Emails reveal safety and planning concerns — city says 1,000-foot perimeters and weapons checks planned
After weeks of negotiations, Marcus Lampros rejected the city’s offer.
The city of Portland wanted to rent the local steel company owner’s property for a new mass homeless camp, but Lampros was concerned about the logistics and safety of what the city was planning.
According to a letter of intent, or LOI, obtained by Street Roots — the first publicly available document providing in-depth insight into the city’s plans for mass camps — the city proposed a monthly base rent of $25,000 for the property in addition to covering utilities, infrastructure improvements, security and liability insurance to cover contractors and shelter operators.
While the city couldn’t strike a deal with Lampros, Cody Bowman, Mayor Ted Wheeler’s communications lead, told Street Roots the city successfully negotiated a lease for at least one other property. Bowman also gave Street Roots new details about the city’s security plans, which include a private contractor-patrolled 1,000-foot perimeter and “weapons checks” at camp entrances.
In a Nov. 18 email obtained by Street Roots, Lampros told city officials he would not move forward with the plan unless the city agreed to cap the number of occupants at 40 people on the 8.6-acre site.
“First of all, I personally don’t want 100 or 150 people on my property,” Lampros said in the email. “I don’t need a murder, fire, rape or otherwise. But, more than what I want, it’s what they want ... Let’s make a smaller safe place. A place people want to go to, not forced to go to. Limit the occupants. Make it nice. Make it simple, community based. But please make it only forty.”
After that, momentum on the arrangement stalled.
The city is still searching for other partners to site camps hosting up to 250 homeless Portlanders. Still, it is likely to encounter similar concerns from potential land partners — one of many possible hurdles the city faces in its push to get its controversial homeless camps off the ground.
‘They didn’t really know…’
Since Wheeler and Commissioner Dan Ryan announced the plan for mass camps and camping ban enforcement Oct. 21, 2022, the size of the camps was winnowed down in response to criticism and reluctance by landowners and community members to host large camps.
Originally planned to host up to 500 people, the city reduced capacity to 250 people. According to the mayor’s office, each site will initially have up to 100 tents for up to 150 people. After that, City Council must approve resident increases toward the 250-person cap.
Security and governance in the camps are among the most pressing questions raised by opponents and advocates alike, and these concerns were paramount in the city’s decision to reduce the number of people per camp by half. While the proposal lacked specific security plans when City Council approved the mass camp project last November, Bowman provided Street Roots with some details from the city’s current plans:
“Security will be managed by the contracted service provider at each site.
Security:
- Weapons must be checked at the entrance (zero tolerance policy).
- If an individual needs to be excluded from a site because a person is a clear/present danger to themselves or others, removal options will include the Portland Police Bureau’s Behavioral Health Unit and Portland Street Response.
Perimeter Area:
- 24/7 hotline staffed by service provider for complaints or questions about the site or perimeter issues.
- On-site service provider will patrol a 1,000 ft. perimeter surrounding the site 16 hours a day, every day — no drugs or camping.
- Trash cleanup in the 1,000 ft. perimeter (at least weekly; hazardous material removed immediately).
- Service provider will engage regularly with surrounding residents, clients, businesses, neighborhood associations, and Enhanced Service Districts.”
Street Roots asked the city if “weapons checks” meant residents would be searched when entering the camps.
“Security will be managed by our service provider/s,” Bowman said in an email that did not directly address the question. “They are best equipped to manage operational questions and will be providing a media opportunity with them in the very near future. Security checks will be a part of the process for those staying at the sites.”
Bowman did not respond when asked for clarification about “security checks.”
According to the LOI, City Council would ultimately authorize contracts with private service providers, which are key to the city’s plans for all services provided at the camps, including mental health and addiction services. But Lampros, who initially contacted the city to offer his land for mass camps, lost confidence in the proposal after learning about what he believed to be gaps in planning -– in particular, a lack of clear planning for mental health and addiction services.
“My main concern with the original plan?” Lampros told Street Roots. “Well, why should you take people that are mentally distressed and mentally ill and drug addicted and put them all into a confined space? That was my main bone of contention.
“Moving them from one spot in the city to another spot in the city, the city really didn’t address how those people were going to be vetted.”
Bowman told Street Roots the city is collaborating with Multnomah County and local nonprofits “who can provide meaningful connection with services to access housing, mental health support, substance use disorder treatment and other critical resources.”
Julie Sullivan-Springhetti, Multnomah County communications director, confirmed the county is working with the mayor’s office to help buttress the effort.
“Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and her staff are meeting regularly with the Mayor’s Office and other City of Portland staff, and working closely with the Mayor on these issues,” Sullivan-Springhetti said. “We’re optimistic as both our organizations develop our budgets for FY 2024 that these conversations will result in the County being able to provide enhanced support to people who are unhoused, offering a housing-focused approach with concrete connections to services including housing assistance and physical and behavioral health care access.”
According to Bowman, the sites will contract services to offer “a safe, secure and hygienic place for clients” and offer two meals per day, plus a snack, restrooms and showers, laundry access, community space, a pet area, storage, Wi-Fi, transit and trash and hazardous waste removal.
