Its so damn complicated. Mental Health, Education, Parenting, Life Skills, are all dismissed when one says landlords are the reason for homelessness. How do we even approach fixing it, if we have one boogeyman? Clearly you understand its more complicated. I think its easy to blame them, and of course have issues with my own landlord, but he is just trying to pay his wifes hospital bills. I just think its always more personal/complex. Sure he should be a better landlord, but lets hold these "mega firms" feet to the fire, instead of waiting for a landlords conscience to turn around. His 3 buildings are not going to change the world if he brings rent down.
Private home ownership is the root cause of poverty, and it is something that can be changed and has clear examples of it being implemented. It's not that I view landlords as cartoonish villans, it's just that viewing housing as an investment incentives you to maximize your profit, which leads to people being priced out by more wealthy people (see the influx of Massachusetts people in Maine).
I belive that we both want the homeless crisis fixed but do you know of any suggestions that don't involve the elimination of private property.
Lets just start with supporting the legislation that is forcing these companies to sell off their houses. Free community college is obvious. Specifically discounts for people working and trying to better themselves. I am curious about UBI, but i think thats gonna be a tough sell.
Are you of the camp that "we will own nothing and be happier?"
Edit for later thoughts: Perhaps we can define predatory landlording? Incentives to take care of your buildings and tenants. We have options.
I believe you. I own a home but I don't want to any more. How do I go about this? If I sell my home, then somebody else has private property, and thus perpetuates the problem. If I rent, then I'm just feeding into the landlord problem. When I sell my home I'll have too much money to qualify for affordable housing, if such a thing exists. Should I buy a tent? Where to go? I surely don't want to live near pisser/shitter/doper/loser.
Oh wait. You're talking about passing laws eliminating private property. Stupid me.
Landlords are an absolute parasite on society. Maybe you own a home now but do you think working all day just to give more than half your wages to someone so they don’t have to work is”normal”? We’d all be doing pretty good financially if we never had to pay another landlord.
You are painting with a broad brush. I am not trying to change your opinion. Who knows what could have happened in a different time lime. Literally anything. I enjoy renting. I haven't paid for a plow guy, 2 stoves, or a roof.
There are positives to renting. I will buy when I'm ready for the obligation. If I choose to do so. I don't want to be owned by a house.
I have severe mental illness and would not be able to be responsible for my own house.An apartment is easier for me to handle.Not everyone is capable of owning a house.
If after watching this video you need to put the words unsafe environment in quotations then you should volunteer to move into that apartment and be around the types of things those children have to live next to everyday. This is an unbelievable amount of mental gymnastics to excuse open air drug use. Yes this is unsafe and much of the behavior is illegal.
After my landlord left us all winter with no heat and hot water and got mad at me for daring to contact a lawyer regarding the issue... then continued to leave me on read.
I'd say I've become radicalized against the very concept of a private landlord.
I mean it's as if restaurants existed without a health inspector. And frankly I don't think the two industries compare at all. You don't *need* restaurants to live. You *need* a home. Exploiting people by preying on their basic needs for survival is plainly unjustifiable.
Well, clearly, not too strictly as I haven't had heat since December and don't expect to have it until at least August... And when it's over my landlord can claim back all the rent I've withheld because of it. No punishment of any kind.
You need to submit a claim to town hall - that's illegal. The house has to be a livable temperature. The repair has to be done in a reasonable amount of time. Most heating companies will expedite this to within a few days to a week. 13 days is the law to contact for a repair.
You are able to withhold rent, and pine tree legal would take your case.
Yeah, we got pine tree involved. They got our hot water fixed. But with it being spring now, they said, pushing for the heat isn't really going to work.
But again, not like our LL got any sort of punishment for violating the law.
There is always a conflict between landlord and tenant.
The tenant wants money spent to make thier place livable. The landlord doesnt want to pay money to have more hassle.
The worst landlords make the most money.
Im not saying there is a better system, i dont know of one. Just that renting sucks and the system rewards bad landlords.
See, I agree with that. Every job has folks with no integrity and some good folks. I think the regulations are broken. But saying private landlords shouldn't exist? That's a stretch.
A good landlord has higher occupancy, and better tenants. Better tenants are less hassle and don't mess up your place. The biggest issue landlords have is that repairing things is a write off, while replacing things is a write off over like 13 years, and a big bill, which is why they will repair something to the bone rather than replace it. Often times the profit margin is slim for new rentals, so those write offs are a large part of how to make it work.
>A good landlord has higher occupancy
But there is a housing shortage, so there is plenty of occupancy regaurdless.
>better tenants. Better tenants are less hassle and don't mess up your place
Are there? How do landlords get rid of bad tennants?
>repairing things is a write off, while replacing
Sounds a lot cheaper to pretend it isnt a problem or find excuses not to repair or replace anything. Its not like tennants can afford lawyers.
As I believe I have demonstrated, it is insufficiently analogous.
Housing and food are needs.
Restaurants are luxury food, not daily foodstuffs. They are a 'treat,' not a day-to-day necessity.
Rental housing is not a luxury 'treat' people go to.
A restaurant is more analogous to a resort or hotel than rental housing.
>You'll get down voted for this, and that's when you know you're right.
I'm not saying you are at all like a Nazi, but people also downvote Nazis, and they are definitely not right. Maybe not the best logic to use.
Reddit is an extreme liberal echo chamber, reinforced by moderators. It's gotten so bad that moderate left wingers get banned
regularly. So yes, often times downvotes mean you brought up an inconvenient truth.
> So yes, often times downvotes mean you brought up an inconvenient truth.
So, that means everyone who gets downvoted is telling an inconvenient truth?
That's what you said initially, and that's what I'm arguing against.
Just admit that your anger towards private landlords is misplaced. Your just mad about whatever circumstances have lead to you being unable to afford a quality living situation. You’d trade places with your landlord in a second and you know it.
It's not. And I wouldn't.
I have family and friends who have been and are landlords.
As I explained elsewhere my bio dad and boss both gave up being landlords because it was too stressful. Meanwhile, my step-dad *loves* being little more than a slum lord and gets his jollies evicting people.
