People living on Portland’s streets and those working to connect them to food, clothing and shelter reacted Friday to the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision.
The 6-3 ruling leaves it up to the cities and state to decide how they want to deal with the issue of homeless camps.
At 23-years old, a man named Romeo told KOIN 6 News he’s been homeless for two years, but working to get into housing. He said the court’s decision could impact his ability to get into housing because he has “nowhere else to go.”
“People are trying to get their lives together and everything,” he added. “And a lot of people don’t deserve to go to jail for camping.”
While the ruling won’t immediately go into effect, local humanitarian organizations say they’re concerned it could lay the groundwork for harsher penalties against an already vulnerable population.
“This does not change the problem. It merely just hides the people,” said Kat Mahoney, Executive Director of Sisters of the Road.
“This decision really does make our work more difficult,” added Liz Starke, Development Director for Rose Haven. “Because when people have additional fines or jail time, that’s ultimately getting them further and further away from their goals and sustainability.”
“This isn’t a time to ring our hands,” Starke emphasized. “It’s a time to put our arms around one another and come together.”
Stricter camping bans, increased sweeps and over-policing are among some of the other major concerns shared by those working to stabilize Portland’s homeless population.
“We know that our jails will become overcrowded,” Mahoney said. “And we know the cost to jail someone is much higher than the cost to house them.”
Scott Kerman, Executive Director of Blanchet House told KOIN 6 while the court’s decision finalizes long standing questions about the constitutionality of criminalizing homelessness, it doesn’t change or address the needs of thousands sleeping outside without enough shelter or resources.
“We really consider this to be a life-or-death situation for many people,” voiced Kerman. “And no Supreme Court decision or ordinance is necessarily going to solve for that.”
Beyond this ruling, the City’s camping ordinance is slated to go into effect on Monday.
https://rosehaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image0-2.jpeg324640Liz Starkehttps://rosehaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/header_logo.pngLiz Starke2024-07-11 09:50:492024-07-11 09:50:49‘Going to make our work harder’: Local advocates bemoan SCOTUS Grants Pass decision
A debate is raging about whether or not Multnomah County should distribute tents to the homeless one day ahead of a Portland City Council vote aimed at curbing such activity.
The City of Portland is in an agreement to provide money to the county as part of the Joint Office of Homeless Services. However, Multnomah County recently passed a nearly $4 billion budget that includes money for distributing tarps, tents and clean syringes to those living on the streets. Portland City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez says those items end up getting cleaned up by the city, costing taxpayers in the process.
Gonzalez wants to put qualifiers on the City of Portland’s new three-year Homelessness Response System Intergovernmental Agreement with Multnomah County so that the city has a say in the county’s distribution of tents and syringes. The two amendments put forth by Gonzalez will be discussed during a Portland City Council meeting on Thursday.
This all comes after another critic of Multnomah County, attorney John DiLorenzo, says the county is continuing to violate the rights of disabled people by distributing the tents, which he says ends up blocking the right-of-way on sidewalks for people with disabilities. DiLorenzo had previously represented a group of disabled people who sued the city for this same reason and won last May, which resulted in a federal court settlement in which the city agreed to keep sidewalks clear in order to not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“We need to make sure the county is compliant with those requirements,” Gonzalez said. “So we’re trying to navigate as a community the balance between compassion without enablement.”
However, not everyone sees the tents distributed to the homeless as deadweight. Rose Haven, a non-profit that works with the homeless, says tarps and tents represent some people’s livelihood.
“Nobody wants to live in a tent,” said Liz Starke, a spokesperson for Rose Haven. “For us, regardless of what happens at these city council meetings, the work continues and people still need help.”
Starke said she spends her days trying to get resources, like tents, to the unhoused.
“And so what happens when the county doesn’t give us tents is that we have to rely on individuals to fundraise for those items.”
Starke said when non-profits like hers have to raise money for tents, it puts a strain on their resources.
“This makes a huge impact for nonprofits like Rose Haven, that are triaging people’s needs. But there’s also products that are better for our community and are intentionally made for folks experiencing homelessness.”
As part of Multnomah County’s recently passed $3.96 billion budget, it includes $515,000 set aside for clean needles as part of a harm reduction effort and $250,000 for tents next year.
The county’s buying and giving out of tarps and tents is costing the City of Portland $14 million to clean up, Gonzalez said, adding he’s “very concerned for our tax payers.”
“They’re spending a lot of money both on trying to alleviate homelessness and cleaning up encampments, and we just want to make sure that when the county is doing it, the joint offices are doing it, and the City of Portland is pursuant of a well thought out policy,” he said.
Gonzalez said there have been a lot of negotiations happening at the city level, something he expects to continue right up until Thursday’s city council meeting on the matter at 9:30 a.m.
https://rosehaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image0-1.jpeg270640Liz Starkehttps://rosehaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/header_logo.pngLiz Starke2024-07-11 09:34:022024-07-11 09:34:02‘People still need help’: Debate rages on ahead of city effort to curb MultCo-funded homeless tents
You may not see it, but you can surely smell the result of five days of extreme temperatures on the streets of Portland’s Old Town neighborhood. Urine and hot trash seem to steep on the concrete sidewalks — inescapable for those who live on them.
“It’s disgusting. It is so gross, every corner that you turn,” said Amelia, whose face was covered in scabs Monday morning.
Amelia said the scabs were due to a fight that sent her to the hospital — all fueled by the heat, she said. “Every time the weather gets worse, everybody gets a little bit hotter, their temperatures, their attitude,” she said.
“It is hot and there are just so many people that are struggling. It gets really hot in a tent. They rarely have any ventilation,” said Liz Starke, who works at Rose Haven, a day center for homeless people.
