Work of homeless camp sweeps in Portland never done

Especially when campers take temporary refuge, then return

Things are clear around Outside In—now.

Aaron Bass sees Outside In from his nearby law office. The agency at 1132 SW 13th Ave., which serves homeless youth, has been the scene of a puzzling pattern this year.

Perhaps four or five times, Bass said, Rapid Response, the city’s primary contractor for sweeps of homeless camps, has removed tents, tarps, belongings and garbage near Outside In. But within hours, the encampments of typically about a half dozen tents and the same inhabitants would repopulate the just-swept area.

Bass walked by the agency’s fenced front yard and recognized the same tents and people were simply moving onto Outside In property until the work crews had finished and then moving it all back into the right-of-way.

Bass had finally seen enough and called the city April 1 to report that it was no laughing matter.

Skyler Brocker-Knapp, director of the city’s new troubleshooting program, Portland Solutions, fielded his message, but did not have good news. Three days later, Rapid Response had still not returned to repeat the exercise.

“Now there are more tents and wonderful new graffiti along the recently painted 405 overpass,” Bass emailed Brocker-Knapp. “I have pictures of campers brazenly tagging in broad daylight.”

Soon a widening circle of property owners and attorneys picked up on the story.

“Hi Skye,” attorney John DiLorenzo wrote Brocker-Knapp on April 4. “If you told the crews to come back and finish the job, why did they not follow instructions? Is there a problem with Rapid Response that we should look into?

“Also, if the city tolerates Outside In frustrating city work crew projects, why shouldn’t we be allowed to just take down PBOT no parking signs or erase bike lane markers whenever we think they hurt our businesses?

“I know you have a tough job and empathize, but I really want to know what the city is going to do about this.”

“The crews came back,” Brocker-Knapp replied, “but we had to re-post because the 10-day posting notice had expired. They posted on the 2nd, so they will remove early next week.

“I apologize for the hassle, we were hopeful the posting was still valid, but it had expired. Legally, they could not do another removal. Anne [Hill] and I are working on limiting services in that vicinity, as it is a constant struggle for our teams who are there weekly. We will keep you updated.”

“I understand your constraints,” DiLorenzo wrote back, “but are you going to send Outside In a bill for what their interference just cost the taxpayers? Are you going to impose any sanctions like you surely would if we started erasing bike lane markings?”

Brocker-Knapp said that would be an issue for the mayor and city manager. She also estimated that Rapid Response billed the city for about $2,500 for the latest round of futility.

The NW Examiner asked Outside In about their role in this merry-go-round.

“Outside In maintains and reinforces internal policies and practices that do not permit the temporary storing of community members' belongings on Outside In property,” responded Development Director Justine Ziegler.

“That being said, a recent sweep presented a unique set of circumstances that were determined by our executive leadership to necessitate behavior outside of our usual policies: a family with young children who were experiencing a sweep.”

“We worked with our partners to connect the family with the resources they need and are actively working to establish more consistent lines of communication with those partners in order to uphold our internal policies even in extenuating circumstances.

The Examiner asked how one family needing services related to the continuing pattern of foiled sweeps, but got no reply.

“Outside In engages in ongoing partnerships with our neighbors, community partners and the city in good faith. As a standard, our staff are not permitted to engage with sweeps, as it’s a conflict of community agreements with our clients.

“However, we are aware that community aid groups not affiliated with Outside In pose as our staff and act outside of these delicate relationships with our stakeholders.”

Portland Solutions also offered an explanation of the continuing saga.

“Impact Reduction Program contracted staff did have their work disrupted by onlookers on at least two separate occasions at a location near Outside In,” Portland Solutions spokesperson Laura Rude wrote.

“However, we have been in touch with leadership at Outside In and have no reason to believe that anyone associated with the organization was involved in disrupting our work crews.

“Police assistance was required in order to complete a camp removal on one of the two occasions when people were interfering. Crews have been back at this site since, however, and have not had any problems.”

“No one was injured or harmed in any of the incidents where onlookers intervened in Impact Reduction Program efforts.”

That may not put the problem to rest, but Bass takes comfort in one development: The encampments have not returned since the attorneys and business people raised the issue in early April.