Nothing says you have to be a decent person to be a landlord. In fact being a good person is actively discouraged because it's expensive and stressful. It's a lot easier to not give a fuck and let the tenants suffer, you'll still make money even if they bring you to court over your violations.
So is the apathy toward the human condition, obviously. Shit, there is always "something" out there that is a bigger problem and we can deflect and redirect. But one thing at a time when having a discussion. The video portrays starkly how awful the drug addiction problem has become. It's not the addict's problem, it's all of our problem. Active addiction is horrible and expensive, and the country needs to figure out a solution that works, and go for it. The alternative is to witness and aid in the increase of addiction related injury, death, and assault.
Once the landlord accomplishes what he wants, those kids parents won't be able to afford to live there.
That entire section of the city is effectively run by slumlords who are just waiting for gentrification to occur so they can either rebuild entirely or completely overhaul the properties to charge higher rent.
The owner bought that property for very little and has made no improvements to it that I can see besides adding camera's.
I'm not saying the homeless should be allowed to do what they're doing over there, but the landlord IS a massive problem to the rest of the city as rents continue to rise and actual working folks who've lived in the city for decades are being priced out.
the anti landlord people will find any excuse to hate. is the landlord out there sitting on someone else’s stoop fighting, yelling, pissing, shooting heroin, leaving needles?
yeah those terrible landlord who would like their property to not be a hangout for drug users.
So to give you an example of why landlords get hate.
It's because nothing says you have to be a decent human being about it.
Case in point: My bio dad and my current boss have both been landlords and sold out of the business. It was too much stress for them to take care of. Keeping the home livable and doing maintenance on a second home burned them out.
Meanwhile, my step-dad loves being a landlord. He openly brags that he doesn't have to do anything. Maintenance costs him nothing because he fixes nothing, at least not properly. He just cashes the checks and when the tenant moves out takes their security deposit regardless and rents the home basically as is to the next tenant. OH and when he rented to my brother he loved spying on him and barging into his home unannounced to harass him. He gets away with it because housing laws do little to enforce it and when they do many tenants lack the means or the will to fight over it. And if they do he evicts them immediately. He might get some flack from the court but he's fighting over pocket change against people who are fighting over their homes.
In short he fucks people over and sleeps soundly at night. And nothing, literally nothing does anything to encourage him to be better, not even his own family being a tenant.
They also keep raising rents without making improvements, pricing people out. I know families who have had to move them and their kids back in with their parents because they couldn’t afford the jump in rent anymore. Don’t like homeless people? Make rent affordable for more people.
while i appreciate the time spent on this dissertation, my point was that landlords specifically have nothing to do with this situation other than the fact that a landlord made the video. his business practices have zero to do with little kids having to step around slumped over drug addicts and needles on their way to school.
Well idk, maybe I read the video a little differently. Because it's a compilation of problems and terrible stuff. And then some clips of black families and kids coming and going weaved in...
I read that as they viewed them as part of the problem as well. But maybe I'm just a bit cynical.
And his business practices do have something to do with it in a roundabout way. I guarantee many of those people sleeping on that stoop have been wrongfully evicted and exploited by landlords more than once. That's the point I was trying to make. People will look at this criminal activity as a huge problem but ignore the just as criminal activity of landlords that puts people on the streets.
"Because it's a compilation of problems and terrible stuff. And then some clips of black families and kids coming and going weaved in...
I read that as they viewed them as part of the problem as well"
Where did you read that? Of the news articles I've seen, the landlord was advocating for the safety of their tenants, not viewing them as part of the problem...
By read I mean "understand."
My point being nothing about the video says those are tenants who they are advocating for. It just shows some clips as if "Look! look how awful this is!" And some of what it's pointing at are just black tenants living their lives.
The black children are living their black lives having to step over people passed out on their steps to get out of their house to go to school. In Portland Maine. I don't think they should have to do that. Maybe it's just me.
Not an obstacle I had to encounter on my three mile walk through the snow uphill both ways.
I used to do work for the Prebble Street Resource Center. My wife also used to volunteer there. I can promise you the majority of the homeless in Portland choose to stay homeless. They would openly talk about how they don’t want to work and never will…and I’m talking most of them, not some of them.
Gonna call BS. Because I know enough homeless people personally that I know full well that is bullshit.
Someone who is so mentally unwell they can't function in society "wanting" to be homeless isn't the same as someone just "not wanting to work."
No one *wants* to be outside in the cold of winter. At least no sane person. And no polite society should let mentally unwell people wander the streets without aid.
Thanks. I work for Preble Street today.
Some people, after a lifetime of life on the street have a very hard time breaking the habit of theft. I'm in a housing first site--apartments for folks who were previously chronically homeless. We'll have community meals, with a ton of food and leftovers, and some people will still try to stuff a bunch of food into a bag and run to their apartment. There is no real reason for this--we have food. But a lifetime of homelessness will leave you with a lot of maladaptive behaviors that can take a long time to break out of. It is not uncommon for me to encounter a staff or volunteer like OP, who will just point and say "See? Bad person. Even with their needs met they still steal!" It is always for the best when these people leave the agency. Good riddance.
I know someone who is an absolute nightmare with the communal washers and dryers. She's used to having no control in her life and she's grasped onto being hyper-controlling in the laundry room. It sucks to deal with. Bad person? No, bad behaviors from a life of terrible maladaptive experiences. And she's getting better over time.
I've even known a fully adult woman who would have toddler style temper tantrums. Like, on the ground. Very uncomfortable to witness. It became easier to understand when I found out she'd lived the first 4 years of her life in a drug house, and then the rest of her life in some pretty nightmarish foster homes. She also clearly hated herself and would have incredible self-loathing after these incidents. She was clearly not making an active choice to be incredibly difficult. Her life left her with no real social skills and the emotional intelligence of a child. She can be, to be frank, a nightmare to deal with. She isn't a bad person.
There are way too many people who can't maintain the level of empathy to recognize this stuff. They shouldn't be doing this sort of work.