A KGW crew found many abandoned tents Monday as people turned to places like Rose Haven or county-operated temporary cooling centers.
“We’re going to stay open until 4 o’clock today as a cooling center,” Starke said Monday.
In the meantime, those tents aren’t going anywhere. On Wednesday, the city of Portland paused camp removals and enforcement of its camping ban, which threatens jail time and fines for illegal camping, due to the severe weather emergency declared last week. This safety move came just two days after enforcement of the new ban began.
“I think it’s probably a bit performative,” Starke said of the city’s decision to pause the camping ban and camp removals.
“That should probably be the opposite if you think they should probably find shelters for them,” said Jimmy who is homeless in Southwest Portland.
The mayor’s office would not talk with KGW on camera on Monday but said this is all part of the city’s camp removal policy. Portland city commissioner and mayoral candidate Mingus Mapps sent KGW the following statement:
“While it is normal city procedure during extreme weather to not enforce camping bans, I want to take the opportunity to urge people to go to cooling shelters, find shade, and stay out of the direct sun as much as possible. We already had tragedy with heat related deaths this weekend and we’re only really beginning the summer heat waves.”
The city has paused camp removals during severe weather events before and instead those crews handed out water and encouraged people to go inside. It’s unclear if that’s what’s happening this week.
“Regardless of what happens at city hall and when these kinds of proclamations are made it doesn’t really affect people on the streets that much,” said Starke. “The word is on the street that you’re going to be swept, you’re not welcome, so once people know that that is the culture … people are not only hot and uncomfortable, they’re scared.”
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office told KGW that resuming camp removals and camping ban enforcement is dependent on the weather.
On the one hand, many are relieved to see the mayor taking what they call a more humane approach. On the other hand, some are still concerned about it being too vague.
The proposal bans camping if there’s reasonable access to shelter.
Some organizations are now asking: What does “reasonable” mean when even Wheeler himself admitted on to KOIN 6 News Thursday night that there are not enough shelter beds for the thousands of people who are homeless in the city?
“I don’t want to see a time where all we have as reasonable shelter are mats on the ground and a community space and someone either have a consequence of jail time or that mat on the ground,” said Kristle Delihanty, the founder and executive director of PDX Saints Love. “There’s not enough shelter beds, There’s not enough substance use recovery options for people. And then it all goes all the way down to affordable housing.”
“The camping bans always affect our work because it puts people on edge and it creates a culture of fear,” said Liz Starke, the development director for Rose Haven.
However, some advocacy groups are also saying they appreciate there’s a clearer definition of camping that doesn’t include a person just sitting down with their belongings.
The ban also restricts fires, cooking, digging, trash, creating structures and having dismantled bikes or cars around tents. It also retains language from last year’s proposed camping ban — later struck down by a judge — that would require keeping public rights of way clear.
While the criminal penalties are less strict than the first ordinance, organizations who spoke to KOIN 6 News do not agree with the new repercussions: $100 fine, one week in jail or both.
“Criminalization isn’t the answer,” Starke said. “So it’s still on paper saying it’s illegal to be here when we don’t have a place for people to go.”
The Rose Haven director said people come in every single day to ask social workers to place them in shelters. But they often get the word back that there are long waitlists and that the shelters are often full.
“And if you have additional fees to pay and legal issues and appointments to get to and you may not even have a phone or an address that’s only going to make your road to recovery more difficult,” Starke said.
While some aspects of the new proposed ban are more defined, the specific phrase service providers have taken issue with is the idea of banning camping for someone who has access to “reasonable alternative shelter.”
Scott Kerman, director of the Blanchet House in Old Town, said in a statement that the proposed ordinance “appears to be a more humane and practical way to address the challenges we’re facing in our city. I appreciate the intent to help people find shelter that meets their individualized needs and prioritizes outreach over imprisonment.”
Wheeler told KOIN 6 News Thursday night that the proposed ban would give the city law enforcement tools to keep sidewalks and some public spaces clear. He said that the longer someone is on the street, the more likely they will suffer from behavioral health or substance use disorder issues.
In her late 50s, Laurie depended on $100 a month in food stamps while she lived in her car. She ate cold canned soup and food she could eat without cooking. She took showers when she could at her ex-brother-in-law’s house, where she parked her car. She found temporary jobs, like packing flower bulbs into net bags at a bulb factory. It was never enough money for rent.
At one point, Laurie developed pancreatitis, which sent her to the hospital. She suffered a stroke, and doctors determined she had experienced several small strokes. This impacted her memory. In her phone contacts, she keeps “son” and “sister” typed under these people’s names and photos to stir her memory if they call.
“Sometimes I slept on the side of the road in my car,” Laurie said. “I covered the windows so no one could look in and see what I had. I didn’t sleep good. Every little noise, I’d jump.”
Accessing resources for housing, work and health care is challenging for adults experiencing poverty and homelessness in their 50s and on. For many, there is a treacherous middle ground without shelter or income. This means service providers are helping them find housing along with health care, food, transportation and safety.
Laurie was homeless for three years after losing her husband to cancer and, consequently, her home. She lived in a series of cars, couch surfed and spent a few nights in women’s shelters and hotels. With the Street Roots Rose City Resource Guide, she found her way to local nonprofits PDX Saints Love and Rose Haven Day Shelter and Community Center for women and gender-diverse people. Another program, Up & Out, helped Laurie with housing.
She qualified for rapid rehousing and, with help from an Up & Out caseworker, moved into a townhouse last month. She recently started collecting widow’s benefits, and in one year, she will reapply for housing benefits.
