Whether homeless people decide to leave the Springwater Corridor on Aug. 1 or stand their ground, help is available.
That's the message dozens of homeless campers received from Portland-area residents and organizers Saturday morning who gathered on the trail at Southeast Lambert Street. The event, which included cleaning up a nearby camp and a meal for the homeless, came more than a week after Portland Mayor Charlie Hales announced that overnight sleeping on the city's portion of the 21-mile trail would soon be off limits.
An estimated 500 homeless people have lived on the trail that spans Multnomah and Clackamas counties, connecting Gresham, Portland and Milwaukie. Last year, Multnomah County had 1,887 unsheltered people sleeping on the streets in 2015, according to a one-night count.
"The purpose of this meeting is to find out from you what it is you want from us," said Vahid Brown, the man chosen to lead the "general assembly" discussion.
Brown, a housing policy coordinator with Clackamas County who's known for his advocacy on behalf of homeless populations, said he was there on his day off and not representing the county. After more than an hour, the group of more than 100 people assembled a list of demands before being told various social services programs could help find them new places to sleep.
Austin Rose, an organizer with Portland Tenants United, said his group could be counted on if the campers wanted stand their ground. He stressed that any protest would be peaceful, warning that violence would blowback tenfold on homeless populations and the groups that help them.
"Already in the media, we don't have a great name," Rose said, "and so it is really important for us to make sure that we are constantly pushing the reality and the humanity that exists out here and not falling into stereotypes."
The list of requests
Homeless campers on the Springwater Corridor and their supporters are asking Portland Mayor Charlie Hales to:
* Extend the Aug. 1 deadline to shut down the trail to overnight camping
* Provide additional time to people with disabilities, children or the elderly in the event of relocation
* Relocate homeless people, not displace them.
* Refrain from seizing anyone's possessions
* Cease the criminalization of the homeless community
* Meet directly with the trail's homeless campers
* Levy a tax on real estate projects to benefit social services
* Allow interested homeowners to open their backyards for long-term camping
* Deploy storage units for campers' belongings a week before the Aug. 1 cleanup
Source: Vahid Brown, discussion leader from July 23, 2016 Springwater Corridor meeting
Rose invited anyone, homeless or not, interested in participating in his organization's protest to meet at the same location Sunday at 6:30 p.m. He said that will help the group figure out how many resources it will have.
Ree Karhuus, executive director of Boots on the Ground PDX, offered news of an alternative, organized campsite on public land but away from the trail. For the moment, the location is secret but it will be announced July 31, a day before the massive cleanup begins, she said.
"We will have spaces available for people that want to come," Karhuus said. "You cannot bring anything more than can fit in a small tent when you come on [the] property. Be prepared to leave most of your stuff behind. This would be an economic refugee camp, and it's going to look just like that."
Karhuus cautioned that anyone who participates should also prepare to be arrested. However, she said, she hopes to show city officials that organized camping can cause minimal impact to the environment and remain peaceful with codes of conduct and personal responsibility.
"The only thing that would get us off that property is land-use agreements from the city," Karhuus said.
Robert Schultz, public safety chair of the Lents Neighborhood Association, also attended the meeting. He helps organize weekly walks with neighborhood residents and he's well connected to news impacting Lents and the Springwater Corridor.
He urged the group to make an effort to communicate with neighborhoods. He reiterated that Lents residents are not opposed to the homeless issue, and that many are one paycheck away from their own housing crisis.
The association and its residents, he said, are willing to take on their share of homeless campers after Aug. 1, as long as other neighborhoods, including wealthy ones such as Eastmoreland, do the same.
"That's where the decision makers for our whole city live," Schultz said, "but they get to have their kids run around and not be confronted with [homelessness]. So they don't have the dinner-time conversation of, 'yeah, I saw a guy [urinating] in front of me or screamed a bunch of profanity at me or there were needles littered around.' They don't have to deal with that. It's a manifestation of their privilege.
"If this helps bring that down, all the better," he said.
Jesse Sponberg, an activists and former mayoral candidate, also referenced Eastmoreland. He said he plans to move some homeless campers next week from Springwater to the neighborhood near the home of Hales and Multnomah County Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury. He's eyeing a grassy median near Reed College, he told KGW.
Meanwhile, City Commissioner Dan Saltzman told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he now supports the developer who proposed a massive housing complex at Terminal 1 on the Willamette River, just north of downtown.
If approved, the project would provide around-the-clock shelter and services for up to 1,400 people, but a far less expensive 18-month temporary version of the facility could go up within 60 days. Saltzman says he aims to start out on a smaller scale. The proposed lease would last for 18 months and the shelter would house about 500 people initially, he said.
The City Council would have to change zoning regulations before the project moves forward, and it appears a majority of the council supports the changes. Hales supports the project, and Commissioner Steve Novick told the Portland Mercury on Friday that he's willing to give it a shot.
— Tony Hernandez
thernandez@oregonian.com
503-294-5928
@tonyhreports