A weekend topic starting with Truthout. "National media outlets have trained their sights on Portland, Oregon, releasing hit piece after piece. The New York Times published no fewer than three articles about the state’s drug decriminalization in a single week. The mischaracterizations begin before the article does, starting out with the assertion the primary goal was to curb overdoses, reaching a fever pitch by the final clause, 'and life has changed for most everyone…' The New York Times would have you believe Measure 110 — which moved misdemeanor drug possession down to a Class E violation, similar to a traffic ticket — has given fentanyl dealers free reign, though a sale of even $5 of fentanyl remains a Class A felony."

"Jennifer Myrle, a worker at a downtown coffee shop, says her downtown area can feel like 'dealer central,' but that 'there’s no point in calling the cops.' Though The New York Times is spuriously implying drug peddlers have free reign in the city, unpacking why Myrle sees no point in calling the police is worthy of a few sentences. None of what she describes has anything to do with the fact drug possession no longer warrants a misdemeanor arrest like it did in 2020. The entire rest of the article implies causality between drug decriminalization and myriad other social ills, such as homelessness, petty crime and drug overdose."

"Officials and pundits persistently attempt to redirect our attention on the housing crisis to drug use, mental health or progressive permissiveness. Yet the fact remains: The sole predictor of homelessness is how rent-burdened people are."

The Messenger. "The acting mayor of Boston kicked off his temporary, 10-day stint in the post on Monday — with a tour of one of the city's most notorious intersections, Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. Known to locals as 'Mass and Cass,' the intersection has become the site of a growing homeless encampment, where opioids are being injected out in the open. Boston has even developed a special team to help tackle the situation. Photographs from 2019 show a homeless shelter located near the intersection, but no encampments. The combined effects of the opioid epidemic, the housing crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the current situation at Mass and Cass."

The Dallas Morning News in Texas. "Dallas wants $3.6 million next year to address homeless encampments, which includes razing, cleaning, and fencing key areas, according to City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s budget proposal that City Council will tackle this month. The city plans to spend $1.5 million on decommissioning homelessness encampments, and another $1million on building fences to keep homeless individuals out of encampment-prone areas, like highway overpasses and bridges. It will also budget $1.1 million for the 'cleaning' of encampments. 'The message this budget sends is this is a priority for the City of Dallas,' said Peter Brodsky, the board chair of Housing Forward, one of the area’s largest homelessness nonprofits. 'We are going to continue to address the unsheltered homelessness in our community and ensure our city doesn’t allow the problem to become out of control as it has in other cities.'"

"Brodsky and Ellen Magnis, CEO of homelessness nonprofit Family Gateway, were co-chairs of the task force. The two said there is an important distinction between simply closing and 'decommissioning' a homelessness encampment. 'It’s very different than just shutting it down and telling people to move along,' Magnis said. 'Decommissioning means you’re going in with a workforce of trained professionals. You’re building relationships with those people who are living outside and you’re trying to determine what their needs are and what kind of housing is best for them. It’s a slow process to really understand what the need is.'"

KOMO in Washington. "The illegal homeless encampment that has shuffled around Burien for months is being dismantled after outreach efforts by a private group that has connected people who are living there with shelter. The encampment has been set up in a grass strip outside a strip mall in downtown Burien since early July. King County has offered $1 million and a package of other services to Burien to help stand up a place to house the homeless in the city. That offer is still sitting on the table as Burien leadership looks for a place to put a tiny home village, or similar shelter, for the homeless."

"King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) Chief of Staff Anne Burkland sent a letter to Burien city leadership last week saying the city is responsible for finding a site to put emergency housing before the money can be applied. KCRHA indicated the county also has pallet shelters, which are similar to tiny homes, ready to offer Burien along with the $1 million. Kristine Moreland, director with The More We Love, has been working with people living in the encampment for weeks to get into available services. Moreland's outreach group is funded by the property owner, not the city or county."

"'This is not safe, even in the slightest. Not even a little bit. We had two overdoses last week - it’s not going to stop, it’s perpetuating and it’s going to get worse,' Moreland said. 'There’s a gentleman who walked into grocery outlet yesterday, smoked fentanyl and blew it in one of the employee’s face and that employee had to go to the hospital. It is a problem and this city is just moving these people around.'"

KREM in Washington. "The woman accused of starting a series of fires near Sunset Highway admitted her actions to police while she was being questioned for trespassing, according to newly filed court documents. Vickie Smith, 53, was arrested in King County on Thursday for allegedly setting four fires near the Finch Arboretum on Aug. 3. The day after the fires, Smith was contacted by police for allegedly trespassing and, during that conversation, admitted to police that she lit fires 'up at the golf course' in order to get housing."

