The OFC Blank Check Report #2

My Fellow Oregonian,

The Third Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads “No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.” It was added in the Bill of Rights to prevent the tyranny that comes with the forced housing of troops in civilian homes–something our Founding Fathers were all too familiar with in the 1760s and 1770s.

A recent article from Oregon Catalyst got me thinking about the Third Amendment and whether Oregon may need its own constitutional amendment to keep its government from forcing us to quarter the homeless.

This might sound like a stretch, but Portland is already experimenting with paying homeowners to share their homes with the homeless.

And it’s a program that is failing spectacularly.

As The Willamette Week reports, only FIVE applications have been submitted for the programs since it launched in February. Mayor Keith Wilson, forever the optimist on dumb progressive policy, said the program could be “one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways” to address Portland’s homeless crisis. Perhaps it is cost-effective for Portland taxpayers, given no one is participating, which should mean no taxpayer dollars are being spent. But, as with the best laid progressive plans, it doesn’t seem to be doing anything at all.

Instead of wasting time, energy, and taxpayer dollars on programs no one wants to participate in, perhaps Mayor Wilson should spend time lobbying Salem to repeal HB 2021, which prohibits localities from dealing with their homeless problems. Then maybe he can move on to making the case for defunding the Homeless Industrial Complex–the network of nonprofit groups that receive boatloads of taxpayer dollars to create and maintain the homeless crisis while lining their own pockets.

Mayor Wilson could one day be a powerful voice for meaningful solutions addressing homelessness. I’m looking forward to Downtown Portland freezing over in the meantime.

God Bless,

Nick Stark
Chief Executive Officer
Oregon Freedom Coalition

P.S. If you have a policy blunder you’d like to share, visit OregonFreedom.com/blankcheck to tell us the story. We’ll look into it and might just have some commentary.