“I think cities need to take into consideration everybody's gender status,” Lampros said. “And everybody's, you know, addicted status and mental health status and handicapped status and then go from there. You know, maybe the city has a logbook of all the different situations these people are facing? I don't think they do.”
Planning for the mass camps was in earlier stages when Lampros was talking with the city. While it has advanced since then, for Lampros, big questions about the viability of the effort linger.
“They didn't really know what to do if people told them ‘no, we're not going,’” Lampros said. “I didn't hear what that solution was going to be. I don't know, it just didn't seem like it was very thought through.”
How the city will handle people who say ‘no,’ is still up in the air, though the city will likely face resistance if it begins trying to move people into camps.
The city declined to say what would happen to homeless Portlanders who refused to relocate to city-sanctioned camps.
“Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites work in tandem with the numerous shelter options already available to Portlanders,” Bowman said in response to questions about people who decline to relocate.
Homeless Portlanders and advocacy groups repeatedly voiced opposition to camping bans and city sanctioned mass camps in City Council testimony and a November town hall organized by Street Roots advocacy.
However, Lampros initially believed the plan to provide large, sanctioned camps was good.
“The basic thought was that it's going to be better there than it is downtown,” Lampros told Street Roots. “That was really the only argument in favor — we're getting them out of harm's way, and we're going to put them in a place where we can, you know, have security and monitoring.”
Lack of specifics
Lampros initially contacted the city in October 2022 in an introductory email to Ryan, offering a discounted rental rate on the eight-acre parcel of land in St. Johns bordering the Willamette River. Dubbed the “Steel Hammer” property, the land is two separate parcels that hosted two machine works companies over the years, a logging equipment business and a wood storage and production facility.
T.J. McHugh, a policy advisor for Ryan, forwarded the email to Sam Adams, then-Wheeler’s director of strategic innovations. Emails show Wheeler’s staff began corresponding with Lampros. Wheeler's staff also cc’d real estate developer Mark New of N & N Real Estate in the conversations.
Bowman said the city does not formally employ New.
“Staff in Mayor Wheeler’s administration have reached out to numerous brokers and property owners as we explore options for shelter sites and other projects,” Bowman said.
Regardless, Lampros was reluctant to take on the liability of hosting a camp because of the city's consistent lack of detail. At one point, Lampros drafted a lengthy email asking specific questions about how the city would run the site.
“They didn't say anything about how they were going to (run things),” Lampros said. “They didn't even really say much about, you know, who's coming with food, who's going to be serving? Who's going to be securing them?”
According to Lampros, the city hadn’t honed in on these specifics but was pinning hopes on the example of Urban Alchemy, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that runs homeless services sites. The city proposed sending Lampros to a site in Los Angeles so he could look at how the organization ran it.
“I think they were going to rely on the subcontractor,” Lampros said. “The perception that they (Urban Alchemy) were successful in Los Angeles, then they could be successful here.”
Lampros understands the reasoning — hire someone with experience — but didn’t assume Urban Alchemy was successful without knowing more.
“Who knows if they were doing a good job or not down there,” Lampros said. “I don't know.”
According to OPB, the organization submitted a bid to run up to five of Portland’s camps, and only one other entity bid against them. The organization has faced multiple lawsuits for its management and criticism for providing security services without employees receiving security training. In February, one of its San Francisco shelter employees was charged with attempted murder in an incident that happened while the employee was on the clock. While the shooting appears unrelated to its security operations, the company’s response to the shooting outraged nearby community members.
Camp background
When asked about negotiations with Lampros, Bowman said the city moved on and is considering other locations, including possible RV and vehicle campsites.
“Mayor Wheeler and his team have identified numerous site locations that could potentially be utilized for housing and shelter projects across the City of Portland,” Bowman said. “We are no longer in discussions with the owners of the (Steel Hammer) site for various logistical and operational reasons. We’ve identified numerous other sites that are a better fit.”
Bowman said the city secured at least one property for a mass camp but did not provide its location.
“Numerous sites are being considered for a myriad of projects, including the Mayor’s Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites,” Bowman said.
Bowman, however, declined to say how many properties the city is evaluating.
“Mayor Wheeler and his team are working to meet with the neighborhoods where the sites may be located before formally issuing an announcement to the public,” Bowman said. “We want to get the community’s input and provide an opportunity to answer questions, meet the service provider assigned to that site, develop a good neighbor agreement, etc. Formal announcements on site locations, service provider/s, and other details will be announced soon.”
Part of a set of five resolutions, the camps would be an aggressive effort by the city to curtail homeless Portlanders sleeping in public. The original plan included three sanctioned camping sites anticipated to hold up to 500 people and absorb some people the city anticipates sweeping during an 18-month phased integration camping ban. The city would also aim to construct 20,000 affordable housing units by 2033.
City Council passed the measures Nov. 3, 2022, with a modified camp plan allowing up to six sites serving approximately 150 residents, but allowing a cap of 250 residents each when approved by City Council.
City Council passed a $27 million funding package Nov. 30, which included funds for a 50-person city employee “navigation team” to connect homeless Portlanders with services, $750,000 for private security contracts, $4.1 million for capital costs and another $12.8 million for operational costs for three sites for three years.
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