Editor's note: This is an updated version of a story originally published in the April 26 print edition of Street Roots.
Ovid Neal III was 6-foot-4 with chiseled features that landed him modeling gigs with Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
He graduated from Hampshire College and Harvard Divinity School, wrote poetry and played the blues harmonica. However, he also grappled with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder. Although he received $800 per month in disability payments, much of it was garnished to repay his student loans.
By Oct. 3, 2018, he was 56 years old and lived on the streets of Eugene — until teenager Jonathan Daniel Kirkpatrick (according to his own confession) bashed Neal's skull in with a rock.
Amanda Neal Roth, pleaded with Oregon lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee to pass the Oregon Right to Rest Act in 2019 to protect people like her younger brother.
"Homeless people’s lives are at risk when they are prevented from gathering in public spaces and sticking together in places where they feel safe," Roth said in written testimony.
She never had the chance to make her appeal in person.
The Right to Rest Act (House Bill 2367 during the 2021 session) languished in committee until an April 13, 2021 hearing was held — too late for the committee to send the bill to the floor of the House and onto the Senate. The hearing lasted nine minutes.
‘The only path for it to move forward’
History has repeated itself.
The Oregon Right to Rest Act resurfaced during this year's session as House Bill 3501. A public hearing was scheduled on the bill before the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness Thursday, May 4, but it was canceled.
Now it’s too late.
The deadline for moving House bills to the Senate (and vice versa) is Friday, May 19. For that to happen, work sessions on bills must be posted on the agenda by May 5 — the day after the canceled hearing on House Bill 3501.
A near-exact replica of the 2021 bill, the Right to Rest Act would have prohibited police and other public employees from penalizing, citing or harassing people for sitting, standing, sharing food, praying or sleeping on public property.
State Rep. Farrah Chaichi, D-Beaverton, sponsored the bill this year. In fact, she made it one of the major pillars of her campaign and her No. 1 legislative priority for her first term at the Capitol.
Keith Haxton, her legislative assistant, had not abandoned hope for the bill when he talked with Street Roots last month. However, the bill’s only hope for survival was being reincarnated as an amendment to another bill, Haxton told Street Roots.
"That's the only path for it to move forward," he said last month.
Now that hope has passed as well.
‘This is a piece of legislation that faces an uphill battle’
Right to Rest is a cause that historically gathers a lot of support but very little traction. This session marks the fourth time since 2015 a Right to Rest Act has been introduced.
State Sen. Wlnsvey Campos, D-Beaverton, sponsored the bill in 2021 when she served in the House. After it died in committee, she vowed to keep fighting.
"This is a piece of legislation that faces an uphill battle in the Legislature for many reasons, but we're not done with it," she was quoted as saying in the Eugene Register-Guard at the time.
Campos showed no such signs of public support for Right to Rest this session.
The other sponsors two years ago were state representatives Maxine Dexter, D-Portland; Dacia Grayber, D-Portland; Khanh Pham, D-Portland; and Andrea Valderrama, D-Portland. Only Pham continued his sponsorship this year.
"That was a big telling sign of what was to come," Haxton said.
Dexter, who chairs the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness, told Street Roots last month she doesn’t take the bill lightly.
"The Right to Rest policy is one worth discussing, which is why I’ve scheduled a public hearing for this bill on May 4," Dexter said. "I want to make sure the policy is durable and fulfilling its goal, so it will be important that we engage with advocates and communities directly impacted to get this right.”
No one will get a chance to speak on the bill this session.
Street Roots also attempted to contact Campos’ office multiple times via email and telephone to ask why Campos didn't champion the bill this session. No replies were received as of press time.
"The appetite among the Democratic caucus has weakened in the last two years," Haxton said
‘There is, of course, a lot of money in politics’
Despite the tepid response to the Right to Rest Act, issues surrounding homelessness have dominated this legislative session. Gov. Tina Kotek signed bills March 29 providing more than $200 million to confront homelessness.
Most of that money, however, goes toward the creation of new housing. Bills that directly provide agency to people experiencing homelessness have proven tougher to sell.
"Generally, it’s been tougher the past two sessions to push through bills that carve out more civil rights for unsheltered Oregonians," Jimmy Jones, Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency executive director, said.
Many people argue Right to Rest is no longer an issue considering rulings by federal courts, including the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, that strike down aggressive local laws against public homelessness.
"A lot of ordinances remain on the books that regulate time, place and manner of camping, and some even still prohibit tent camping of any kind," Jones said. "Recent federal rulings have made many of those untenable too.
"There is, of course, a lot of money in politics and a lot of influential trade organizations that have a stake in preventing these kinds of safety and dignity bills from progressing."
‘They’re going to take my home away from me’
Hope Dryden of McMinnville knows the situation all too well. She lives in an RV and does the daily “Mac Shuffle.”
McMinnville law prohibits RV camping at local parks during the day. It also prohibits parking RVs along public streets during the night. People like Dryden who live in old RVs must constantly move their rigs back and forth.
Most of the RVs shuttled between Joe Dancer Park and nearby Marsh Lane are unreliable at best, she said — hers included.
"Sometimes it starts, sometimes it doesn't," Dryden told Street Roots. "It has a mind of its own. On those days when it doesn't start, and I'm stuck somewhere, I have to sit there and stress and worry. If the cops come, they're going to take my home away from me."
Only a few tents and RVs dot Marsh Lane and Dustin Court in McMinnville's industrial park these days. There used to be a lot more. When city officials passed the laws regarding RV parking in 2019, local police came in and removed most of the people living along the streets.
"It was like we had our own little town here on this street," Dryden said. "Then they kicked everybody out, and everyone spread everywhere. A lot of people killed themselves. A lot of people who aren't here who were here before are dead. They killed themselves. You have to be strong, really strong, to live this way."