“I wasn’t expecting to be a widow after 25 years, but it happened,” Laurie said. “And right now, I just thank God every day for what I’ve got. Without the (Rose City Resource Guide), I would’ve died, and I hate to say it, but I would have committed suicide if I had to live on the streets.”
Experts agree adults over 55 years old need housing and specific services, but resources are hard to navigate, underfunded and in short supply.
Katie O’Brien, Rose Haven executive director, told Street Roots she’s seen an increasing number of older women like Laurie line up for services in the past few years.
“We are serving about 150 people daily,” O’Brien said. “In the morning, the line is 50-60 deep, and others continue to trickle in. Now, the line puts women at a medical disadvantage. We have umbrellas and stools we bring out to make people as comfortable as possible.”
Kristi Katzke, case manager at Blanchet House, a nonprofit that temporarily houses 50 men with wraparound services, also sees homelessness among older people on a daily basis.
At age 65, Bob remembers the quick path to homelessness when he lost his job.
“The way I became homeless is I had a stroke … I could no longer type as fast as I had been able to,” Bob, a University of Washington graduate, said. “I could not perform my technical support job I had from home anymore. And my employer decided to let me go. I had a job that was fun for me to do — it was challenging.
“I was able to support my expenditures that I had. I was renting a room.”
Bob remembers living outside for a few days with one word: cold. After staying in a shelter, he found his way to Blanchet House, which also serves daily meals in Old Town.
Survival, shelter and employment
Staff at Blanchet House and Rose Haven said they see many older people face eviction and living in cars or tents. Some stay in temporary shelters, and some couch surf.
They often have physical and cognitive disabilities and may be dealing with addiction. Unfortunately, not all can stay in shelters.
“Many older folks do not meet the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) requirements to successfully manage themselves in a congregate shelter setting,” O’Brien said. “ADLs include bathing or showering, dressing, getting in and out of bed or a chair, walking, using the toilet, and eating. Shelters simply don’t have the capacity to support in this way.”
People with increasing physical problems related to aging are left out in the cold. This makes it even more difficult to access the resources they need in the first place. Many are struggling to survive.
“What if you’re not old enough to collect (Social Security) but no longer physically able to work?” Katzke said. “What if you worked construction and your knees give out? The earliest to collect SSI is 62, but you get much less. Some folks do take it early because they have nothing, but they’ve lost the ability to get the maximum. People are working later and later. But some physically and mentally may not be able to look for a job.”
Dealing with technology for job applications or training is complicated. Finding a bus route and traveling to an interview or a job can be exhausting.
“Folks can’t make ends meet on their Social Security, so they return to employment, but employment has so many barriers, and technology is one of them,” O’Brien said. “In addition to that barrier are physical barriers and dementia.
Services
The need for health services becomes more urgent with housing instability, especially in connection with aging. This includes help with addiction recovery. Navigating technology is another useful service.
Marisa Zapata, director of the Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative at Portland State University, said people are living longer and encountering more disability issues and more complicated issues around living alone.
“When I say ‘disability,’ I’m including mental health,” Zapata said. “People with dementia need to be in assisted living. But it is so expensive. It’s unrealistic that people can get into assisted living at the cost we are looking at. If they don’t have family members, where are they going to go?”
On-site medical care is an essential service for transitional or long-term housing with people who are in their 50s and older. Finding transportation to the emergency room, followed by a long wait, can be risky and difficult.
“We have a small clinic here three days a week, and even though the nurse practitioner is not Bob’s primary full-time care, they do med management,” Katzke said. “It’s been nice to not run to the doctor every time there is a need for urgent care.”
In addition to the clinic, Blanchet House offers a safe and sober recovery opportunity. Duke Reiss, a peer support and housing specialist at Blanchet House, advocates for seniors who are struggling with addiction. Addiction can be a barrier to staying in shelters and for assisted living, limiting long-term options.
“It’s hard for seniors to quit using drugs,” Reiss said. “Veterans struggling with addiction were in the worst environment, especially those who were in Vietnam. They experienced trauma and pressure to use drugs and do things they wouldn’t normally do. All our seniors grew up in a different culture. Everyone with addiction deserves sympathy and encouragement.”
The aging homeless Portlanders at Blanchet House fit into three categories, Reiss said. Some are addicted. Some could better manage addiction if they were offered housing, but there is no room for them in assisted living or other facilities. Some have no addictions but struggle cognitively. For anyone with memory loss, it is extremely difficult to deal with bureaucracy and provide a mailing address, ID and necessary paperwork to qualify for housing.
“A lot of our seniors sleep under jackets on the sidewalk and can’t put up a tent,” Reiss said. “It is hard to keep track of a tent and not lose it. This is prevalent about all their items. We need to give our seniors unlimited access to phones, clothes, shoes, socks, underwear and diapers. They get taken advantage of and lose these. They need to have replenished supplies more than anyone and are stuck in the elements. I have to get supplies to some seniors every day.”
Rose Haven also replaces stolen or lost IDs and supplies, along with providing technical services for completing job and housing applications.
Long-term housing
“What we do is an investment,” Katzke said. “We’ve invested time.”
Bob is applying for Social Security Disability Income, or SSDI, benefits and then can apply for housing.
“We started the process of applying for SSDI last spring,” Katzke said. “It could still be six months or more before approval, then the wait for funds is usually several more months. Once approved, we can start looking for assisted living that will accept his insurance. You can imagine how much more difficult this process is if a person is suffering from cognitive issues and does not have the support Bob has benefited from.”
