“It’s really a no-brainer — that’s why there’s so many out here”: The homeless Portland woman brags that the woke city gives her three meals a day and allows her to stay in her tent and do drugs all day
- Wendy, a homeless woman, spoke candidly about the perks of Portland’s street life, including free meals and the opportunity to do drugs
- The almost open drug policy has led to more tents on the streets, she said
- Portland decriminalized small amounts of meth, cocaine, and heroin in 2020
A homeless woman on the streets of Portland bragged about the perks of street life, including free meals and being high all day.
Wendy, a homeless woman, delved into the city’s homelessness crisis in a new way by explaining how the near-open drug policy is bringing more tents to the streets.
“It’s really a no-brainer, that’s probably why you have so many out here because they feed you three meals a day and they don’t have to do shit but stay in your tent and party,” Wendy told Kevin Dahlgren with the community engagement organization We love Seattle.
To which Dahlgren replied, “I appreciate the honesty, doesn’t feel that really helps anyone.”
“It’s not that, that’s why you see all the tents—people up all night and sleeping all day,” Wendy said.
Portland currently has more than 700 homeless encampments across the city within less than 150 square miles, and the ordeal has also prompted a spike in cocaine, heroin and meth use, which officials decriminalized in 2020.
Wendy, a homeless woman, spoke candidly about the benefits of living on the streets of Portland, Oregon. The city’s near-open drug policy has led to more tents on the streets, she said
Wendy is a hairdresser and has been living on the street for months. Officially from Florida, she became homeless after divorcing her husband.
She said someone stole her dentures about six months ago and was unable to return to work.
“That’s what they do here,” Wendy said. “I can’t get new ones because I’ll just take the first one that’s paid for, so I don’t know what I’m going to do.
“I can’t go to work without teeth.”
Days later, Dahlgren returned to Wendy’s tent and told her that her story inspired others to start a fundraiser to buy her new dentures.
“I used to be like everyone else, I used to have a really good job … I had a salon in Washington state, I drove a Lexus and I drove a house — and I loved doing hair,” she said.
Wendy’s video saga posted by Dahlgren on Twitter led to her brother and ex-husband finding her. You are now about to reconnect.
“You found my sister,” John Mitchell wrote in a tweet to Dahgren. “Thanks Kevin for posting this. We knew she was homeless and probably in Portland, but that was about it. Thanks for being nice to her.”
“It’s a no-brainer…you get three meals a day and you don’t have to do shit…wake up, eat, get high, wake up, eat, get high” repeat. A homeless woman told me why being homeless is so easy. She’s been brutally honest because she hates the “they love us to death” empowerment. pic.twitter.com/HxRUoSFFFu
— Kevin Dahlgren (@kevinvdahlgren) December 31, 2022
Wendy’s video saga posted by Dahlgren on Twitter led to her brother and ex-husband finding her
Portland decriminalized small amounts of meth, cocaine, and heroin in 2020
Some of the Pacific Northwest city’s most charming, trendiest and expensive neighborhoods are now overrun with tent cities that crowd the residential sidewalks
Portland currently has more than 700 homeless encampments across the city
Residents of Democrat-led Portland said in November escalating crime and homelessness were affecting their way of life and safety.
Some of the Pacific Northwest city’s most charming, trendiest, and expensive neighborhoods are now overrun with tent cities that crowd residential sidewalks and are littered with trash — and the problem is putting off locals and tourists alike.
In 2019, the city recorded just over 2,000 homeless people.
Three years later, that number has increased by 50 percent and is now over 3,000 living on the streets.
The increase in homelessness has also led to an increase in crime in the city.
Portland set a record for homicides in 2021. 90 murders were reported – surpassing the previous high of 66.