‘It’s classic prejudice worked right into the law’
Jean Herndon takes food, clothing and other essentials to people living without shelter in Salem, just a few blocks from the Capitol. If lawmakers saw what she saw, Herndon told Street Roots, they may not move Right to Rest to the back burner.
"I watched a Salem police officer kick a disabled man to get him off the grass at Marion Square Park," she said. "It was Steven Parker, who died a year later because his respiratory condition was that bad."
Herndon added there can hardly be a right more basic than the right to exist.
"No one else is barred from sitting on the grass, just anyone who looks like they don't have a home," Herndon said. "It's classic prejudice worked right into the law. If a police officer kicked an average citizen, the officer would be facing charges of abuse, but not if the victim is unsheltered. We have the right to stop and rest … unless the streets are where we live.
"The whole damn law is an obvious choice to oppress a certain class of citizen. It has nothing to do with keeping the peace, except for not wanting people to complain about the numbers of people sitting on the sidewalk."
‘Their goal is to slow them down or stop them’
Haxton said part of the difficulty in passing bills like the Right to Rest Act is Republican opposition and Democratic appeasement.
"The Democrats go out of their way to be more bipartisan," he said. "Sometimes they won't even bring forth a bill without a Republican sponsor."
Republicans are outnumbered by Democrats 17-12 in the Senate and 35-25 in the House, so they use delaying tactics they hope will push bills past procedural deadlines.
For example, they insist that nearly every bill be read in full before a final vote. This can take hours. They also clog the system with long speeches and dead-end motions to limit the number of bills the Democratic majority can pass during floor sessions.
"Their goal is to slow them down or stop them," Haxton said.
Campos and other Democrats, he added, seemed to shift their attention away from the Right to Rest Act to focus more on Senate Bill 611 and the hope it offered for beleaguered renters.
Those hopes may be dimmed.
‘People’s lives are on the line … these sweeps kill’
As originally drafted, Senate Bill 611 would have limited annual rent increases to 3% above inflation or 8% of the total rent (whichever is lower). It would also require landlords to cover three months' rent when they force tenants to move for reasons unrelated to tenant conduct, like in no-cause evictions.
Compromises with Republicans and landlords led to scrapping the provision for covering three months' rent for landlord-caused evictions. Controls on rent increases on buildings more than three years old were also removed.
In addition, instead of limiting rent increases to 3% above inflation annually, that number is now 5% above inflation or 10% of the total rent. Proposed amendments go even further. They would scrap the 5% limit entirely and only limit increases to 10% of the total rent.
"If (Senate Bill) 611 passed in its current state, it wouldn't do much," Haxton said. "After the amendments, the advocates aren't pushing for it anymore."
Haxton added if lawmakers shifted their priorities from Right to Rest to focus on Senate Bill 611, it was a steep price to pay.
"People's lives are on the line," he said "When we allow for sweeps to happen, we're destroying people's only shelter. These sweeps kill."
‘We’re going to continue to build power together’
Lucy Briseno, a Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency program manager, told Street Roots the watering down of Senate Bill 611 and neglect of the Right to Rest Act are not unexpected.
"I think that's a common theme, especially when we're dealing with unsheltered homelessness or vulnerable populations," Briseno said. "That's the unfortunate reality for more members of our community than we care to acknowledge."
The community includes Briseno herself. She receives a housing voucher to afford the apartment she shares with her four children in Independence.
"I'm eligible for the same services that I'm providing professionally in my personal life," she said. "It gives me empathy. ... Because I access resources myself, I'm able to share the knowledge and information and direction with the people who I serve."
She added the bill is "pretty much" watered down to the point of uselessness on the street level. However, she said, she tries to remain hopeful.
"Although these changes are not what we wished, we are chipping away at the exorbitant allowable rent increases, and we're going to continue to build power together," Briseno said. "The cap on rent increases would definitely have minimized the people who are coming who are facing eviction or in active eviction. That's what I'm passionate about. I see so much of the domino effect. It's endless."
‘It’s still important to keep pushing this bill’
Briseno manages Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency’s ARCHES Project in Salem, which provides services to people experiencing homelessness. The people who receive the services don't really care what's happening a few blocks away at the Capitol, she said.
"The people at the day center are focused on surviving," Briseno said. "Anything just outside just the immediate ability to survive doesn't always catch their attention, or they're not interested. It's just about day-to-day survival."
Dryden said her day-to-day survival often means dealing with people who are hostile toward homeless people. Angry people slash her tires, put sugar in her gas tank or drive by at high speeds and yell obscenities.
"I have mental health issues myself," she said. "I struggle all the time. I don't feel like my life is productive. I don't feel I'm good for anybody or anything anymore because of the constant battle that my life revolves around getting my motor home moved."
These are the sorts of stories lawmakers need to hear May 4, Haxton said, regardless of the ultimate fate of the Right to Rest Act this session.
"It is important to keep pushing this bill," he said. "It's still important to have a public hearing and let people's voices be heard."
A legally recognized right to rest would help people like her late brother, Amanda Neal Roth testified two years ago.
"A good start to preventing the tragic circumstances that killed Ovid would be to pass the Oregon Right to Rest Act so that people like Ovid are not forced into hiding in dark places where they are vulnerable to hate," she told lawmakers.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story included an incorrect year for House Bill 2367 and misidentified a sponsor of House Bill 2367 as a different state representative with the same last name. The current version of this story has been updated with corrected information. Street Roots regrets this error.
Street Roots is an award-winning weekly investigative publication covering economic, environmental and social inequity. 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.
© 2023 Street Roots. All rights reserved. | To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org or call 503-228-5657, ext. 404