"Get ready for a hot, hot day at City Council, in which officials will hear public testimony on Councilor Angelita Morillo's very good idea to redirect funds from Mayor Wilson's homeless sweeps program toward housing, food assistance, and immigrant and refugee support, as well as public safety improvements for East Portland. As you can probably guess, Mayor Wilson (and by extension, the city's wealthy ruling class) is NOT at all pleased with this idea,"
"The mayor's reasoning is both flawed and baffling, considering that taxpayers (hey, that's YOU) are saddled with the wildly expensive cost of moving houseless people from one neighborhood to the next like a cruel game of whack-a-mole. And of course, the mayor is ignoring the traumatic ramifications of sweeping away a person's belongings, in some cases knocking them off the path of acquiring permanent housing."
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Portland City Council will hear public testimony on a proposal to redirect funds from Mayor Wilson's homeless sweeps program toward housing, food assistance, immigrant and refugee support, and public-safety improvements in East Portland. Mayor Wilson and influential wealthy stakeholders are opposing the proposal and encouraging residents to speak against it at the meeting. Current sweep-focused approaches impose high costs on taxpayers and frequently relocate unhoused people between neighborhoods without adequate supportive housing or services. Sweeps can destroy belongings and disrupt paths to permanent housing. A linked ProPublica report argues that sweep-centered policies can be deadly.
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