"Cindi Miraglia, a West Hills resident, told police she confronted the woman for trespassing on her property and walked her out of the neighborhood while calling 911. Miraglia called police a second time and kept the woman from running away or going onto another neighbor's property. While escorting the woman out of the neighborhood, the resident told police she spoke with the woman about her housing situation. The woman told her she was 'upset with the Catalyst Housing' because they would not let her stay there, according to court documents. 'Telling me about how discouraged she was about the services she got, she got nothing to eat, to drink,' Miraglia told KREM 2. 'How all these services for the homeless are terrible.'"

"Miraglia said the two also talked about the fires. 'I said, 'I’m really upset about these fires,' and she said, ‘Yeah, I’d be upset too if someone was setting fires by my house,' she said. 'I think she really just wanted to be heard.'"

NBC 7 in California."In downtown San Diego, residents, homeless individuals, city crews and nonprofit services navigate the new ordinance on the streets amid the larger, more complicated crisis. Anneke Durbin and Amanda Lawrence told NBC 7, they have been homeless for a long time. 'We’re out here because of the situation that led us to here. And it’s not being a drug addict. It’s not spending your money on the wrong thing. The cost of living has gone up. I couldn’t afford my rent no more,' said Lawrence."

"Thursday, downtown resident Georgio Kirylo was on his walk home when he ran into the two women and NBC 7. 'It’s devastating to see people dying on the street every single day,' Kirylo said. He told NBC 7 things have gotten so bad that he's started a neighborhood watch comprised of several community groups. 'We have children on the street. We have businesses on the street. It’s unsanitary and it’s dangerous. Our cars are being broken into. There’s fires being started,' Kirylo said."

The Daily Mail on California. "Shocking new photos lay bear the devastating homeless crisis tormenting downtown LA - where filthy ramshackle tent cities are plagued by zombie-like residents smoking drugs, while others hawk stolen goods on street corners. There are currently an estimated 42,260 people sleeping rough in the City of Angels - a startling 10 percent rise compared to just last year, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported. Just this week, it emerged that the city had resorted to sending mobile teams with oxygen cylinders to Skid Row in a desperate bid to prevent overdoses amid its crippling opioid crisis."

"There were more than 2,200 county-wide deaths among homeless people in 2021, marking the first time the agency has reported an annual toll of more than 2,000, said Will Nicholas, director of the Center for Health Impact Evaluation at the LA County Department of Public Health. Drug overdoses accounted for more than a third of deaths among homeless people in LA County in 2020 and 2021 combined, according to the report. Fentanyl deaths almost always involved combinations of drugs. Fentanyl is often mixed with other drugs to enhance the high, but a small amount can be deadly. In 2021, 71 percent of all fentanyl deaths among people experiencing homelessness also involved methamphetamine. Methamphetamine was involved in nearly 77 percent of the overdose deaths."

The Wall Street Journal on California. "Local leaders are trying anything they can to keep San Francisco’s struggling downtown core afloat, including paying retired, unarmed police to keep an eye out for trouble. One is Mike Browne, who spent 30 years as a San Francisco cop and now patrols downtown as part of a squadron of 'community ambassadors,' recognizable in blue shirts, who aim to help commuters and shoppers feel safer in and around San Francisco’s downtown commercial and shopping district. Homelessness, drug use, and non-violent crimes like shoplifting and car thefts are commonplace in many parts of the neighborhood. When an apparently disturbed man rammed into him recently, Browne did nothing. 'What are you going to do?' the 60 year-old said. 'You can’t fight crazy.'"

"Downtown San Francisco thrived during the 2010s in large part because of the growth of the tech industry. But those employees easily transitioned to remote work during the pandemic and the majority never came back to the office full-time. Under pressure to cut costs last year, tech giants like Meta Platforms and Salesforce laid off workers and cut their real estate footprints in the city. Floors of many downtown office towers now sit empty. Those changes have collided with a series of intertwined problems that have been festering in San Francisco for years, including high housing costs, street homelessness, rampant property crime, the fentanyl crisis and a precipitous drop in public transit ridership since the pandemic."

"'I don’t feel safe, there are so many vagrants walking around and there is garbage everywhere,' said 63-year-old Sandra Brealey, a longtime city resident who used to go downtown regularly, but has largely stopped over the past five years. Jack’s Shoe Repair Service, which is located in front of a subway exit where legions of commuters used to pass, has regained only about 40% of its business from before the pandemic, said owner Setrak Soghomonian. Jack’s used to employ three full time employees, but is now down to just one. 'The only time things are better is when the tourists come around,' Soghomonian said. 'The regular people are just not around anymore.'"