According to the Harvard study, “Housing America’s Older Adults 2023,” the annual median cost of assisted living and other costs of living in Portland is $75,000. The share of households able to afford assisted living is 16%. For people like Bob, these costs are out of reach without help.
Funding
Like other nonprofits, Blanchet House has to be creative about funding its services. It is supported by individuals, businesses and grants. It uses food recovery and involves many volunteers while serving 1,000 meals a day.
Scott Kerman, Blanchet House executive director, said the organization will receive Metro Supportive Housing Services funds for the first six months of 2024. This is implemented through Multnomah County, specifically the Joint Office of Homeless Services.
“Blanchet House is grateful that agencies that provide vital services during daytime hours are receiving support from (Supportive Housing Services) funds,” Kerman said. “I’m hoping this kind of county support will continue in the future because day centers are struggling to keep up with the need in our community, especially as serious mental illness and substance use disorder continues to escalate. The need we’re serving is urgent, so I’m hopeful that the county and Joint Office will continue to seek improvements that make accessing funding a more expedited and less onerous experience.”
With SHS funding, 99% of formerly unhoused people stayed in long-term housing after a year, OPB reported in November 2023. The Joint Office also surpassed its goal of offering rent assistance to those at risk of eviction. However, $42 million went unspent. According to the county, this is because of staff retention at nonprofits they contract with due to low wages and poor benefits.
There is still a growing need for housing and a sense of urgency among organizations serving homeless populations relying on Multnomah County to efficiently implement funding from Supportive Housing Services. According to Laura Golino de Lovato, Northwest Pilot Program executive director, this would enable older homeless people to access housing stability through Regional Long-term Rent Assistance vouchers.
An elderly woman who often joins the line at Rose Haven exemplifies this need for housing.
“She is in a wheelchair, unable to (use the) toilet on her own,” O’Brien said. “She is not able to go to a shelter where her options are to be on a mat or in a bunk. She has an Adult Protective Services caseworker, but they need time to find options for her. Her eviction makes this especially challenging, and access to nursing or assisted facilities are hard to procure. In the meantime, she is sleeping at bus shelters, experiencing the weather elements and being sexually harassed.”
“She comes to Rose Haven, and we provide her daytime shelter and assist her in finding the best options at the moment — which are never great ones.”
https://rosehaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/WEB_Header_012424-1.png436780Liz Starkehttps://rosehaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/header_logo.pngLiz Starke2024-02-05 10:12:232024-02-05 10:12:23Oregon Seniors Struggle Under the Threat of Homelessness
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Wintery weather and frigid temperatures have agencies across the Portland metro thinking of those most vulnerable: the homeless.
While some agencies already have overnight warming shelters running, others are in desperate need of volunteers.
“When we see temperatures like those we’ll see this weekend, it’s not really a matter of making someone comfortable. It’s a matter of life and death,” Mike Deckon, director of marketing at the Portland Rescue Mission, said. “It’s critical that people have an opportunity to get out of the snow, to get out of the cold.”
The Portland Rescue Mission serves as many as 200 people a night. This weekend they will continue to be open 24 hours a day, adding an additional 25 shelter mats for the extreme weather.
They will also operate a daytime warming center with coats, blankets, hats, and gloves available to those who need them while supplies last. They’re asking anyone able to drop off supplies to do so at the Burnside Shelter.
Also in Portland, Rose Haven typically operates as a day shelter only – offering everything from warm clothing and washers and dryers to food and a warm place during the day. Lately, they’re connecting those in need with nearby overnight shelter options and how to get there through resources like TriMet with free fare to shelters.
“We do have some private citizens and other organizations that have come together and decided within their churches and other locations, to form shelters on behalf of our houseless community, which has been really special,” Rose Haven executive director Katie O’Brien said. “Keeping an eye and being a really good neighbor, it’s a really important time of year to do that. You can also call the Multnomah County Emergency Line if you have a concern about someone and you want to do a wellness check on them. It’s time for us to watch out for our neighbors when we’re getting into the teens here.”
Homeless and shelter supports across the area have spent much of the week getting their own plans in place. For instance, Clackamas County opens overnight warming shelters when the temperatures or wind chill are forecasted to be 33 degrees or lower or when weather conditions make sleeping outdoors especially different.
The Father’s Heart in Oregon City will provide overnight warming shelters from Thursday night through Monday morning. Those interested in volunteering can sign up online.
County officials are also encouraging people to heat their homes safely, only using heaters that are built for indoor use, and not using outdoor heaters, BBQs or the oven due to the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. If you use a generator, make sure it’s only outside and at least 25 feet away from open doors and vents.
“We’ve been working very closely both with our shelter operators and also with our outreach service providers to get folks connected with that information,” Washington Co. housing communications coordinator Emily Roots said.
In Southwest Washington, the Council for the Homeless coordinates with non-profits and churches across Clark County to offer overflow and satellite shelters. Their call to the community this week includes extra hands to help.
“Right now we do have increased capacity because of that and those locations do need volunteers,” Charlene Welch with the Council for the Homeless said.
Those interested in connecting with the council or who have a concern about someone in need can call their housing hotline at 360-695-9677. Multnomah County also offers resources for emergency response and welfare checks at 503-823-3333 or 211.
Shelters in Portland and Multnomah County:
North PDX Winter Shelter 4775 N Lombard Street Open overnight only, from 8:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. Call 971-716-3407 for a referral
Congregation Beth Israel with Do Good 1972 NW Flanders Street Open 24 hours, Friday through Sunday
Central Church of Nazarene by UGM 9715 SE Powell Blvd. Open every day, from 9 p.m. to 6 p.m. Walk in only, so call 503-274-4483 to confirm availability
LGBTQ+ Warming Center 4115 N Mississippi Avenue Open Thursday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
https://rosehaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/header_logo.png00Liz Starkehttps://rosehaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/header_logo.pngLiz Starke2024-01-25 13:02:092024-01-25 13:02:09‘Matter of life or death’: Warming shelters need volunteers, clothing as winter storm looms
PORTLAND, Ore. — With Multnomah County closing its warming centers on Wednesday, Thursday’s freezing rain made a difficult situation worse.