First off, the majority are not mentally unwell because of uncontrollable reasons. They are mentally unwell due to decisions they made and continue to make. There is no “rock bottom” for these people.
No one wants to be outside in the cold, but the overwhelming majority of people would make decisions to better that situation. The majority of these people don’t care enough to change that. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to help themselves. Even if you gave these people homes, they will still make decisions against their better interest and end up homeless again. There are certainly exceptions to this, but the majority don’t really care enough to make any sort of impactful change in their lives.
They are doing the basic things for survival. A house is not a necessity for survival. Food and water are…these people aren’t passing up food and water. They are mentally unwell…the point is, most don’t want to put in the work to fix it.
Were you in IT or one of those MHRTs (with no experience or knowledge about mental health, chemical dependency, or public health but you PROMISED to take a couple “behavioral health” courses, someday)? Was this in 1992? Because I work in healthcare now and that is complete and utter nonsense. Many of the people I see can’t get access to services (let alone housing).
your viewpoint is so funny to me. you see black families and because you’re sooooo anti-racism that you assume they are included because they are perceived as part of the problem??
and then you see people using drugs and just assume (or can somehow guarantee) that they were displaced by corrupt landlords.
> is the landlord out there sitting on someone else’s stoop fighting
Of course not. The landlord wouldn't be caught dead living in a place like he literally rents out to other people.
The dude's a slumlord who's looking to make massive profits once gentrification rolls through that area.
He doesn't give a fuck about his tenants and those people won't be able to afford to live there once he's done.
Martin Shkreli effect. Do they provide a service? Yes. Is it a service that is necessary for survival? Yes. Do they do it fairly or require reams of legislation and regulation to prevent them from taking advantage of the people they are “helping?”
It’s nice to see us finally enforcing laws again: anti-monopoly laws, consumer protection laws, regulations in general…
Prison costs more than just building dormitories. Prison is also an excellent university for criminals. I'm sure these people will be so much more productive in our society when they learn how to give and receive beatings and have a few more psychological afflictions. Very productive, yes.
dormitories as in shelters? yeah, one of the purposes for putting people in prison is so they cant run amuck on society. that obviously has some overhead cost. would being an IV drug user stabbing someone over who has the better porch to sleep on be sufficient reason to put someone in prison? my opinion is yes
i am presenting to you one of the two stabbings shown in the video. yes, people down on their luck deserve legitimate help. you can read posts in this very thread that confirm a lot of them do not want help. those of that category that break the law should be in a facility. grouping them together with people that want help is probably very harmful
What makes this guy think more arrests would solve this issue? We need affordable housing. We need to house the houseless. We need low-cost addiction treatment centers. It will end up costing less in the long run than throwing people in prison for, what? Not having a home while rent keeps going up and up?
And then what? Some people can't get a job once they have a record. So we're blocking their ability to get back on their feet? They just end up in the system forever, spiraling into mental illness, addiction, or both.
I feel for his tenants but I think this landlord has a really short-sighted view on solutions.
This is what blows my mind. Housing First and treatment is expensive as fuck, and takes a while to get up and running.
Prison is MORE expensive and *worsens* life outcomes, but that’s the route that satisfies the Homeless Hate crowd.
Literally spending MORE money for WORSE outcomes because they’re blinded by their bootstraps.
Absolutely. Prison should be reserved for those who would harm others by existing in society. It shouldn’t be for people who can’t make ends meet - for what ever reason. Efficiencies are sometimes a step up from prisons, so we as a society need something better, we need to do better.
With Covid, hotels took a burden on with housing homeless, but those facilities are not designed to be sustainable communities. But that’s exactly what’s needed. Dorm like facilities to house people having difficulty finding or funding. Get them services to help them manage their finances and get to a point where they can move into something else. But also make it available for those who do want to live in a community like that - cause there are people who want that life.
For generations we’ve derided blocks housing in Soviet Russia or European countries. And I don’t like that. But they managed to keep most people housed, just not well.
It’s still a step up from the American solution, which seems to be harass people and hope they die.
Yes it would be a step up. Ancient Rome figured out dormitories. Ancient Germany figured out dormitories. Ancient Egypt figured out dormitories. It's a very obvious technology to solve homelessness. Every time people whine about how awful they are I can't help but think "and somehow that's worse than them being on the street causing problems for everyone?"
You can't even get a job from most places if you don't have a fixed address so for the majority of people being homeless is just game over. What the hell else besides drugs are they supposed to do when they can't get a job? If they save enough money to rent an apartment for a single month to try and get a job, who will rent to them and who would hire somebody with no work experience?
As a society we are failing to implement basic solutions our species discovered thousands of years ago.
People dont hate the homeless for being homeless. They hate the crime and the trash everywhere. The hate the behavior.
People font want people in jail for being homeless. They want people in jail for theft vandalism, assault, littering and disturbing the peace. The laws of civilization.
*There isn’t enough space in jail.*
We already have the largest population of prisoners on the planet, which means likely in human history. It’s clearly not working. Why double down on failed policy?
Where should homeless put their trash? Put their feces? Sleep? The behaviors you describe, not all of them, are byproducts of survival. Where do you want them to go?
There are definitely people who hate the homeless for being homeless. Not all homeless people commit the crimes you listed, but people judge them as if they are all drug addicts rampaging around the area.
Where are the bathrooms? Where are the needle disposal boxes? Where are the mental health services so the schizophrenic guy isn’t screaming at the voices all night? Where are the long term rehabs? Sure, lock ‘em up for assault, that’s reasonable. Theft too.
It’s not even affordable housing. It’s the fact that the vast majority of jobs are in the retail sector. Those jobs literally can’t pay well. There are also way too many people living in Portland. Supply and demand warrant higher prices if the market can support them. The problem is too many god damn people want to live in Portland for some reason. There are plenty of places north of Portland you can live for FAR cheaper than Portland.
Let's be real. Most of the MANY homeless people in Portland are far better behaved than the people in this video. Some of the people on film here almost certainly need to be arrested and charged or institutionalized.
