Thanks, Blair.
As many of you story viewers know,
Blair does a fantastic job not
only covering the homeless
crisis around the state,
but also giving us a behind the scenes
look at how her stories come together.
This story obviously required
a trip out West,
but as you'll soon see,
you don't necessarily find what you're
looking for every step of the way.
Alright, so we've arrived in Seaside.
We were driving around trying to find
people experiencing homelessness.
It's not as in your face as say in
more urban areas like Portland.
You don't see a lot of tents on
the sidewalk, even RV's really.
We did find a homeless group
hanging out outside Safeway.
They were dropping off cans.
We talked with them for a while and
they told us that everyone camps.
In the woods here,
right behind me at what's called Mill ponds,
they tell me you have to get a
permit to have a tent there and
that there's about 30 people in
this large campsite behind me.
So we're going to go check it out.
All right? So turns out
that was the wrong location.
We walked back into that camp and
talked with a homeless guy there,
and he told us that that
was private property.
He said he didn't live at that campsite,
but he told us where to go.
To find this larger campsite that the
city allows homeless people to camp on.
So we're headed there now.
So we found the mill pond camp.
It's right past these gates.
It it kind of spreads out into there.
They're typically is about 30
homeless tent sites set up.
There was a less than that today
because a lot of them are moving
their campsites due to the king
tides that are coming this weekend.
The king tides come and it floods this area,
so they all have to move.
Their stuff across the street,
so there wasn't as many people camping
here as as they're normally is.
They have to have a permit to camp here.
The city feeds them a meal one once a day.
But every Thursday they have to take
all their things and move so that
the city can come clean up the area,
which is, you know,
really difficult for people here
because they can't really get into a
groove and they're constantly just
waiting for the day that they have to,
you know,
pack up their things and and move on.
You know,
another thing that they told me is they
feel like the city is just shutting
them away and sort of hiding them back here.
Behind the woods, which, you know,
it does kind of feel like that there's,
you know, gates and it's,
it's hidden.
It was hard for us to find as as you saw.
So yeah,
it's just interesting that this
is where Seaside is putting a
majority of their homeless campers.
So when we got to this campsite,
there was a group of people from
this behavioral Health Center,
and they're just very grassroots, 3 people.
One of them's a nurse,
and they go around and they just
check in on homeless people.
They're sort of like outreach workers,
if you will.
And they told me that,
you know,
some of the shelters around here
don't have enough funding to open
and and function all year round.
They only have, you know,
about 90 days a year that they
can open their doors.
So they have to pick you know,
what time of year that they do that.
So obviously they choose the,
you know, hottest or the the coldest
nights of the years to open.
So it's just it,
it doesn't feel like there's
a reliable and stable.
Functioning system here in seaside,
four people experiencing homelessness
and it just begs the question,
you know,
why aren't they included on the
governor's homelessness state
of emergency when it feels like
areas like this have the least
amount of resources?
Alright, so we are back in the car now.
We just shot our standups out by
the ocean and did a quick zoom
interview with the chair of the
Clatsop County Commissioners.
We're having a little snack in the car
and we're going to head back to Portland
and put this whole store together.
Scotty, say goodbye.
I spent many a day with Scotty in
the car. Nice job both of you.