Portland has again decided to postpone clearing the homeless encampment at Harbor View Memorial Park, frustrating outreach workers who say the last-minute decision wasted resources and increased the homeless community’s distrust of city officials.

City spokesperson Jessica Grondin said Thursday morning that staff delayed dismantling the encampment because of the rain that soaked the city.

Portland Mayor Mark Dion said staff hoped the rain would hold off and the sweep could continue, but the decision to postpone was ultimately reached at about 6:30 a.m. Thursday once it became clear rain really was hitting the city.

“I don’t think it’s safe to try and conduct that kind of operation in the wind and the rain,” he said. “It will give outreach workers more time to see if they can do some individual transitions to the shelter, too.”

He said the sweep is now slated for Tuesday. The city also will clear a smaller encampment on Douglas Street near Dougherty Field that day, Grondin said.

The city has sought to clear the camp at Harbor View for weeks, citing a large number of open beds at the Homeless Services Center in Riverside since asylum seekers were moved to a new shelter in late November.

The sweep was originally scheduled for Dec. 18, but was postponed until Thursday after the City Council passed a resolution asking for a delay. Although the city was clear that rain was the only reason for Thursday’s delay, some outreach workers were skeptical.

‘IT FELT DISHONEST’

The Rev. Jeff Logan, who goes by “Pastor Jeff” and runs Grace-Street Ministry, a homeless outreach group, said he spent the better part of the week urging the city to postpone the sweep. He said he called the parks and recreation department and several city councilors Wednesday night, who all confirmed the sweep was still on. He said he was up this morning at 5 a.m. decked out in heavy-duty rain gear with a crew of clergy members ready to help out. As he arrived, he said Ethan Hipple, director of the city’s parks and recreation department, told him the sweep was off because of the rain.

“Most of us thought that was ludicrous because we were all dressed for the rain and it had been forecasted for a week. It felt disrespectful, it felt dishonest,” he said. “If you’re continuing to do this you’re not only punishing the community, but you’re exhausting those trying to support them because everyone heads down there and then the rug gets pulled out from them. Especially having this happen twice.”

He said that the homeless community he spoke to was upset this morning, too.

“There was a fair amount of anger because it’s once again, people have just sort of gotten their heads around this,” he said. “These people get so psychologically messed around all the time. Trust in this community is tough. If you tell folks something, you should stick to it.”

City Councilor Kate Sykes, who was recently elected to represent District 5, said she was at the encampment this morning to see how the people camping there were doing. She said she didn’t learn that the sweep was postponed until after she arrived. She applauded the city’s decision to delay the sweep.

“I think this would have been a terrible day to be forcing people out of their tents,” she said.

Sykes said she did appeal to the city manager over the last week requesting a delay, although she said she was hoping to delay the clearing by six to eight weeks.

“We are really calling for more time to dive into data and understand barriers better so that more effective solutions can begin to happen,” Sykes said. “We need to work with the real numbers and real reasons people are not accepting shelter.”

‘CONSTANT THREAT’

Councilors Anna Trevorrow and Victoria Pelletier, who represent the area around the encampment, wrote in an op-ed this week that they oppose the sweeps, calling the laws that allow them “antiquated.”

“We object to the strategy of coercing individuals into shelter by forcible eviction and/or threat of prosecution on moral and practical grounds,” they wrote.

Trevorrow said Thursday that while she’s hopeful the postponement will allow more time for outreach workers to get people indoors, she understands why people are frustrated that the decision was made at the last minute.

“The people who really suffer are the ones in the encampment who live under a constant threat of being evicted. Waking up in the morning thinking that will be your day and then having that change leaves a lot of instability,” she said.

Trevorrow would prefer to see sweeps end entirely, but she also understands that city staff has to enforce the laws, and that includes the city’s ordinance that prohibits public camping. 

“I have been speaking out as one individual, one member of the council,” she said. “But the city manager has laws to enforce and there has been no action by the council to change that direction at this point. I don’t want my voice to be interpreted as critical or undermining.”

Pelletier did not respond to questions Thursday asking what she thought about the latest delay.

Steven Scharf, president of the West End Neighborhood Association, said he is concerned about the continued delays.

“I would have liked to seen it swept today. I was an advocate for it being swept the previous week. We’re concerned that the city keeps pushing it off,” he said. He believes the encampment is making the neighborhood more dangerous.

‘NOT SURPRISED’

People living at the encampment have been reluctant to accept shelter beds, despite the cold, wet weather and the looming threat of a sweep. On Wednesday night, there were 71 open beds at the shelter, Grondin said.

The city had ramped up outreach efforts in December, but after early success, fewer and fewer people from the encampment were accepting beds.

Dannell, 50, who declined to give her last name, said she has been living in the encampment for about a month with her sister, who is addicted to opioids. Dannell said she doesn’t want to leave her, and her sister won’t go somewhere she can’t use drugs.

“I’m not surprised they’re sweeping it, the drugs and the deaths, they don’t want that around here,” she said.

This year, 45 people died while homeless in Portland, according to Preble Street, which held a vigil in the city last week to mark the longest night of homelessness.

While Dannell was grateful to not have to pack up and move in the rain, she didn’t think a few extra days would make much of a difference.

“I’m still going to have to take down my tent and move again next week,” she said.

Dannell said she has a housing voucher, but she hasn’t been able to find a place that will accept it yet. She hopes she can find somewhere before Tuesday.

“But then again, I hoped I would find somewhere before today, and before the 18th, too, and I didn’t,” she said.

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