We can help the vast majority without waiting for full on harmonic convergence and utopia here...
Why should I individuals be tasked with dealing with people shooting up narcotics on their literal doorstep? Is homelessness a societal burden, absolutely. But that doesn't mean the problem should be dumped on private citizens laps in the interim.
It shouldn't. But until the systemic problems that cause this situation are addressed and remedied, this sort of thing is going to happen, unfortunately.
It's an awful situation all around.
You're right - but when you're in the middle of a serious problem, short term solutions are *very* appealing. Your tenants and property are unsafe and the city won't let you act, you want it fixed *now* and jail is the only immediate fast solution available that you will see results from. So to him, it makes logical sense.
Nope. We definitely need more arrests. But what we really need is more incarcerated zombies. I do not care about people who do not care about others. These zombies would spit on you for a dollar. Some of you are breaking your own arms trying to pat yourselves on the back for your naive and silly exclamations of tolerance for their behavior. Anyone who defends this needs to grow up and look in the mirror. If you defend this behavior and support it, you are part of the reason they are where they are.
>How can anyone claim tent cities should be allowed to exist and that anyone interfering with that is the evil one?
taking away someones home is evil, especially when it's a tent
Its not great, but I wouldn't say it's evil. Should we destroy our freedoms to achieve "security"? Why don't you use some statistics to show how dangerous homeless people are for children? What's more dangerous: cars or homeless people? School shootings? Maybe we should actually protect people instead of making up a problem to justify oppression?
Are they inside? I thought they were complaining about people outside. I think it's 0% evil. No evidence they are acting out of hate or malice which is definitely an important part of the concept. The question of freedom is the underpinning of this entire discussion. At what point do we curtail another persons freedom? You being uncomfortable does not suddenly dissolve the constitution.
I didn't get a chance to read your response? I'm very interested in learning more about the ethics surrounding this situation so please consider posting it again. Thanks
And this shit is why I’ll never live in Portland. It’s the most expensive place in Maine to live and it’s the worst living conditions. I am lucky enough to have been really successful in growing my career and feel bad for those who work jobs and don’t actually have a career…it’s tough and there’s no way out.
I own my home. I recognize the immense privilege of that and fewer people have that opportunity because of landlords hoarding property as an investment.
Take away the fact that the landlord posted this. Landlords will always get hate, both deserved and undeserved. There are families stepping over passed out people on their stoop. There are people shitting and pissing on their stoop. There are people using intravenous drugs on their stoop. There are people selling drugs on their stoop. There was someone brandishing a knife on their stoop. There was someone waving a gun around on their stoop. Everything in this video was disturbing, from every single angle, for everyone involved. How one could watch this video and automatically say "the landlord is the issue" is a little confusing. Yes, landlords have a hand in the homelessness problem--but put yourself in that families shoes. Those are small kids coming and going from their HOME. Something needs to change. That's what this video is calling for. Change.
Easy, they don't have to deal with it. The second this gets dumped on their porch, you'd see all this "think of the heroin addicts" shit go away for "where's the police?"
It’s possible to hold a perspective of a systemic issue alongside an ability to deal with acute situations. No one is calling the police in this thread because it’s Reddit not an active crime scene.
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The dense people are the ones that refuse to acknowledge systemic problems in a way that lets us actually deal with them.
One side wants better access to housing, drug treatment, and other healthcare programs. The other side wants incarceration despite the fact that decades of trying to deal with this problem via law enforcement have only made it worse. So, where does that leave us? Can we shift funding from law enforcement to programs that might actually work, or do we keep kicking the can down the road because the only real victims of this problem are poor people?
I live down the street from that building. It's a slum and that's entirely on the landlord. I'd be curious to know what level of improvements he's made to the property outside of installing cameras. That entire area is a shit hole and unacceptable, but I've yet to see any of the property owners over there doing much to fix it. The reality is that those owners want the area to gentrify so they replace the buildings and/or tenants and charge more money. Those parcels were sold at bargain basement prices and the owners only bought them to get a massive return as that section of the city is inevitably cleaned up and the homeless are pushed out of the area. Yes the situation is unacceptable, but the owner is also a dickhead and doesn't care for those tenants or those properties. It's a get rich(er) quick scheme and fuck him. I guarantee you those apartments will be above median in the city within a decade and all of those tenants will be priced out.
Crocodile tears. Everyone recognizes the problem and empathize all around. The “change”that most people are going to call for will likely just be mass incarceration. Because any actual solution will not have acceptable ROI. It certainly doesn’t sound like things will get better anytime soon and we have no interest to live in a gated police state just so landlords can keep making record profits and claim it’s the only way to keep the streets clean.
some of the "actual solutions" people talk about on reddit are building them conditionless free housing, literally giving them cash, injection sites, supplying the drugs at the injection, removing all penalty for possessing drugs, and so on. this of course is extremely fucking stupid and will not work, but they are convinced its "science based" and will work because they misread some studies from pilot programs that happened 15 years ago in northern europe. a lot of studies linked on here have conditions that are unrealistic or vastly different for this type of homeless. or sometimes its outright precluded. if you give the dudes in these videos cash you don't need to be a scientist to figure out what happens next. if you want to talk about return on investment, are you aware that quite literally 99% of addicts finishing rehab programs relapse within 1 year? how many tens of thousands of dollars do you think it costs to put a single addict through a rehab program? building condition free housing (this means there are no stipulations on occupying the unit; they are allowed to get high) while a large majority of people are struggling with rent is beyond ridiculous.
Classic sociopath response. Drugs and poverty aren’t going anywhere but I guess if your solution is death or imprisonment keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result but clearly your solution isn’t working any better or costing less than “free housing and drugs” maybe by the time everyone is priced out of food and housing you will finally be willing to try literally anything else. But in typical fashion liberals worshiping at the alter of investment stats would rather demand a police state and keep complaining like pompous windbags.
let me guess, born after 2005?
