PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Earlier this year, Mayor Charlie Hales introduced the city’s “Safe Sleep” policy that allowed homeless camping. It was meant to ensure that homeless people could sleep through the night without being rousted for violating the city’s no-camping policy.
But a lot of campers simply didn’t pack up at 7 a.m. each day, as they were supposed to. That’s when the problem became more visible and prevalent, especially along the Springwater Corridor.
Now, after months of complaints from residents and a month-long delay negotiated by homeless advocates, the City of Portland began clearing out homeless campers along the Springwater Corridor around 8 a.m. Thursday.
While some of the approximately 300 campers have already packed up, many are still sleeping on the Springwater Corridor and have no idea where they’ll be sleeping after this day.
Outreach workers have already been making contact with the homeless campers and will continue to do what they can after the sweep.The sweep begins
An afternoon press conference at City Hall revealed between 70 and 100 people have moved out of the area near Beggar’s Tick the first day. A total of 7 park rangers and 5 PPB officers were there to help out.
A biohazard cleanup will take place. One 40-yard dumpster was filled, about 500 needles were found and 9 gallons of urine were collected. The cost of the clean-up is between $150,000 and $400,000.
Those who moved this day moved into shelters, motel rooms, permanent housing situations — including Homeward Bound and the Hansen Shelter. More shelter spaces are at the veteran’s shelter, the Portland Rescue Mission and a woman’s shelter that will open next week.
Another 60 people can be accommodated as the cleanup continues.
Everything was calm during the day, which officials credited with the amount of outreach that had previously been done. No protests or fights took place as the campers clearly packed their belongs and slowly but surely moved out.
PPB Sgt. Pete Simpson said the one thing that created the most anxiety was the news helicopter flying overhead. He also said he is aware the police cause anxiety when they arrive.
“But we weren’t needed today, and that was good,” Simpson said.
The timeline for a completed sweep, though, is not completely set. Officials said they needed to see how it went this day, and credited the outreach over the past 6 weeks that encouraged many people to move before the sweep began.
“The goal is to do this right and with compassion,” one official said.
Some campers have stayed along the Springwater Corridor for months, others have been here much longer. But the homeless campers who spoke with KOIN 6 News said they don’t know where they’re going to go.
The city — which estimates there are as many as 2000 homeless people on the streets — does not have enough shelter beds at this time for everyone.
Both Portland police and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office are along the route to ensure safety throughout the move, along with a private security team.
At this time there have been no arrests and no resistance.Nearby residents
Residents like Neva Ashenberner are glad to see the campers go. She said she hasn’t felt safe along the Springwater Corridor trail for 2 years and she said she wouldn’t let her husband go on the trail.
Initially there was a heavy concentration of campers west of 82nd Avenue, but the city moved through that area before summer and forced them to move.
Many campers pushed further east, deeper into the Lents neighborhood. Throughout the summer, residents in the area said crime was spiking and they didn’t feel safe on or near the trail.
City officials said the sweep will take several weeks.
KOIN 6 News will continue to follow this story.KOIN 6 News reporters Tim Becker, Emily Sinovic and Lisa Balick contributed to this report.