Homeless Portlanders, advocates and politicians have a range of thoughts about the pros and cons of sanctioned encampments as a way to temporarily house people who were previously living on the streets. One main concern emerging in response to programs like Portland Commissioner Dan Ryan’s Safe Rest Villages (SRVs) project is that such shelters will be located in inconvenient locations, far from the communities people built for themselves that may be closer to resources they need or people they know.
Some people support SRVs because the city has more legal standing to require people to leave the encampments they’ve set up on their own and reside in one of these shelter sites, as Ryan incorporated in a pitch during a Lents Neighborhood Livability Association in June 2021. The Martin v. Boise decision handed down by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals makes it more difficult for cities to criminally prosecute homeless people for refusing shelter beds if available.
Some advocates fear the tactic is a way to move homeless people out of sight without providing long-term solutions while creating more barriers for homeless people in the process. Some housed people and those in the business community feel homeless people are the singular cause for Portland’s much-discussed cleanliness problem. As a result, many efforts to solve the homelessness crisis primarily focus on clearing up “visible” signs of homelessness — advocates are concerned SRVs are planned with that focus, or with clearing legal hurdles to increased enforcement, rather than creating stability for homeless Portlanders.
Local business owners have been vocal for some time about putting pressure on local officials to address the visible signs of homelessness they see as financially problematic.
Can sanctioned encampments created primarily to appease uncomfortable customers be a place where homeless people actually want to live?
One way to tell if a sanctioned encampment project is considering the needs of the homeless people that will live there is to investigate where these sites are located and if there are sufficient resources nearby. Even if wraparound resources are provided at the encampments themselves, as is the plan for the SRVs in Portland, people living in these sites will need to access other parts of the community.
Portland’s SRV project was supposed to provide six functioning villages by the end of 2021. However, securing locations for these sanctioned encampments has proven difficult. Right now, project leaders have only three of the six planned sites: the Sears Armory parking lot in Southwest Portland, the 2300 block of Southwest Naito Parkway and a lot on East 122nd Avenue and Burnside Street located at the Menlo Park “Park & Ride.”
People in charge of the SRV project say proximity to social services, jobs and transit are part of the criteria for selecting a site location.
How true is this of the three locations announced?
Southwest Portland — Sears Armory Parking Lot
2731 SW Multnomah Blvd.
Distance to MAX station: Lincoln Street and Southwest Third Avenue via bus 12: 25-minute bus ride, including 13 minutes walking
Distance to transit lines that run frequently (every 15 minutes) and late night (past 10 p.m.): Bus 12, 0.3 miles away; runs every 15 minutes on weekdays, every 40 minutes on weekends. Bus 12 also runs late at night.
Distance to grocery stores that accept WIC/SNAP: 0.4 miles to Safeway
Distance to a hospital that accepts OHP: 0.4 mile walk to catch bus 65 at Southwest 19th Avenue and Multnomah Street, 10 stops from the VA hospital. Bus 65 only runs on weekdays; north during morning rush hour and south during evening rush hour. The city lists access to bus 12, which is 0.3 miles from the site, and requires 0.7 miles of walking to get to the VA hospital after a 29-minute bus ride. In order to take bus 12 to OHSU, it takes 36 minutes and requires just over a mile of walking.
Nearest public library: Multnomah County Library Hillsdale; 1.4-mile walk each way or a 21-minute bus ride on bus 44, which runs about hourly on weekdays from 6:55 a.m. during morning rush hour until just after evening rush hour.
Parks and recreation: 90-acre Gabriel Park is a 1.4-mile walk each way. The much smaller Spring Garden Park is 0.7 miles away.
Menlo Park “Park & Ride”
12202 E. Burnside St.
Distance to MAX station: This site is right at the East 122nd Avenue MAX station, which serves the Blue Line.