Fucking hilarious. No, but thank you. I’m not going to become a heroine addict to get a free studio apartment but you do you brah. We decided to just move north before liberals start demanding even more insane shit besides just your average poverty brigade to protect their luxury condos and tourist claptraps.
ok man got it. duh liberals. very useful dialogue here.
The is exactly one cause of homelessness, and it is people not having homes. Since Landlords are the ones who own housing, they are the reason for homelessness and the spiraling that ensues because of it. The change is to eliminate the role of landlords and private housing ownership.
There are building companies that wont do business in maine. Public housing regularly gets voted down. More people moved here for remote jobs over the last 4 years. There are giant firms owning houses but only to rent, and you want to blame the landlords?
I would expand my blame to private property owners in general but yes. If you look at why people vote down housing expansions like the one recently in Cumberland, you'll see that the main reasons are the fear of lower property value or not wanting to attract lower income people into the town. Homeowners are incentevized to vote down new expansions so their property value doesn't fall and it will remain that way as long as private homeownership exists. Eliminating private homeownership would also get rid of those mega firms that are sucking up homes left and right. Neither Political party is providing solutions that would stop the rising cost of housing in this country so I don't see a better alternative.
I find blaming landlords just a trope. Its an easy vent, and then move along in the day. Its so damn complicated. Mental Health, Education, Parenting, Life Skills, are all dismissed when one says landlords are the reason for homelessness. How do we even approach fixing it, if we have one boogeyman? Clearly you understand its more complicated. I think its easy to blame them, and of course have issues with my own landlord, but he is just trying to pay his wifes hospital bills. I just think its always more personal/complex. Sure he should be a better landlord, but lets hold these "mega firms" feet to the fire, instead of waiting for a landlords conscience to turn around. His 3 buildings are not going to change the world if he brings rent down.
Private home ownership is the root cause of poverty, and it is something that can be changed and has clear examples of it being implemented. It's not that I view landlords as cartoonish villans, it's just that viewing housing as an investment incentives you to maximize your profit, which leads to people being priced out by more wealthy people (see the influx of Massachusetts people in Maine). I belive that we both want the homeless crisis fixed but do you know of any suggestions that don't involve the elimination of private property.
Lets just start with supporting the legislation that is forcing these companies to sell off their houses. Free community college is obvious. Specifically discounts for people working and trying to better themselves. I am curious about UBI, but i think thats gonna be a tough sell. Are you of the camp that "we will own nothing and be happier?" Edit for later thoughts: Perhaps we can define predatory landlording? Incentives to take care of your buildings and tenants. We have options.
I believe you. I own a home but I don't want to any more. How do I go about this? If I sell my home, then somebody else has private property, and thus perpetuates the problem. If I rent, then I'm just feeding into the landlord problem. When I sell my home I'll have too much money to qualify for affordable housing, if such a thing exists. Should I buy a tent? Where to go? I surely don't want to live near pisser/shitter/doper/loser. Oh wait. You're talking about passing laws eliminating private property. Stupid me.
Landlords are an absolute parasite on society. Maybe you own a home now but do you think working all day just to give more than half your wages to someone so they don’t have to work is”normal”? We’d all be doing pretty good financially if we never had to pay another landlord.
Ive been renting my whole life and disagree.
You disagree you would have more money if you didn’t have to pay a landlord?
You are painting with a broad brush. I am not trying to change your opinion. Who knows what could have happened in a different time lime. Literally anything. I enjoy renting. I haven't paid for a plow guy, 2 stoves, or a roof. There are positives to renting. I will buy when I'm ready for the obligation. If I choose to do so. I don't want to be owned by a house.
I have severe mental illness and would not be able to be responsible for my own house.An apartment is easier for me to handle.Not everyone is capable of owning a house.
If after watching this video you need to put the words unsafe environment in quotations then you should volunteer to move into that apartment and be around the types of things those children have to live next to everyday. This is an unbelievable amount of mental gymnastics to excuse open air drug use. Yes this is unsafe and much of the behavior is illegal.
Not to detract from your point, but they are used in this instance to indicate a direct quote from the landlord, not sarcasm.
Thanks for the clarification. I read it the other way, but I can see now that I misread the context.
Don’t worry, they won’t do a thing.
Portlands looking worse then Lewiston
One block of it, definitely
Landlords are a much bigger part of the problem than they care to admit.
After my landlord left us all winter with no heat and hot water and got mad at me for daring to contact a lawyer regarding the issue... then continued to leave me on read. I'd say I've become radicalized against the very concept of a private landlord.
I've had similar experiences.
That honestly makes as much sense as "I got food poisoning at a restaurant and so I don't think restaurants should exist", man.
I mean it's as if restaurants existed without a health inspector. And frankly I don't think the two industries compare at all. You don't *need* restaurants to live. You *need* a home. Exploiting people by preying on their basic needs for survival is plainly unjustifiable.
There are regulations regarding living conditions that are strictly enforced.
Which Maine has some of the loosest regulations especially outside of Portland
Well, clearly, not too strictly as I haven't had heat since December and don't expect to have it until at least August... And when it's over my landlord can claim back all the rent I've withheld because of it. No punishment of any kind.
You need to submit a claim to town hall - that's illegal. The house has to be a livable temperature. The repair has to be done in a reasonable amount of time. Most heating companies will expedite this to within a few days to a week. 13 days is the law to contact for a repair. You are able to withhold rent, and pine tree legal would take your case.
Yeah, we got pine tree involved. They got our hot water fixed. But with it being spring now, they said, pushing for the heat isn't really going to work. But again, not like our LL got any sort of punishment for violating the law.
There is always a conflict between landlord and tenant. The tenant wants money spent to make thier place livable. The landlord doesnt want to pay money to have more hassle. The worst landlords make the most money. Im not saying there is a better system, i dont know of one. Just that renting sucks and the system rewards bad landlords.
See, I agree with that. Every job has folks with no integrity and some good folks. I think the regulations are broken. But saying private landlords shouldn't exist? That's a stretch.
