Lars Larson: Homeless spending up 500%. Who benefits?

By Lars Larson
NW and national radio host,

Taxpayer money blown on the homeless in the Northwest has hit insane levels.

Portland and Multnomah county cobbled up the “Joint office on homeless” services only 8 years ago.

Since then, dollars spent on the problem have exploded more than 500-percent.

Staff for the agency tripled in that time so it’s been a boon to those who want a fat public paycheck and a PERS pension.

The director of this behemoth, Dan Field, pulls down a salary more than twice that of Governor Tina Kotek.

The tri-county Portland area now spends north of half a billion dollars a year directly on homeless.

Multnomah county plans to spend millions giving away tents and tarps and, no kidding, the city of Portland is spending millions to clean them up.

Indirectly, more than half of all police calls involve the homeless and more than 40-percent of calls for emergency medical or fire.

Yet with all that money spent, the latest census shows Oregon has the highest rate of chronic homelessness in America.

If you’re still listening to the rocket scientists at the county and the city, those numbers demand we spend even more.

If you use your common sense, you can see that the more we spend, the more homeless come to the Northwest.

Government once served all citizens equally…but if you think that’s still true try calling 9-1-1 or applying for unemployment.