PORTLAND — A long-promised sweep of homeless campers from the Springwater Corridor, already delayed once near the eve of action, is again less than a week away.
And foreboding and frustration once more mark the countdown.
Officials have found scant short-term options to help ease what could become a wrenching scene, with plans for a complaint-based response when campers seep into surrounding neighborhoods but only talk of new camping spots for those on the trail.
So far, few people are satisfied with the evolving effort as Portland approaches a Sept. 1 deadline for enforcing its outdoor camping ban along the city’s 14-mile stretch of the trail.
Tensions are high, and patience thin, among residents expecting a deluge of people. City officials posted more than 1,000 notices about the clear-out two weeks ago, with an estimated 250 to 300 campers still living along the path, said Chad Stover, Mayor Charlie Hales’ policy director for livability. Some estimates over the summer put that number as high as 500.
Homeless people and many volunteer advocates who help them are equally stressed, said Lisa Lake, director of Advocacy5. Her nonprofit group funds four others that provide meals, basic health care and other services to the campers. It’s unclear how many campers in the weeks since the first planned sweep, on Aug. 1, was put off.
“There’s quite a bit of burn out,” Lake said Wednesday. “It’s really, really hard to balance how much you feel the need to be out there with how much you can be out there.”
The corridor – a winding, paved trail that draws thousands of walkers, runners and bikers from downtown Portland to Gresham and beyond – has become a symbol of the city’s homelessness crisis. Not enough shelters beds or transitional housing exists to cover some of the nearly 2,000 people believed to be living on the street throughout Multnomah County.
Campers have long congregated along the sides of the trail, but their numbers and public presence soared after the mayor this year instituted a safe sleep policy that allowed tent camping and sidewalk sleeping. In the face of growing criticism, Hales announced the Springwater sweep over the summer and ended the camping reprieve.
Come next Thursday, Portlanders can expect to see hired cleanup teams and security workers roaming the trail with police from the Ross Island Bridge to the Gresham city line. The cleanup is expected to roll out over many days, but officials hesitate to provide exact dates and deadlines to complete their work.
In the meantime, campers are getting ready to filter into surrounding blocks and other areas – some sanctioned, many not. Others might stand their ground.
“We’re having to try to help people off the streets while looking over our shoulders to keep the city from sweeping us,” said Pastor Michael Davis of Knowing Me Ministries.
A four-acre plot in Southeast Portland provides a good example of the undertaking’s competing interests and challenges: As the city prepares to move hundreds of homeless people, many merely looking only for places to bed down, it’s struggling to find new spots for a few dozen.
And even though the city and county have added hundreds of shelter beds in recent months, those spots are already largely at capacity.
When Hales struck a deal with a group of homeless people threatening to sue over his initial Aug. 1 deadline, their agreement revealed the city was prepping land next to Beggar’s Tick Wildlife Refuge for some of the displaced campers.
At the time, a Hales spokeswoman said city officials were planning an organized camp that could take as many as 100 people.
Some homeless campers last month already on the property – about a half-mile north of the Springwater near SE 111th Avenue – had been asked to move while the city readied the site and removed mounds of hazardous dirt and other materials. Campers were told they could return by Sept. 1, when the land was available for more people, said Davis, who has worked closely the campers.
But little appears set.
The spot – now commonly called the Reedway site – has triggered vocal opposition from nearby neighbors, with some expecting to converge there for a protest this weekend.
The initial plan, Hales’ office said this week, never tied the property to the timing of the Springwater sweep. And city officials apparently are still sizing up the site.
“The city is interested in continuing to evaluate Reedway, and other plots of land throughout the city, as potential areas for an organized, sanctioned outdoor sheltered community,” Stover said. “However, there would be further community involvement in that process … and it would only be done under the right provisions.”
The city keeps a spreadsheet with at least 124 properties considered in recent months as potential shelters or spots for approved campgrounds.
Of the top 21 properties, five are considered high priority based on availability, location, price or because they’ve already opened, such as the former Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office building on Southeast Glisan Street recently converted to a shelter.
The list also contains eight properties that are “of interest but have issues to make work.” Some need workable bathrooms, or they’re located in neighborhoods already dense with shelters or services. Another seven properties show existing churches or sanctioned homeless communities such as the well-known Right 2 Dream Too site in Chinatown.
At the Reedway plot, Davis said he’s hearing that the camp – if it opens – will have no more than about 30 people after Sept. 1. He’s not sure if his group of about 15 homeless people will be allowed back.
“They feel like they got lied to and betrayed,” he said.
Davis also wants to manage the site. City officials are hesitant.
Stover said the city needs the right kind of social service provider to work with campers – established nonprofits capable of specialized work with Portland’s inventory of tiny houses or sleeping pods and other infrastructure.
“We have had people like Mr. Davis say they’re interested,” he said. “We hear them and that’s great. They’re not ruled out but there’s some logistical hurdles before teaming with them.”
Davis said his group has divided up among two other spots, one near Southeast 111th Avenue and Harold Street and another in Gresham.
“The reality,” he said, “is no matter how good we run it, we could always be swept.”
The latest buzzword to describe acceptable public camping after the sweep is “low-impact.”
Who to call?
At a community meeting Aug. 23 in Southeast Portland, Portland officials gave a few phone numbers that could be helpful after Sept. 1.
What if a resident finds a homeless person trespassing on their property or committing other crimes such as drug use?
If the resident does not feel comfortable or safe approaching the homeless person, people can call the Portland Police Bureau non-emergency line at 503-823-3333.
What if people find too much trash or aggressive behavior at a cluster of tents?
Use the city’s One Point of Contact website, or call 503-823-4000. That’s the City/County Information and Referral line. They’ll fill out the complaint form for people who don’t have web access.
What if someone appears to be having a mental health issue?
Call the Multnomah County Mental Health Crisis Line at 503-988-4888.
— Staff
That means: “People camp in small groups, two or three people. They don’t build elaborate structures,” Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese said at a community meeting in Southeast Portland, near Gresham, this week.
“If they’re on private property, they get permission of the property owner themselves,” Reese said. “If they do those things, then they’re not going to have an issue with our deputy sheriffs or the Portland Police Bureau.”
The trail, of course, will be off limits.
Stover clarified that small groups could range from two to about a half-dozen. But the city won’t order cleanups until people complain, mostly through the One Point of Contact website. Officials will continue to consider factors, such as garbage, aggressive behavior, drug use and the presence of children before ordering cleanups.
Meanwhile, Portland police Lt. Craig Morgan told people at the meeting that officers will be using all-terrain vehicles and bicycles to patrol the corridor “when staffing allows us to do so.”
He belongs to the Police Bureau’s East Precinct, whose dominion generally stretches east from Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard to Gresham and south from Interstate 84 to the Clackamas County line. On any given afternoon shift, 20 officers patrol the entire precinct’s streets, he said.
He said people should be patient with response times concerning homeless people or groups accused of crimes by concerned residents.
“We are – as I’m sure you’ve seen in the papers – really hurting on staffing,” Morgan said, “and of course that affects our response to a lot of things including issues around this.”
