Ree Kaarhus, executive director of Boots on the Ground PDX
Ree Kaarhus, executive director of Boots on the Ground PDX Dirk VanderHart

Organizations advocating for homeless people on the Springwater Corridor say they'll establish an "economic refugee camp" for people displaced in a planned sweep of the multi-use trail beginning August 1—and unlike a previous, similar camp, they say they'll refuse to budge if the city asks.

At a meeting of volunteer advocates and homeless this morning near a large encampment on the Springwater, Ree Kaarhus announced her organization, Boots on the Ground PDX, had identified a piece of land where tents and RVs can set up beginning July 31. The organized encampment would include security and a code of conduct that prohibits substances.

"This is going to look like a UN refugee camp," Kaarhus said. "If we can make it work, the city may open more organized camps."

Kaarhus and her allies have proven they can get efforts like this off the ground. In May, they set up a small encampment for homeless women on a vacant plot of city land in Lents. They moved on shortly after, when Mayor Charlie Hales vowed to find them a more appropriate plot of land. That promise has so far gone unfulfilled, and some of the women who were in the camp are once again facing abuse on the Springwater, advocates say.

Kaarhus is refusing to say where the plot of land is located until the camp is actually established, but she suggested this morning it wouldn't be in the Lents neighborhood, where tensions over entrenched homeless camping along the Springwater have led to outrage.

"I think Lents has been pushed to a breaking point," she said. Unlike the women's camp, Kaarhus says that the community being planned won't move because of the city's assurances. And she cautioned that the camp won't accept anyone who can't abide the rules. "If you cannot be personally responsible, please do not come to the gate."

Kaarhus's announcement came as advocates and homeless residents met to strategize how to react to the planned sweep, which Hales announced July 15. Among decisions the group made this morning: Demanding that he not carry out the sweep, and that he meet with people living off the trail. Activists with Portland Tenants United were also on hand, offering to help homeless people "stand their ground" during a sweep.

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