By Meryl Logue

Two things stand out quite sharply about Portland Mayor Charlie Hales' proposal to set up homeless tent camps in various Portland neighborhoods. First, none of these solutions involve setting up a homeless camp in affluent areas, such as in the wide-open spaces of Eastmoreland Golf Course, only 300 feet from the mayor's home. And second, even as a stop-gap measure, homeless camps merely spread the harm already caused by homelessness and rampant drug use into stable working- and middle-class neighborhoods that don't have the ear of City Hall like our more affluent neighbors do.

In just the last few days, city officials in both San Francisco and Seattle have begun a dramatic retreat from their earlier tolerance of homeless tent camps. They have learned through bitter experience that such camps inevitably erode the security, economic vitality and quality of life of the neighborhoods they abut. Take crime: Even as far back as 2005, the U.S. Conference of Mayors published statistics showing that approximately 1 out of every 3 homeless people were drug addicts -- and that was before the recent epidemic of heroin and other opioid use led to the quadrupling of overdose deaths in the U.S. between 2009 and today.

Drug addiction is a disease, not a moral failing. But let's be realistic: It also makes otherwise good people do bad things -- and if you doubt that, go to any Narcotics Anonymous meeting and listen to the stories people tell of the terrible things they did to feed their habits.

Homeless camps also erode the economic viability of neighborhoods. In working- and middle-class neighborhoods, families have almost their entire net worth from a lifetime of working tied up in their homes. What do you think happens to the value of those homes when a homeless camp sets up down the street?

Anywhere these pop-up style camps exist, there follows crime, garbage, human waste and destruction of surroundings. Any person who has ever cleaned up after one of these camps can attest to the deplorable conditions that exist there -- conditions that we are facilitating by encouraging the formation of such camps.

The fact is, there is nothing humane about a homeless camp. It is certainly true that, even without such camps, the conditions that homeless people suffer would be horrible. But these pop-up camps do nothing to encourage inhabitants to better their circumstances. They do nothing to address the underlying causes or needs, especially for those with mental illness or addictions. All they do is spread the problem to heretofore stable neighborhoods.

Lastly, and perhaps most crucially, camps lower the quality of life for everyone. Yet they are paid for only by the neighbors who border the camps. The rest of us can drive past, pedal past, walk past and experience only a moment of discomfort. But anyone living next to a church lot camp, a sidewalk camp, or near the underpass camps of downtown -- those are the people paying the real price. Their safety is compromised, their property values are compromised, the cleanliness of their neighborhoods is compromised; nothing is spared.

I am not advocating that we ignore the plight of the homeless. Instead, I am advocating for a real solution to homelessness that spreads the cost equally among all Portland citizens -- including the mayor's neighbors in Eastmoreland -- rather than simply shoving the burden onto those living in working-class neighborhoods who have little voice downtown.

I believe strongly that most citizens of our city would support an emergency bond measure that would pay for buying or building the apartments we need to provide a real solution for the homeless, especially for families with kids, who should not be forced to try to survive in these camps. It could also fund drug treatment for all who want it and expand funding for existing nonprofits already in the business of helping the homeless.

But whatever we do, let's please not push the homeless problem onto the backs of those with the least voice to object: the working class. Why should we be penalized for not having the wealth or connections of the true elites of Portland who will never have to deal with a homeless camp in their neighborhood?

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Meryl Logue is a project manager who lives in Northeast Portland.