New York Daily News. "When it’s hot out, Shalisa Richardson likes to take her two young girls from their Bed-Stuy home to the McCarren Pool. On her most recent trip, Richardson noticed something different: Just outside the pool area, migrants were coming in and out of the rec center. She’s protective of her daughters and is worried about the male asylum seekers. She’s reconsidering the family pool visits. New York is at the center of a global migration crisis, and the front lines are creeping to locals’ pools, parks, senior centers and soccer fields. More than a year after buses from the southern border started to arrive, the influx of thousands of migrants is forcing the city to consider unconventional shelter options."

"As nearly every neighborhood sees the situation up close, they’re starting to lash back. Richardson feels punished by the migrants’ placement. It seems implausible to her that this big city full of vacant storefronts, empty warehouses and shelters doesn’t have any space left. 'Ya’ll allowing them to sleep outside, but yet you’re on the news talking about ‘Oh, yeah, well, we want to help all these homeless people,’ she said. “Okay, well give them a free house. Give them a free apartment. Help them out like that. But no, you’re helping them letting them be in the streets, homeless.'"

CBC News in Canada. "A Cape Breton non-profit group says the number of clients it is seeing who are homeless has doubled compared to last year. The Ally Centre in Sydney helps people with mental health, addiction and homelessness issues. Of the 683 clients who have visited this year, 30 per cent say they are homeless. Christine Porter, the Ally Centre's executive director, said this includes people who are sleeping rough, couch surfing or relying on a local shelter. She said more than twice as many clients are sleeping in a tent."

"'For the population that we serve here at the Ally Centre, we need housing stock,' she said. '"We need safe, affordable housing. Not tents, not rooms. We need housing.' Porter said the centre has been handing out tents to individuals and families. Given high prices for rent, low housing stock and the increasing cost of supplies, Porter expects to see the problem getting worse through the fall and winter. 'We'll see a lot more evictions for people not able to pay the rent because they have to eat,' she said. 'We're all … a paycheque away from that.'"

The Evening Standard in the UK. "Sadiq Khan has issued a stark warning that London house building could 'grind to a halt' in a 'perfect storm of pressures' without an extra £2.2bn in Government funding. In a letter to Housing Secretary Michael Gove on Friday, Mr Khan called on the Government to stump up £2.2bn to deliver 35,000 affordable home starts by March 2026, or face developers downing tools across the capital. It comes amid warnings that national house building could fall to the lowest level since World War II because of high interest rates and building cost inflation - a trend City Hall said was already taking root in London."

"'The city has reached crisis point in relation to housing affordability and homelessness pressures,' states the Mayor’s letter. 'Without the necessary national action from the government, I fear there’s a real prospect of housebuilding grinding to a halt across the country, putting a stranglehold on the progress we’ve been making in London.'"

"Mr Khan said he had this week reconvened a London Housing Delivery Taskforce to hear from senior leaders across the housing sector in a bid to prevent a collapse of London house building. Deputy mayor for housing, Tom Copley, added: 'Ministers need to wake up and realise that every light on the dashboard is flashing red. We need an immediate injection of £2.2 billion to steady the ship and get us back on course to deliver 35,000 new genuinely affordable homes.'"

Radio New Zealand. "Crime, housing and transport were the hot topics at Wednesday night's political debate in Auckland Central. Electoral candidates from Labour, National, Green and The Opportunities Party slugged it out at the altar of St Matthew-in-the-City church. National candidate Mahesh Muralidhar dived headfirst into crime. 'It's not on good terms that we're meeting,' he told the audience. 'Over the last two weeks, four people were killed in shootings through the city. There's a crime wave cutting through, and people are feeling more and more anxious.'"

"Muralidhar criticised Labour's handling of ram-raids and shootings in the city, but Labour candidate Oscar Sims said National could not do any better. 'Compare our record to the National Party's record,' Sims said. 'The last term that National was in government, police funding went down. They can talk a big game when they're out of power about how much they're going to do on law and order, but they're not credible once they get onto the Treasury benches and are actually in government.'"

"Green candidate and incumbent MP Chlöe Swarbrick said it was not as simple as hiring more police or dishing out harsher sentences. 'Let's have a grown-up conversation about that,' Swarbrick said. 'When I speak to our district (police) commander, they are incredibly up-front about the fact that they are responding to crime and they cannot tend to the avalanche of social issues that are producing these issues in the first place.'"

"The Opportunities Party candidate Damian Sycamore brought housing issues into the debate. He said a land tax would push owners to sell or develop their properties and prevent land banking. 'You cannot build affordable housing, or buy it, if the value of land stays as stratospherically high as it is currently in New Zealand,' Sycamore said."