Homeless people walk in the middle of the street to avoid icy sidewalks. A line wraps around the block of Blanchet House in Old Town, as people wait to pick out donated winter coats. Others carry tents, tarps and MREs they got from warming centers before they closed on Wednesday.
“It’s miserable. I feel like grime,” Jacob, who’s homeless, told KGW.
Multnomah County closed its warming centers because the emergency shelter thresholds were not met. Those include when temperatures are 25 degrees or below, one inch or more of snow, and or 32 degrees or below with at least one inch of driving rain overnight.
Multnomah County has since declared a “cold weather advisory” to expand outreach and hand out tents. Warming centers will remain closed.
County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson told KGW in an email that “The fact that we supported a record 1,300 people in a record 12 buildings over five days of 24-hour shelter — along with expanded outreach and other measures on days and nights when thresholds aren’t met — is proof that we’re deeply committed to improving our processes, partnerships and performance.
“Taken together, this is a system designed to support people through every night of the year, including the most life-threatening,” she continued.
But Jacob, who slept in a soaking wet tent and sleeping bag on the ice Wednesday night, begs to differ: “Tents ain’t doing enough.”
“That’s pretty rotten. I mean, a lot of people are dispersed and displaced,” said Tommy, another unhoused resident.
Tommy and Jacob are now left to rely on the few open day centers like Rose Haven.
“This morning, we’ve had people who have been outside all night, showing up here, looking for resources for tonight, and it’s been really, really challenging,” said Katie O’Brien, Rose Haven’s executive director.
“We’ve contacted the city and the county looking for additional beds. We called 211 last night; they had no beds available for anybody. There just aren’t the resources,” she continued.
For three hours on Thursday, the county opened three places for people to get cold weather gear.
“I think this is indicative of a much greater problem. We shouldn’t be scrambling like this in inclement weather. It is winter in Oregon — these beds should be available all the time, all year round,” O’Brien said.
However, there is one silver lining: The city of Portland extended the pause on camp removals through at least Friday.
“It’s hard for people out here trying to do the right thing and trying to stay sober and trying to better their life, and they’re not getting the opportunity to do so,” Jacob said.
KGW asked the city if they could open emergency shelters on their own, and they said it’s not their call to make; the city said it waits for the county to make those decisions and are prepared to help out when they do.
https://rosehaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ScreenShot2024-01-22at9.55.46AM.png7851262Liz Starkehttps://rosehaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/header_logo.pngLiz Starke2024-01-22 09:59:482024-01-22 09:59:48‘Tents ain’t doing enough’: Homeless People Forced to Sleep on Ice as Multnomah County Warming Centers Remain Closed
The city’s private contractor, Rapid Response Bio Clean stores confiscated items in a warehouse for retrieval after sweeps, but homeless Portlanders say retrieval is next to impossible
Although it’s a chilly 45 degrees out, Garrett Troupe and Mackenzie B sat at a metal table outside the Starbucks in the Portland State University Urban Center because their dog, Luna, would not handle the sights and smells of the coffee shop with any moderate amount of excitement.
As Troupe lets out a sigh of exhaustion, Luna, a husky and Cascadian timberwolf mix who works as Troupe’s service dog, whimpers — which Troupe says is Luna telling him to “calm down,” as she often does.
Troupe and Mackenzie, who preferred not to use her last name, have been awake for many days. They are tired.
Troupe covers his eyes as the MAX light rail and fire trucks roll by loudly, cringing at the flashing red and white lights. He has epilepsy, which he said makes being homeless even harder than it would usually be. He said epileptic fits seem to always come at the exact wrong time.
“He was about to have a seizure, the dog was freaking out, and that’s when (Rapid Response Bio Clean) showed up,” Mackenzie said. “Then they took all of our stuff.”
Troupe and Mackenzie said Rapid Response Bio Clean, commonly referred to as Rapid Response, swept their encampments twice in 2023. Each instance was uniquely traumatizing for the family — Troupe, Mackenzie, Luna and their two cats, whom Mackenzie lovingly refers to as “her boys.”
Mackenzie said Rapid Response, a private biohazard and waste removal company contracted by the city for a recently-upped total of $22.9 million, largely to carry out city-ordered sweeps of homeless encampments, first swept their encampment in June 2023.
Increase in sweeps
Sweeps increased dramatically alongside the growing homeless population during Mayor Ted Wheeler’s time in office, with an unprecedented 5,000 sweeps carried out since November 2022 — a daily average of 19 sweeps.
The most common type of sweep, which the city refers to as a “campsite removal,” begins with a posted notice the “campsite will be cleared no less than seventy-two (72) hours after and within ten (10) days of” the posting date. The notice explains, “all property confiscated from this camp will be maintained by Rapid Response Bio Clean, at their storage facility, for a minimum of thirty (30) days.” Rapid Response is then supposed to return in that three-day to 10-day time frame to remove all remaining possessions, trash and debris from the site.
These common sweeps are carried out based on referrals from the city’s Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program, or HUCIRP. HUCIRP uses a scale of immediate threat for individual encampments, which are graded from 0-100. Encampments meeting a certain threshold are then designated for a sweep.
