Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler now seeks to relocate homeless campers to designated sites, not mass indoor shelters

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said Friday he’s moving forward with plans to create one or more massive outdoor sheltering site for homeless people after an icy reception from state and local leaders to his office’s earlier pitch for up to three 1,000-person homeless shelters.

The mayor’s latest effort envisions city-managed encampments that would be substantially larger than any of the approved tiny home clusters currently operating in the city but likely far smaller than the group shelters outlined in a memo by the mayor’s office revealed last week, he said.

These new designated camping areas would offer some basic services but far less support than what the city’s six planned safe rest villages are slated to provide when they eventually open. That project, led by Commissioner Dan Ryan’s office, aims to create outdoor shelter sites that will each house up to 60 tiny home pods along with shared amenities and support services.

Some people who currently camp elsewhere in Portland would be directed to relocate to the designated areas, the locations of which have yet to be determined, according to the mayor and members of his staff.

“I still strongly support safe rest villages. They represent one solution in a spectrum of solutions,” Wheeler told the Oregonian/OregonLive in a telephone interview. “What I’m comparing these large outdoor areas to are the horrific, squalid and unsafe conditions that so many people are living in on the streets face. The current situation is not humane.”

But Cat Kotin, who has been homeless for 13 years, said she would refuse to go to a large scale city-designated tent encampment because that would feel inhumane.

“I have mental health issues and I can’t be around that many people. It is hard for me to control my emotions,” the 47-year-old said. “If you put that many people together, especially if they have mental health issues, that is going to cause a lot of tension and trigger people’s trauma.”

The designated camping areas would be key component in an aggressive new push by the mayor’s administration to prohibit homeless encampments across broad swaths of the city as public frustration has risen and as cleaner, safer options for many on the streets remain few.

Andy Miller, director of Portland housing services provider Human Solutions, said “coercive strategies are not the answer to homelessness.” Miller referenced what he said were failed attempts in Olympia, Washington to usher people experiencing homelessness into “mitigation campgrounds.” Few people who relocated to such campgrounds exited to long term housing, he said.

“We would like to see a proposal from the mayor that fast tracks helping thousands of people currently living on our streets and in our existing shelters into currently vacant rental housing and that supports the expedited conversion of empty motels and existing housing into new housing that will work more permanently for people experiencing homelessness,” Miller said.

According to Wheeler’s office, the potential success of his proposed new approach hinges on whether he and other Oregon mayors can convince state lawmakers to provide millions more dollars for emergency shelter and other homeless services.

A coalition of state mayors led by Wheeler is currently seeking a $50 million appropriation from the Legislature, according to a copy of the proposal provided to lawmakers and obtained by the Oregonian. If approved, Portland would receive close to $19.5 million, documents show.

Wheeler said he and a number of other Oregon mayors plan to hold a press conference early next week to rally public support behind the request.