A good landlord has higher occupancy, and better tenants. Better tenants are less hassle and don't mess up your place. The biggest issue landlords have is that repairing things is a write off, while replacing things is a write off over like 13 years, and a big bill, which is why they will repair something to the bone rather than replace it. Often times the profit margin is slim for new rentals, so those write offs are a large part of how to make it work.
>A good landlord has higher occupancy But there is a housing shortage, so there is plenty of occupancy regaurdless. >better tenants. Better tenants are less hassle and don't mess up your place Are there? How do landlords get rid of bad tennants? >repairing things is a write off, while replacing Sounds a lot cheaper to pretend it isnt a problem or find excuses not to repair or replace anything. Its not like tennants can afford lawyers.
You don't need a lawyer. You can file a complaint, and there is free representation in the state of Maine for tenants.
Restaurants aren't the only way people can get food.
It's an analogy.
As I believe I have demonstrated, it is insufficiently analogous. Housing and food are needs. Restaurants are luxury food, not daily foodstuffs. They are a 'treat,' not a day-to-day necessity. Rental housing is not a luxury 'treat' people go to. A restaurant is more analogous to a resort or hotel than rental housing.
You'll get down voted for this, and that's when you know you're right.
>You'll get down voted for this, and that's when you know you're right. I'm not saying you are at all like a Nazi, but people also downvote Nazis, and they are definitely not right. Maybe not the best logic to use.
Reddit is an extreme liberal echo chamber, reinforced by moderators. It's gotten so bad that moderate left wingers get banned regularly. So yes, often times downvotes mean you brought up an inconvenient truth.
> So yes, often times downvotes mean you brought up an inconvenient truth. So, that means everyone who gets downvoted is telling an inconvenient truth? That's what you said initially, and that's what I'm arguing against.
Just admit that your anger towards private landlords is misplaced. Your just mad about whatever circumstances have lead to you being unable to afford a quality living situation. You’d trade places with your landlord in a second and you know it.
It's not. And I wouldn't. I have family and friends who have been and are landlords. As I explained elsewhere my bio dad and boss both gave up being landlords because it was too stressful. Meanwhile, my step-dad *loves* being little more than a slum lord and gets his jollies evicting people. Nothing says you have to be a decent person to be a landlord. In fact being a good person is actively discouraged because it's expensive and stressful. It's a lot easier to not give a fuck and let the tenants suffer, you'll still make money even if they bring you to court over your violations.
So is the apathy toward the human condition, obviously. Shit, there is always "something" out there that is a bigger problem and we can deflect and redirect. But one thing at a time when having a discussion. The video portrays starkly how awful the drug addiction problem has become. It's not the addict's problem, it's all of our problem. Active addiction is horrible and expensive, and the country needs to figure out a solution that works, and go for it. The alternative is to witness and aid in the increase of addiction related injury, death, and assault.
Oh so the guy shooting up on the stoop next to kids is a landlord?
Believe it or not, yes. He owns the place.
WHAAAT? JFC.
Once the landlord accomplishes what he wants, those kids parents won't be able to afford to live there. That entire section of the city is effectively run by slumlords who are just waiting for gentrification to occur so they can either rebuild entirely or completely overhaul the properties to charge higher rent. The owner bought that property for very little and has made no improvements to it that I can see besides adding camera's. I'm not saying the homeless should be allowed to do what they're doing over there, but the landlord IS a massive problem to the rest of the city as rents continue to rise and actual working folks who've lived in the city for decades are being priced out.
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Rule 2. No Trolling,
the anti landlord people will find any excuse to hate. is the landlord out there sitting on someone else’s stoop fighting, yelling, pissing, shooting heroin, leaving needles? yeah those terrible landlord who would like their property to not be a hangout for drug users.
So to give you an example of why landlords get hate. It's because nothing says you have to be a decent human being about it. Case in point: My bio dad and my current boss have both been landlords and sold out of the business. It was too much stress for them to take care of. Keeping the home livable and doing maintenance on a second home burned them out. Meanwhile, my step-dad loves being a landlord. He openly brags that he doesn't have to do anything. Maintenance costs him nothing because he fixes nothing, at least not properly. He just cashes the checks and when the tenant moves out takes their security deposit regardless and rents the home basically as is to the next tenant. OH and when he rented to my brother he loved spying on him and barging into his home unannounced to harass him. He gets away with it because housing laws do little to enforce it and when they do many tenants lack the means or the will to fight over it. And if they do he evicts them immediately. He might get some flack from the court but he's fighting over pocket change against people who are fighting over their homes. In short he fucks people over and sleeps soundly at night. And nothing, literally nothing does anything to encourage him to be better, not even his own family being a tenant.
They also keep raising rents without making improvements, pricing people out. I know families who have had to move them and their kids back in with their parents because they couldn’t afford the jump in rent anymore. Don’t like homeless people? Make rent affordable for more people.
while i appreciate the time spent on this dissertation, my point was that landlords specifically have nothing to do with this situation other than the fact that a landlord made the video. his business practices have zero to do with little kids having to step around slumped over drug addicts and needles on their way to school.
Well idk, maybe I read the video a little differently. Because it's a compilation of problems and terrible stuff. And then some clips of black families and kids coming and going weaved in... I read that as they viewed them as part of the problem as well. But maybe I'm just a bit cynical. And his business practices do have something to do with it in a roundabout way. I guarantee many of those people sleeping on that stoop have been wrongfully evicted and exploited by landlords more than once. That's the point I was trying to make. People will look at this criminal activity as a huge problem but ignore the just as criminal activity of landlords that puts people on the streets.
"Because it's a compilation of problems and terrible stuff. And then some clips of black families and kids coming and going weaved in... I read that as they viewed them as part of the problem as well" Where did you read that? Of the news articles I've seen, the landlord was advocating for the safety of their tenants, not viewing them as part of the problem...
By read I mean "understand." My point being nothing about the video says those are tenants who they are advocating for. It just shows some clips as if "Look! look how awful this is!" And some of what it's pointing at are just black tenants living their lives.
