The city of Portland should work with houseless people, not displace them from stable communities like Hazelnut Grove
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.
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.
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