Rapid Response’s contract requires it to follow certain city-approved procedures. These policies and procedures, laid out on the city’s website, include posting the 72-hour notice, a prohibition on discarding usable personal belongings and storing confiscated items in a warehouse, the address for which must be available to unhoused residents.
When a homeless Portlander is not present for a sweep, Rapid Response is then required to determine what is or is not a usable personal belonging, a process which, as covered by Street Roots in recent years, is not standardized and has led to numerous complaints and litigation. Homeless Portlanders frequently accuse Rapid Response of improperly disposing usable items as trash.
While the city maintains a complaint form for Rapid Response, filing a complaint requires access to a device or computer with an internet connection.
The city of Portland did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication. Mike Casey, Rapid Response operations specialist, said Jan. 12, the business could not respond to questions by the time of publication with staff “in the field and engaged in outreach due to the inclement weather.” Casey referred Street Roots to policies listed on the city’s website.
Per city policy, Rapid Response is to itemize and organize all confiscated usable items in its warehouse so as to make the item retrieval process as simple and effective as possible.
Troupe and Mackenzie, however, did not have the smooth experience described in detail by city policy.
The couple said their 10-person tent contained a couple of three-tier rollaway toolboxes, hundreds of dollars in cash, and a variety of other personal belongings.
Troupe is a self-proclaimed “jack of all trades,” and most of his work is contracted carpentry and other construction jobs. Those tools, to him, represented thousands of dollars of work.
The couple, Mackenzie says, were in the process of getting back on their feet. They both had steady work for a good amount of time and were looking at getting into long-term housing, which made the sweep — and losing their savings and belongings — all the more devastating.
What typically happens during a sweep, in Mackenzie’s experience, is Rapid Response arrives and tells homeless Portlanders they have 10 minutes to remove all of their belongings from the area. As a result, many people end up having a majority of their belongings taken by Rapid Response employees because they can only carry so much in the allotted time.
While Rapid Response posts the 72-hour notice, and is supposed to return in that three-day to 10-day window, the city or its contractors commonly return late in the 10 day window and rather than sweeping the encampment, post a new notice, effectively extending the window for when contractors will return to sweep the encampment.
Police accompany Rapid Response Bio Clean staff (left) during an abatement sweep on a parade route in 2022.
(Street Roots photo)
The city re-posted more than half of all encampments included in a 2022 Street Roots analysis. The practice creates uncertainty and lulls people into a false sense of security, as does the broad three-day to 10-day initial window, service providers told Street Roots at the time. It also increases the risk that people will be absent or unprepared to remove their belongings when Rapid Response shows up.
Troupe and Mackenzie weren’t prepared when Rapid Response came knocking, and that’s how the couple says they lost the toolboxes and other valuables. Troupe said losing the tools cost him his job and any other work opportunities in the near future.
Troupe and Mackenzie made the trek to the Rapid Response warehouse in Southeast Portland and found what Troupe described as a “free for all,” with a giant pile of belongings open to anyone who cared to come to the warehouse.
Troupe and Mackenzie said they didn’t find any of their things in the warehouse. They did say, however, they found their items in the possession of other people on the streets, who presumably found the couple’s belongings in the warehouse and took them for themselves.
The second time, Rapid Response posted a notice, and eventually acted on it, telling the couple to move their belongings again.
“They said, ‘As long as you go a couple blocks that way, you’ll be fine,’” Mackenzie recalls being told.
The couple moved their tent, pets and belongings to where Rapid Response employees told them they’d be safe to stay. However, the employees didn’t stay true to their word. Street Roots covered a similar situation in 2022, when Rapid Response instructed a homeless Portlander to move their belongings around the corner to avoid being swept, only for the same crew to return hours later to sweep the area they previously said was safe.
“A couple days later, they came back with the cops and told us we had five minutes to get our animals and what we needed and move, or else we’d get arrested,” Mackenzie said.
Police, according to city policy, are not to be involved in common sweeps unless all non-confrontational and de-escalation efforts made by city contractors have failed. This is true except in the case of abatement sweeps, a different procedure intended for emergencies in which little or no notice is given. Police often accompany Rapid Response in their initial contact with homeless Portlanders and remain during the remainder of the abatement sweep.
Not an isolated incident
Troupe and Mackenzie aren’t the only homeless Portlanders who say they were unable to retrieve their belongings after a sweep. Far from it, in fact.
Liz Starke, Rose Haven development director, said Troupe and Mackenzie’s accounts are not rare.
“I’ve heard stories daily about interactions with Rapid Response,” Starke said.
On the streets, the prevailing narrative about Rapid Response is that of confusion, disruption and uncertainty among homeless Portlanders in response to what is essentially an eviction on the streets.
Denise Engall, a frequent Rose Haven visitor, said when Rapid Response swept her camp, she did as the posted notice dictated and called the number associated with Rapid Response in an attempt to retrieve her belongings. After telling them her name and the location of her camp, she said Rapid Response told her they had no recollection of ever collecting her belongings.
“It’s the Rapid Response way to say, ‘We don’t know about that,’” Engall said.
Eventually, she said she was able to track someone down at Rapid Response who remembered the sweep, and made an appointment with Rapid Response to retrieve her items. She was also asked to provide identification, which, according to outlines set by the city, is not standard for Rapid Response.
Once she got to the warehouse, all that was left of all her belongings was a rain fly and a rollaway bed. Engall said she lost jewelry, medication and a variety of other valuable belongings.
Kelli McBride, another regular at Rose Haven, found her interactions with Rapid Response to be similarly disconcerting.
McBride says she was roused out of her tent at 6 a.m. by Rapid Response employees, which was an enormous surprise as, according to McBride, Rapid Response had never posted a sweep notice at her campsite.
