this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2025

97 points (99.0% liked)

News

30276 readers

5837 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Portland Said It Was Investing in Homeless People’s Safety. Deaths Have Quadrupled. (www.propublica.org)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

5 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 5 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Portlander here... article is trying to lay the blame on homeless services but completely ignores what else was going on:

FTA:

"By late spring 2021, the city committed to a new strategy that then-Mayor Ted Wheeler said would “reprioritize public health and safety among homeless Portlanders,” ultimately allocating $1.3 billion by the end of 2024.

But although the city spent roughly $200,000 per homeless resident throughout that time, deaths of homeless people recorded in the county quadrupled"

What was REALLY happening was State Ballot Measure 110 took effect in February, 2021, decriminalizing drugs. What then happened was an explosion of open air drug markets and fentanyl overdoses.

https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/preventionwellness/substanceuse/opioids/pages/fentanylfacts.aspx

"The number of unintentional overdose deaths related to illicitly manufactured fentanyl nearly quadrupled between 2020 and 2022, increasing from 223 to 843 overdose fatalities. (Data source: CDC SUDORS Dashboard: Fatal Drug Overdose Data). In 2022, illicitly manufactured fentanyl contributed to 65.5% of all overdose deaths in Oregon, making it the most prevalent illicit drug involved in overdose fatalities.1"

https://multco.us/news/multnomah-county-releases-2023-domicile-unknown-report-homeless-deaths

"during calendar year 2023, at least 456 people died without a home of their own.

The number, significantly more than the 315 deaths reported in 2022, is the highest since Multnomah County began its analysis — reflecting what health officials believe is the height of the fentanyl crisis that swept our community in 2023.

Of the 456 deaths, 251 were linked to fentanyl, roughly triple the number reported in 2022 and a clear sign of the synthetic opioid’s deadly impact. Overdose deaths in 2023 overall climbed to 282 people, more than double the 123 deaths reported in 2022."

Measure 110 would finally be repealed in September of 2024.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

M110 didn't drive more overdose deaths. This increase echoes exactly what was happening around the rest of the country with fentanyl exploding on the scene.

Furthermore drug dealing and public drug use were not decriminalized, but the shitty PPB wanted to stick it to the public by not enforcing the law. State Dems also kneecapped the bill by not distributing any of the treatment funding and instead held onto it until they could repeal the bill, against the will of the people, and then redistribute all that money to lazy and corrupt police departments.

I would say this is definitely on the Portland government when they spent $200k on each homeless person with absolutely nothing to show for it in the end. I'm sure that money is lining the pockets of political donors and sleazy companies who treat tax dollars like their own personal piggybank.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The rise in deaths far outpaces the growth in the homeless population, which was recorded at 6,300 by a 2023 county census, a number most agree is an undercount.

What was the population in 2019? Don't we need that to understand that deaths outpace population growth? If the newer population number is an undercount, how do we know the first clause in the sentence is true?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

What was the population in 2019? Don't we need that to understand that deaths outpace population growth?

I'm pretty sure the experts and agencies they talked to in this article have numbers for 2019.

If the newer population number is an undercount, how do we know the first clause in the sentence is true?

Because the reasons for that undercounting haven't changed between 2019 and 2023, so the degree of undercounting is probably about the same, so even if the census numbers are an estimate they are still generally comparable, at least enough to say that (for example) an estimated 10-15% growth in the population experiencing homelessness and (for example) a 200% growth in deaths are out of whack with each other.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

I'm pretty sure the experts and agencies they talked to in this article have numbers for 2019.

That's my point. It's bad writing to make a claim and then give all but one of the numbers that support the claim. It wouldn't be alright even if we could trust journalists to be accurate.