Written by Nick White, Dailymail.Com
12:42 March 24, 2024, Updated 12:43 March 24, 2024
- There are an estimated 6,297 homeless people in Portland, 5,398 of whom are unsheltered.
- Problems increase from 1,887, tent cities filled with disease and crime emerge
- The city built a village of small houses, but some people build their own houses.
As the crisis deepens, homeless people are building their own tiny homes in a Portland neighborhood filled with vagrants.
The one-room hut is nailed together with windows and doors using salvaged wood from pallets and discarded trash.
One ingenious architect added a basketball hoop to the side of the wall. It is made from wood and some salvaged wood bent into a ring shape.
But the creative, albeit unlicensed, solution to shelter from the elements had a dark side, with local residents claiming the tiny homes were being used by criminals.
Social worker Kevin Dahlgren wrote, “In some neighborhoods, we found tiny homes built by homeless people popping up on almost every block.''
“This one is very nice, and it even has a basketball hoop. The other one I saw today was used for prostitution, and the other one was used for drugs.”
The house with the hoop was surrounded by extra wood, two shopping carts, and random trash.
Another building was still under construction, demonstrating the haphazard nature of DIY construction using disparate woods.
Portland has an official village of tiny homes built to take homeless people off the streets, and plans to add 100 more in the coming months.
The shelters cost about $16,000 each and measure about 8 feet on each side, with enough room for a single bed and a few drawers.
Each Safe Rest Village across the city costs between $15 million and $3 million a year to operate, including staff, maintenance, mental health support, food and more. Utilities are additional and vary by site.
By August last year, there were 400 homes in seven villages, and the city has added more since then. Each village has a bathroom, laundry, kitchen and garden.
But opponents say tiny house villages waste money that could be spent building affordable housing.
Portland's homeless population increased by 65% ​​between 2015 and 2023, from 1,887 to 6,297 people, of whom approximately 5,398 were unsheltered.
Multnomah County plans to have enough shelters for about 2,700 people by the end of next year.