Portland’s metropolitan area has swollen to 2.4 million people, a far cry in both size and culture from the rough-and-tumble, river-port boomtown settled by 19th Century lumberjacks and longshoremen. In recent decades, Portland’s embrace of progressive politics and hipster crunchiness has earned it praise, as well as gentle mockery as the Pacific Northwest’s capital of ‘wokeness’ on the TV series Portlandia. In recent weeks, Portland has seen the dark side of political activism, hosting a pair of violent face-offs between Antifa and far-right groups.

Now, rampant homelessness threatens to define Portland, much as it has other West Coast cities where critics say decades of liberal policies, rising housing costs and a generous safety net have created a social problem that can no longer be ignored.

On any given night, thousands of people can be found sleeping on the city’s streets. The latest count, released in August, shows that in 2019 more people were sleeping outside in Multnomah County than at any time in the last decade. Of the 2,037 unsheltered people, nearly 80 percent reported having one or more disabilities…

As the number of homeless has grown, the calls for solutions have intensified. Some residents Fox News spoke to feel as though officials are letting them down and doing a disservice to those who need the most help. They complain the city’s response to the crisis has been costly, fragmented and ineffective. They say Portland’s policies don’t adequately address mental illness and say officials are kidding themselves if they think they can find an easy fix.

It seems that liberal policies aren’t working out too well for the progressive metropolis after all.

SF Source Your America News Aug 2019