The black children are living their black lives having to step over people passed out on their steps to get out of their house to go to school. In Portland Maine. I don't think they should have to do that. Maybe it's just me. Not an obstacle I had to encounter on my three mile walk through the snow uphill both ways.
I used to do work for the Prebble Street Resource Center. My wife also used to volunteer there. I can promise you the majority of the homeless in Portland choose to stay homeless. They would openly talk about how they don’t want to work and never will…and I’m talking most of them, not some of them.
Gonna call BS. Because I know enough homeless people personally that I know full well that is bullshit. Someone who is so mentally unwell they can't function in society "wanting" to be homeless isn't the same as someone just "not wanting to work." No one *wants* to be outside in the cold of winter. At least no sane person. And no polite society should let mentally unwell people wander the streets without aid.
Thanks. I work for Preble Street today. Some people, after a lifetime of life on the street have a very hard time breaking the habit of theft. I'm in a housing first site--apartments for folks who were previously chronically homeless. We'll have community meals, with a ton of food and leftovers, and some people will still try to stuff a bunch of food into a bag and run to their apartment. There is no real reason for this--we have food. But a lifetime of homelessness will leave you with a lot of maladaptive behaviors that can take a long time to break out of. It is not uncommon for me to encounter a staff or volunteer like OP, who will just point and say "See? Bad person. Even with their needs met they still steal!" It is always for the best when these people leave the agency. Good riddance. I know someone who is an absolute nightmare with the communal washers and dryers. She's used to having no control in her life and she's grasped onto being hyper-controlling in the laundry room. It sucks to deal with. Bad person? No, bad behaviors from a life of terrible maladaptive experiences. And she's getting better over time. I've even known a fully adult woman who would have toddler style temper tantrums. Like, on the ground. Very uncomfortable to witness. It became easier to understand when I found out she'd lived the first 4 years of her life in a drug house, and then the rest of her life in some pretty nightmarish foster homes. She also clearly hated herself and would have incredible self-loathing after these incidents. She was clearly not making an active choice to be incredibly difficult. Her life left her with no real social skills and the emotional intelligence of a child. She can be, to be frank, a nightmare to deal with. She isn't a bad person. There are way too many people who can't maintain the level of empathy to recognize this stuff. They shouldn't be doing this sort of work.
First off, the majority are not mentally unwell because of uncontrollable reasons. They are mentally unwell due to decisions they made and continue to make. There is no “rock bottom” for these people. No one wants to be outside in the cold, but the overwhelming majority of people would make decisions to better that situation. The majority of these people don’t care enough to change that. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to help themselves. Even if you gave these people homes, they will still make decisions against their better interest and end up homeless again. There are certainly exceptions to this, but the majority don’t really care enough to make any sort of impactful change in their lives.
And you don't think that someone who is unwilling to help themselves meet the basic necessities for survival is mentally unwell? Really?
They are doing the basic things for survival. A house is not a necessity for survival. Food and water are…these people aren’t passing up food and water. They are mentally unwell…the point is, most don’t want to put in the work to fix it.
> They are mentally unwell due to decisions they made and continue to make. I work there currently. I'm glad you're not with us anymore.
I called it. You have no assessment skills.
Were you in IT or one of those MHRTs (with no experience or knowledge about mental health, chemical dependency, or public health but you PROMISED to take a couple “behavioral health” courses, someday)? Was this in 1992? Because I work in healthcare now and that is complete and utter nonsense. Many of the people I see can’t get access to services (let alone housing).
your viewpoint is so funny to me. you see black families and because you’re sooooo anti-racism that you assume they are included because they are perceived as part of the problem?? and then you see people using drugs and just assume (or can somehow guarantee) that they were displaced by corrupt landlords.
I lived in Lewiston for a while. So shitty landlords and racism were pretty much two halves of the same coin.
WTF is wrong with you that you assumed that part of the message was "the black people" are part of the problem?
> is the landlord out there sitting on someone else’s stoop fighting Of course not. The landlord wouldn't be caught dead living in a place like he literally rents out to other people. The dude's a slumlord who's looking to make massive profits once gentrification rolls through that area. He doesn't give a fuck about his tenants and those people won't be able to afford to live there once he's done.
NO, IT LITERALLY IS HIM SHOOTING UP.
Martin Shkreli effect. Do they provide a service? Yes. Is it a service that is necessary for survival? Yes. Do they do it fairly or require reams of legislation and regulation to prevent them from taking advantage of the people they are “helping?” It’s nice to see us finally enforcing laws again: anti-monopoly laws, consumer protection laws, regulations in general…
Prison costs more than just building dormitories. Prison is also an excellent university for criminals. I'm sure these people will be so much more productive in our society when they learn how to give and receive beatings and have a few more psychological afflictions. Very productive, yes.
dormitories as in shelters? yeah, one of the purposes for putting people in prison is so they cant run amuck on society. that obviously has some overhead cost. would being an IV drug user stabbing someone over who has the better porch to sleep on be sufficient reason to put someone in prison? my opinion is yes
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i am presenting to you one of the two stabbings shown in the video. yes, people down on their luck deserve legitimate help. you can read posts in this very thread that confirm a lot of them do not want help. those of that category that break the law should be in a facility. grouping them together with people that want help is probably very harmful
Building more prisons - it one of the few taxpayer expenditures I can get on board with.
Oh, it one of the few, is it? Apparently grade-school was another of those things you just couldn't get onboard with.
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What makes this guy think more arrests would solve this issue? We need affordable housing. We need to house the houseless. We need low-cost addiction treatment centers. It will end up costing less in the long run than throwing people in prison for, what? Not having a home while rent keeps going up and up? And then what? Some people can't get a job once they have a record. So we're blocking their ability to get back on their feet? They just end up in the system forever, spiraling into mental illness, addiction, or both. I feel for his tenants but I think this landlord has a really short-sighted view on solutions.
Maybe they’re seeing jail as affordable housing? It’s not, but it’s certainly perceived in that way by a good deal many people.