“They either don’t post a sign for a sweep, or they post, don’t show (at the time listed on the notice), and come five days later,” McBride said.
In 2023, the Street Roots ambassador program staged an experiment that corroborated much of the confusion and disarray described by other homeless Portlanders. The ambassadors set up tents in a soon-to-be-swept location to gather a better understanding of the belonging retrieval process.
After a process described as “far from smooth” in the project’s subsequent report, the team members were unable to successfully recover the majority of the belongings left to Rapid Response’s mercy.
When asked why so many of their things went missing, Rapid Response said other homeless Portlanders had stolen the items from the encampment, according to the report.
After Rapid Response asked the ambassadors to leave their camp, Rapid Response was unable to clean the entire encampment in one day. It then left the team’s tent out in the open overnight, unoccupied, and returned in the morning. This meant people could have easily gone into the tent and taken things since the residents of the area had left as instructed.
Starke said chaos and confusion are the norm for Rapid Response. As a whole, she said, the way Rapid Response is doing things is not working, and it’s not helping to end homelessness in any capacity.
“The system to get belongings back is challenging and confusing,” Starke said. “The information told by workers isn’t always accurate, the time and place they’re supposed to pick up their things isn’t always actually there, and people’s things aren’t put in safe places.
“There’s a general theme of discontent. It seems like they don’t want people to get their stuff back.”
Michael Fuller, a pro bono attorney who works with low-income clients, nicknamed the “Underdog Lawyer,” said the manner in which Rapid Response carries out the city-sanctioned sweeps is flat-out illegal.
Fuller refers to the taking of people’s property by Rapid Response as “conversion,” the legal term used for theft of personal property in civil cases.
Fuller successfully sued Rapid Response on multiple occasions, claiming conversion. But he said it’s difficult to sue Rapid Response and achieve any tangible change in its behavior.
“Rapid response has a sense of entitlement because (it’s) dealing with a population who is unlikely to have access to lawyers or the courts,” Fuller said. “They’re dealing with a population unlikely to be treated or viewed favorably by law enforcement.”
After Multnomah County closed all its overnight warming shelters Wednesday, Michael Harper trudged to homelessness nonprofit Street Roots in Old Town to get a referral to a nearby year-round shelter.
But when he arrived at the Union Gospel Mission, he was told the shelter was full.
“So I slept right out in front of the church on the sidewalk,” Harper, 49, said, adding that a handful of others did the same. “I’ll likely be sleeping on the sidewalk again tonight.”
Harper was one of an estimated 1,200 people forced to leave a dozen warming shelters Wednesday morning after county officials declared weather conditions no longer warranted emergency sites.
Unhoused Portlanders, advocates and nonprofit leaders across the region expressed grave worry and frustration over the county’s decision to cut off access to safe spaces while wet, windy and icy conditions persisted.
Just walking from the warming centers was treacherous, ejected shelter residents said, and it was hard to locate a place to stay dry overnight.
Indeed, late Wednesday at about 10:30 p.m. the county announced all of its own offices and libraries would be closed for safety reasons “due to ice.”
County officials relied on numerous weather forecasts that indicated as recently as Wednesday morning that temperatures would rise mid-Wednesday and ice would thaw – assertions that turned out to be wrong. But at the time they closed the shelters between 10 a.m. and noon, the temperature was 31 and slick ice remained on many streets.
“Severe weather shelters save lives during the very coldest and hardest nights of the year,” Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said in statement or to The Oregonian/OregonLive Thursday afternoon. “Multnomah County uses the best information we have to make decisions about severe weather shelter openings and closings, and preparations for both are multi-day endeavors.”
Vega Pederson said the county sheltered as many as 1,300 people a night for five days, which she said is proof the county is committed “to improving our processes, partnerships and performance.” The previous high, in December 2022, was just shy of 1,000 individuals.
“We consult weather and emergency management experts ahead of and during events,” Vega Pederson said. “No decision is made lightly … weather is unpredictable and sometimes weather events with very low probability, like yesterday’s delayed thaw take place.”
Another round of freezing rain is expected in the metro area as early as mid-afternoon Thursday, according to the National Weather Service’s Portland office.
Overnight temperatures are expected to linger around 30 degrees Thursday into Friday. Forecasters don’t expect ice to melt or temperatures to rise above freezing until around 10 a.m. Friday.
Nevertheless, officials in Multnomah and Washington counties have indicated they do not plan to reopen warming shelters. Clackamas County on Wednesday evening kept open a warming shelter it runs in cooperation with Clackamas Community College.
By policy, Multnomah County opens winter shelters when temperatures are forecast to dip to 25 degrees or below, if snow accumulation is forecast to reach an inch or more or if an inch or more of rain is forecast to fall overnight with temperatures are at or below 32 degrees. The thresholds must persist for four hours or occur between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. to trigger shelter openings, according to the county. The county’s chief operating officer may also consider any other conditions that could increase the risk to the community.
National weather service forecasts indicate rain is unlikely to continue into overnight hours and temperatures will remain below freezing but above 25 degrees – conditions that would not trigger the county’s current thresholds.
Instead of shelter, the county has offered three spots where people can pick up cold weather gear from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday. The sites are at Cultivate Initiatives, 14625 SE Stark St., Bud Clark Commons, 650 NW Irving St., and Market Street Shelter, 120 SE Market St.
Clackamas County opted to open a warming shelter at The Father’s Heart in Oregon City from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday and will reopen it at 6 p.m. for overnight shelter. Scott Anderson, county spokesperson, said they open overnight warming centers if weather is predicted to be 33 degrees or lower, including windchill factors, or if other factors make it dangerous to sleep outside.
