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Save the Hazelnut Grove and Oregon Poor People’s campaigns delivered a petition with more than 5,700 signatures to City Hall on Feb. 1 in this miniature “tiny house.” (Photo by Peter Parks)

Opinion | End the cruel cycle of camp sweeps

Street Roots
The city of Portland should work with houseless people, not displace them from stable communities like Hazelnut Grove
by Erin Goodling | 10 Feb 2021

Across the U.S. on a daily basis, city officials order unhoused people swept — evicted — out of ostensible concern for their health and safety. This scenario is playing out right here in Portland as we speak, with the city violently displacing people attempting to shelter in place in the midst of an unprecedented housing and public health crisis — rather than providing trash, hygiene and other basic services necessary for survival.

White woman with dark hair and glasses.
Erin Goodling is a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Oregon's Department of Geography. She lives in Portland.

Recently, the city threatened to evict the community of Hazelnut Grove. According to the city of Portland’s Office of Management and Finance, “Environmental, fire and traffic risks make Hazelnut Grove a dangerous place to live ... The City plans to begin decommissioning Hazelnut Grove within the next month ... The City will ensure nobody remains at Hazelnut Grove to protect health and safety.”

I’m a researcher at the University of Oregon, and after interviewing over 50 houseless community members in cities from coast to coast about their experiences with environmental hazards, including fire, soil pollution, noise pollution, flooding and more, a pattern has become clear. Not surprisingly, over and over, I heard people express significant concerns about such dangers. Yet, it’s not like people simply decide to locate in such areas on their own accord. As local governments sweep people with growing frequency in downtown and residential areas, they are forced into ever more marginal spaces. What is even more egregious is that local governments then sweep people from these dangerous places again, in the name of health and safety. This exposure-criminalization-eviction cycle impacts people in nearly all of the houseless communities I spoke with, and its impacts are especially significant for BIPOC people, LGBTQ+ folks, elders and immigrants who are more likely to experience cumulative and intersectional harms at the hands of criminal justice, housing and health care systems.

This is a case, like too many others, of the city pandering to housed people, who, enshrined in their private property rights, envision they ought to be allowed to force those in more precarious situations to disappear. 

This cycle needs to stop. The answer is not to displace people, including those living in fully stable, functioning, self-governed communities like Hazelnut Grove. The answer is to work with people to ensure they have a safe place to live.

The city of Portland says it is concerned about landslides, fire and soil pollution. There are well known ways to mitigate such hazards. And indeed, the Hazelnut Grove community has already taken many steps toward reducing threats, such as installing fire alarms and fire extinguishers, and clearing debris behind the village. Though, there is so much more the city could do. For example, the city could also give residents access to a nearby fire hydrant. The city could pay for soil testing and take measures to remediate or mitigate dangers, depending on what’s found. The city could work with residents to plant particular species on the hillside to mitigate landslide dangers. And so much more.

This is a case, like too many others, of the city pandering to housed people, who, enshrined in their private property rights, envision they ought to be allowed to force those in more precarious situations to disappear. Homelessness became widespread when the federal government cut funding for affordable housing for working class people by nearly 80% — while increasing subsidies for middle and upper class homeowners tenfold — in the early 1980s. Homelessness will not go away until a comparable financial commitment is reinstated. In the meantime, people need a place to exist, to eat and sleep and live, to build community.

It is long past due that Portland’s elected officials recognize housing as a human right and put this belief into action by stopping the sweeps of people who have nowhere else to go.


Street Roots is an award-winning weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
© 2021 Street Roots. All rights reserved.  | To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org or call 503-228-5657, ext. 404.
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Erin Goodling is a postdoctoral fellow within the University of Oregon’s Department of Geology. She lives in Portland.

 

More on Hazelnut Grove

  • Opinion | Hazelnut Grove is a model to emulate, not evacuate
  • Opinion | End the cruel cycle of camp sweeps
  • Kaia Sand | ‘Why mess with it when it works?’
  • Editorial | In the fight against homelessness, some solutions are right in front of us
  • Kaia Sand | We should embrace ingenuity, not erase it

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