PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The organization expected to run the proposed Safe Rest Village at the Sears Armory is pulling out over safety concerns.
Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers, which also runs the Bybee Lakes Hope Center, sent a letter to Commissioner Dan Ryan and Multnomah County officials announcing their decision to pull out.
Alan Evans with Helping Hands said the reason is because the ordinance does not allow his organization to screen people well enough before they are moved to it.
“I love Dan Ryan. I love his mission,” Evans said. But his organization decided against getting involved at this time.
The criteria for who will be moved into Safe Rest Villages is such a part of the plan that it is spelled out in the title of the ordinance that created Safe Rest Villages. It reads: “Safe Rest Villages as alternatives to high-impact encampments.”
Among the criteria to define a high-impact homeless camp is “evidence of conspicuous drug use,” “the size of the camp” and “verified reports of violence or criminal activity.”
But that often means people in serious addiction.
“It is really difficult without proper conditions and rules in place that we could look at a neighborhood and say, ‘We believe we can keep you safe,'” Evans told KOIN 6 News.
KOIN 6 News is the first news outlet Evans invited into the renovated Bybee Lakes Hope Center, the former Wapato Jail-turned-homeless shelter. In recent days they expanded capacity to serve more than 300 people who were living on the streets.
But Evans said Helping Hands cannot be part of the Safe Rest Villages plan.
“I’m sure there’s organizations out there that can figure that piece out,” Evans said, “but for us, we’ve got to know that we can keep the people that surround that facility safe and provide the best, safest service we can provide for people.”
Neighbors voice concerns directly
In neighborhood Zoom meetings, property owners have shared their concerns with Ryan.
“I’m talking about when you move people from high impact camps, what are you going to do to prevent the same problem?” neighbor Edie Van Ness said.
“We’re not bringing a van to, as you call it, a high impact, what did you call it, high impact camping and putting them in a van and dropping them off in a village,” Ryan said in the meeting. “I think that’s what it feels like when I hear that question. The reality is it’s a much more methodical and trauma-informed process.”
The Joint Office of Homeless Services, which will implement Safe Rest Villages, said clients will get services.
“I don’t know that folks who choose shelter are going to be fundamentally dangerous or unsafe,” said the office’s Denis Theriault. “I think they want to be somewhere safe, want, you know, the place to go to the bathroom. They want a place to cook a meal in a kitchen. They want a locked door.”
Evans said he understands, first-hand.
“I’m one of those guys. I was a high impact guy. I was, my life was hell. I lived on the streets for 27 years,” he told KOIN 6 News. “And there was a time that if you’ve pulled me from a situation, you would’ve placed me someplace. I probably wouldn’t have behaved either.”
In a statement released to KOIN 6 News, Ryan said, in part:
“I am disappointed that Helping Hands is declining to move forward with our potential Safe Rest Village partnership. … Many existing services are not effectively moving people into recovery. I believe we could have come to an agreement for the Sears Armory Safe Rest Village — with compromises on both ends — and I hope Helping Hands will come back to the table.”
Evans said the law would have to be re-written to protect neighbors for his group to participate.
Ryan and the county will have to find a new operator, perhaps one of the 2 other organizations signed up to run 2 other Safe Rest Village locations.
Multnomah Neighborhood Association ‘disappointed’
In a statement Tuesday after, the Multnomah Neighborhood Association said, in part:
“We are disappointed to learn that the service provider Helping Hands and the Multnomah County Joint Office of Homeless Services have discontinued their negotiations to manage the City of Portland’s proposed Safe Rest Village site at the Jerome Sears Armory location in Portland’s Multnomah neighborhood. We felt they would have been an ideal operator for this site given their co-equal commitment to the safety and well being of shelter residents, adjacent property owners and our neighbors in the community. … We stand ready to work with our local elected officials to find a mutually beneficial solution towards ensuring reasonable standards for both our houseless community who become residents of a Safe Rest Village and their nearby neighbors in the larger community.”