Lawmaker Spends The Night In A Homeless Encampment

Tam Nguyen, a member of the city council of San Jose, California, decided to spend part of his Memorial Day weekend in Portland, Oregon. But instead of browsing the city’s cafes and doughnut shops, Nguyen spent the night sleeping in the Right To Dream Too homeless encampment.

Nguyen has been on the council for a year, and in that time he says his colleagues have constantly dismissed the idea of supporting encampments, arguing that they foster crime and other social ills, favoring instead to talk about building permanent housing for the homeless. But he says those discussions have dragged on for years and he had had enough of talk without action. He accepted an invitation to visit Right To Dream Too “out of frustration,” he said, and “to experience for myself the good and the bad of it.”...
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/06/01/3783445/lawmaker-homeless-encampment/