Advocates believe Multnomah County should have a similar, more flexible guideline that considers dangerous conditions outside of their typical rules.
“Making decisions to kick everybody out into the ice based off an arbitrary temperature makes no sense,” said Liz Starke, development director for Rose Haven, a women’s day shelter in Portland. “It is clearly still an emergency situation out there and people simply have no place to go.”
Blanchet House peer support specialist Duke Reiss said one of their frequent guests died inside their tent from hypothermia over the weekend, though that individual is not included in Multnomah County’s count of hypothermia-related deaths. Multnomah County officials said the hypothermia-related death count would be updated at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, if any additional individuals died.
“She was found dead in her tent,” Reiss said. Her partner and others “were told it was a suspected hypothermia death.”
The woman and her partner were referred to Bybee Lakes Hope Center before the winter storm hit Portland. But the woman’s partner was turned away because he had a warrant for a non-violent criminal charge, Reiss said. She chose not to stay there if he couldn’t too.
“Her partner begged her to stay at Bybee Lakes without him, but she was nervous to stay on her own,” Reiss said. “We got them on waitlists for other shelters, but many of the shelters are at capacity right now … More low-barrier shelters could have prevented this death.”
Reiss said the winter shelters were particularly helpful to reach a broader demographic of unhoused Portlanders than typically access shelter because the sites are truly low-barrier. All who show up are welcomed.
Starke, at Rose Haven, said her staff was struggling to find shelter for people Thursday mornings as every nonprofit they called was at capacity.
“We need these types of low barrier shelters all year round,” Starke said. “But at the very least, if we know this weather is coming, the shelters should open before the crisis begins and stay open until we are safely past the crisis. People who are most vulnerable are really struggling, and it is still an emergency situation out there.”
Starke said hypothermia is not the only risk. She said there is an increased danger of people being hurt from tent fires or smoke inhalation as they try to keep their tents warm. By Thursday morning, many brand new orange tents could be seen in the Old Town neighborhood. Campers said they received the tents when they exited the warming centers Wednesday.
Raymond, who asked not to share his last name because he doesn’t want people to know he is houseless, stayed at the Market Street Shelter in Southeast Portland until it closed at 10 a.m. Wednesday. While he appreciated the food, sleeping bag, tarp and tent that he received before leaving, he believes the shelter should have remained open at least one more night.
“I was thinking, no way this is what they’re going to do,” Raymond, 66, said. “It was like being on the Lloyd Center ice rink. I was just thinking people were going to walk out on that ice and break their neck. I fell once and I just kept thinking, what were these people doing, pushing everyone out while it’s still all ice. The shelters did good for people, but they should have given us an extra day.”
A man standing next to Raymond waiting in line for lunch service at Blanchet House said he slipped on ice three times already. And many people could be seen walking down streets instead of sidewalks to avoid ice Wednesday night and into Thursday evening, though many of those individuals were hard for drivers to spot in the darkness.
Raymond is hoping to snag a spot at another shelter this week, but until then, he plans to ride TriMet buses throughout the city to stay warm.
Nicole Hayden reports on homelessness for The Oregonian/OregonLive. She can be reached at nhayden@oregonian.com. Editor Brad Schmidt contributed to this report.
PORTLAND, Ore. — After the city of Portland’s daytime ban on homeless camping on most city property was put on pause, some from the homeless community and advocacy groups are breathing a sigh of relief — for now.
A group of homeless Portlanders had sued the city, calling it unconstitutional given the lack of shelter space in Portland. A circuit court judge ruled in their favor, temporarily blocking the city from enforcing it.
“It’s unconstitutional. It is,” said Patrick, who is homeless. “We have the freedom to be, as long as we’re not making a mess, as long as we’re not destroying property; the spaces are here.”
In June, the city passed the ban; repeat violations of that ban would have resulted in fines or jail time. The city spent the summer and much of the fall in what they called an “educational phase,” where they informed homeless people about it, though many homeless people still know little about the ban. Then, at the end of October, the city announced they would begin enforcement on Nov. 13, but late Thursday afternoon, a judge blocked the city from doing that for the time being, arguing that the ban itself is unconstitutional.
“It’s super confusing, and it’s super stressful. People come here with a lot of anxiety already,” said Katie O’Brien, the executive director of Rose Haven, a day center for homeless women and children in Northwest Portland. She says they were bracing for an overwhelming demand in services if the ban went into effect.
“There was this relief that came with knowing that there was going to be a pause,” O’Brien added. She said she hopes the city will use this time to create a more organized approach to addressing homelessness, which she says recent efforts have lacked.
“Communication and coordination and additional resources being available is going to be the key to success in getting people off our streets,” O’Brien said.
Mayor Ted Wheeler issued a statement regarding Thursday’s ruling, saying in part, “I believe the status quo is not working, but the Court’s decision leaves the status quo in place. The City will abide by the Court’s preliminary order while continuing to fight in court for the City’s right to adopt reasonable regulations on unsanctioned camping.”
Last year, a group of Portlanders with disabilities sued the city over tents blocking ADA access on the sidewalks. A judge ruled in their favor, and the city agreed to clear those types of campsites. The lawyers behind that case tell KGW that an update on that is coming soon.
https://rosehaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Screenshot-2023-11-15-100853.png5731145Liz Starkehttps://rosehaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/header_logo.pngLiz Starke2023-11-15 10:26:432023-11-15 10:29:31‘It’s super stressful’: Judge’s Order Blocking Portland’s Enforcement of the Daytime Camping Ban Causes Confusion on the Streets
