Portland Provides Public Land For Homeless

10 September 2001 - 9:00am

Portland, OR, has provided public land, a water hookup, and portable toilets for a tent city for the homeless.

"In an unusual move that has stretched the definition of public services for the homeless, Portland has provided a patch of land for the tent city and put in a water hookup and portable toilets... In some cities, the very idea of negotiating with the homeless and accommodating their settlements would seem counterproductive. Public sympathy for homeless people might have been scant. And as officials elsewhere have sometimes learned, the more welcoming a city is, particularly if it is a desirable place to live, the more homeless people migrate there."

Source: The New York Times, September 10, 2001
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The challenges of urban sprawl in outlying areas--like dangerous neighborhoods in the center city, and severe declines in jobs within reach of working people or inner city public schools--are rarely shared and never undertaken on a truly regional basis.