Distance to transit lines that run frequently (every 15 minutes) and late night (past 10 p.m.): The MAX Blue Line stops at the East 122nd Avenue station every 15 minutes, but intermittently late night and early morning depending on the direction. Bus 20 is a 0.3-mile walk to the Stark Street and East 122nd Avenue bus stop. Runs every 15 minutes or less, but more intermittently late at night, ending service around 11 p.m. or midnight depending on the direction. It is also a 0.2-mile walk to bus 73, a frequent service route.
Distance to grocery stores that accept WIC/SNAP: Right Price market is a 1.1-mile walk or 10-minute bus ride on bus 73. WinCo on East 122nd Avenue is a 1.2-mile walk or 8-minute bus ride.
Distance to a hospital that accepts OHP: It’s a 1.6 mile walk or 23-minute bus ride on bus 20 (including 18 minutes of walking) to Adventist Health Hospital, which accepts OHP. It’s an hour and five minute bus ride each way to OHSU, with a transfer from the 66 to the 20.
Nearest public library: It’s a 0.5-mile walk to the Multnomah County Library at Midland.
Parks and recreation: It’s a 0.6-mile walk to Ventura Park.
2300 block of Southwest Naito Parkway
Distance to MAX station: 0.2-mile walk to Orange Line MAX station at Lincoln Street and Southwest Third Avenue, 0.6-mile walk to Green Line at PSU South/Southwest Fifth Avenue & Jackson Street. This site is also near street car stops which run every 15 to 20 minutes between 5:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. on weekdays and every 15 to 20 minutes from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Saturdays and every 20 minutes from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Sundays.
Distance to transit lines that run frequently (every 15 minutes) and late night (past 10 p.m.): Being near downtown, there are several transit lines running frequently. To name a few: all MAX stops are frequent, less than 15 minutes every day for most of the day. It’s a 0.1-mile walk to Southwest Naito Parkway and Sheridan Street bus stop. Buses 54 and 56 are frequent lines. It’s a 0.4-mile walk to bus 9 at Southwest Lincoln Street and First Avenue.
Distance to grocery stores that accept WIC/SNAP: Safeway is a 1-mile walk, 10-minute bus ride on the 54 or 56. Fred Meyer is a 1.9-mile walk or 35 minute bus ride and streetcar ride.
Distance to a hospital that accepts OHP: OHSU hospital is a 1.4-mile walk each way or a 16-minute bus ride on the 66 bus.
Nearest public library: Multnomah County Central Library is a 1.2-mile walk or a 20-minute streetcar ride.
Parks and recreation: It’s a 1.1-mile walk to Marquam Nature Park, 0.4-mile walk to Lair Hill Park, a smaller park.
What can we take away from this?
Looking at the average distances to necessary amenities from these encampment sites, people would have to accept some trade-offs as far as which resources are most valuable to have nearby.
If the city builds the Safe Rest Villages and people choose their site, it may be possible to find a good fit based on individual needs. The freedom to choose indicates whether the city is building sanctioned encampments with the needs of homeless people in mind, according to advocates.
On average, it would take someone about nine minutes to get to a MAX stop either by walking or taking the bus. This is an average heavily weighted by the Sears parking lot location, as the other two sites are much closer to light rail service.
These sites are well-served by bus stops, including ones that run late at night. Each location is within about a 0.3 mile walk to the nearest bus stop with extensive service.
Accessing proper grocery stores may be problematic for residents at the sites. Residents would have to walk or take the bus 1.35 miles on average to the nearest grocery store accepting WIC/SNAP, commonly known as food stamps.
Medical services are another resource that may prove difficult to access for site residents. On average, it’s about a 30-minute bus ride to get to a hospital accepting OHP from each site.
Even in areas well-served by public transit, like the Southwest Naito Parkway and the Menlo Park sites, it is most difficult to get to grocery stores, hospitals and public libraries. Some of these sites have more amenities within a short distance, while others, especially the Southwest Multnomah Boulevard location, are farther away from these resources.
People who camp at places like Laurelhurst Park have pointed out the proximity to resources like public libraries, grocery stores and parks and recreation. The people who have lived there for years feel familiar with the community.