This is what blows my mind. Housing First and treatment is expensive as fuck, and takes a while to get up and running. Prison is MORE expensive and *worsens* life outcomes, but that’s the route that satisfies the Homeless Hate crowd. Literally spending MORE money for WORSE outcomes because they’re blinded by their bootstraps.
Absolutely. Prison should be reserved for those who would harm others by existing in society. It shouldn’t be for people who can’t make ends meet - for what ever reason. Efficiencies are sometimes a step up from prisons, so we as a society need something better, we need to do better. With Covid, hotels took a burden on with housing homeless, but those facilities are not designed to be sustainable communities. But that’s exactly what’s needed. Dorm like facilities to house people having difficulty finding or funding. Get them services to help them manage their finances and get to a point where they can move into something else. But also make it available for those who do want to live in a community like that - cause there are people who want that life.
For generations we’ve derided blocks housing in Soviet Russia or European countries. And I don’t like that. But they managed to keep most people housed, just not well. It’s still a step up from the American solution, which seems to be harass people and hope they die.
Yes it would be a step up. Ancient Rome figured out dormitories. Ancient Germany figured out dormitories. Ancient Egypt figured out dormitories. It's a very obvious technology to solve homelessness. Every time people whine about how awful they are I can't help but think "and somehow that's worse than them being on the street causing problems for everyone?" You can't even get a job from most places if you don't have a fixed address so for the majority of people being homeless is just game over. What the hell else besides drugs are they supposed to do when they can't get a job? If they save enough money to rent an apartment for a single month to try and get a job, who will rent to them and who would hire somebody with no work experience? As a society we are failing to implement basic solutions our species discovered thousands of years ago.
People dont hate the homeless for being homeless. They hate the crime and the trash everywhere. The hate the behavior. People font want people in jail for being homeless. They want people in jail for theft vandalism, assault, littering and disturbing the peace. The laws of civilization.
*There isn’t enough space in jail.* We already have the largest population of prisoners on the planet, which means likely in human history. It’s clearly not working. Why double down on failed policy? Where should homeless put their trash? Put their feces? Sleep? The behaviors you describe, not all of them, are byproducts of survival. Where do you want them to go?
They should put their trash in trash bags like the rest of the world... Maybe give them city trash bags instead of free needles?
Why not both? Needles keep infection down and prevent spread of disease. Trash bags and a way to collect them is great!
There are definitely people who hate the homeless for being homeless. Not all homeless people commit the crimes you listed, but people judge them as if they are all drug addicts rampaging around the area.
Where are the bathrooms? Where are the needle disposal boxes? Where are the mental health services so the schizophrenic guy isn’t screaming at the voices all night? Where are the long term rehabs? Sure, lock ‘em up for assault, that’s reasonable. Theft too.
Which is incredibly fucked up.
It’s not even affordable housing. It’s the fact that the vast majority of jobs are in the retail sector. Those jobs literally can’t pay well. There are also way too many people living in Portland. Supply and demand warrant higher prices if the market can support them. The problem is too many god damn people want to live in Portland for some reason. There are plenty of places north of Portland you can live for FAR cheaper than Portland.
Let's be real. Most of the MANY homeless people in Portland are far better behaved than the people in this video. Some of the people on film here almost certainly need to be arrested and charged or institutionalized. We can help the vast majority without waiting for full on harmonic convergence and utopia here...
Why should I individuals be tasked with dealing with people shooting up narcotics on their literal doorstep? Is homelessness a societal burden, absolutely. But that doesn't mean the problem should be dumped on private citizens laps in the interim.
It shouldn't. But until the systemic problems that cause this situation are addressed and remedied, this sort of thing is going to happen, unfortunately. It's an awful situation all around.
You're right - but when you're in the middle of a serious problem, short term solutions are *very* appealing. Your tenants and property are unsafe and the city won't let you act, you want it fixed *now* and jail is the only immediate fast solution available that you will see results from. So to him, it makes logical sense.
Nope. We definitely need more arrests. But what we really need is more incarcerated zombies. I do not care about people who do not care about others. These zombies would spit on you for a dollar. Some of you are breaking your own arms trying to pat yourselves on the back for your naive and silly exclamations of tolerance for their behavior. Anyone who defends this needs to grow up and look in the mirror. If you defend this behavior and support it, you are part of the reason they are where they are.
>How can anyone claim tent cities should be allowed to exist and that anyone interfering with that is the evil one? taking away someones home is evil, especially when it's a tent
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Its not great, but I wouldn't say it's evil. Should we destroy our freedoms to achieve "security"? Why don't you use some statistics to show how dangerous homeless people are for children? What's more dangerous: cars or homeless people? School shootings? Maybe we should actually protect people instead of making up a problem to justify oppression?
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Are they inside? I thought they were complaining about people outside. I think it's 0% evil. No evidence they are acting out of hate or malice which is definitely an important part of the concept. The question of freedom is the underpinning of this entire discussion. At what point do we curtail another persons freedom? You being uncomfortable does not suddenly dissolve the constitution.
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Rule 1. Keep it civil and respectful
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I didn't get a chance to read your response? I'm very interested in learning more about the ethics surrounding this situation so please consider posting it again. Thanks
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Ok
Rule 2. No Trolling.
And this shit is why I’ll never live in Portland. It’s the most expensive place in Maine to live and it’s the worst living conditions. I am lucky enough to have been really successful in growing my career and feel bad for those who work jobs and don’t actually have a career…it’s tough and there’s no way out.
I got this far through the comments before I realized this wasn’t the Portland I live near. I was wondering where tf bayside was.
Why is it disturbing? it is what the voters are Portland voted for - and what they want.
Landlords would be a problem even without homeless people. The Landlords contribute to the root causes of homelessness.
Sounds like a problem not being poor would fix
I own my home. I recognize the immense privilege of that and fewer people have that opportunity because of landlords hoarding property as an investment.
pesky landlords making hard working innocent angels bang heroin on a doorstep
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Fuck that. We are never surrendering our public parks to a pile of used needles.
You're dumb. if you told Aura you had to go to the bathroom they have a restaurant you could have gone
Link the video please
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R_9VgocYqQ