I was in Spokane, Washington last week and at breakfast time at the hotel, the television was broadcasting a Northwest news network. One of the top stories was of a problem in Portland. The Mayor had legalized, by executive order, overnight camping in public areas. The idea behind this was that homeless people could then get a good night's sleep without being hassled by police and it would just make everything better. Of course, the obvious foreseeable results of this policy occurred. The "homeless" set up a number of tent cities and took over virtually all the public spaces around the city. Residents could no longer go to city parks, a number of relatively crime-free areas became hotbeds of criminal activity, and public intoxication (both alcohol and marijuana intoxication) greatly increased. The news story was indicating that the mayor had reversed course and the police were asking for patience because it would take them several weeks before the homeless knew the change in policy.
Of course, a community activist was complaining because it was so unfair to the homeless who have been told that they could camp anywhere and now they would be hassled by police.