In the face of bitter outcry and imminent litigation, and with advocates around the country watching, Mayor Charlie Hales this afternoon pulled back on a promise to sweep hundreds of homeless campers from the Springwater Corridor beginning August 1.

In a statement issued shortly before 5 pm, the mayor's office announced the cleanup will now begin on September 1, a timeline which the mayor says will give more time for people to prepare.

"I think it’s both the right thing to do tactically and the right thing to do in humane terms," Hales tells the Mercury.

The move comes as homeless campers and advocates planned to set up an "economic refugee camp" for displaced campers, or stand their ground in the face of cleanup crews and police. The mayor and his staff had met with advocates and homeless residents on Monday about the planned sweep, but just yesterday said the effort would still continue as planned.

A final straw in Hales' decision, then, seems to be a meeting Tuesday with representatives of the Oregon Law Center, which has repeatedly sued on behalf of homeless campers. Those representatives said they planned to file for an injunction if the mayor moved forward with the suit. They'd sent a demand letter to the city on July 22.

Hales' office acknowledged the OLC's role in the decision in his statement, saying the center "told the mayor that their clients — people who are homeless and with disabilities — could not reasonably pack their belongings and relocate in just two weeks." It made no mention of the threatened injunction. Instead, the statement leans heavily on word from social services groups that more time was needed "to reach more vulnerable people on the corridor."

Hales says it was all of the above. He says homeless people he met with on Monday "were good people trying to make a difference out there," but acknowledged the threat of legal action was "persuasive."

Monica Goracke, managing attorney at the Oregon Law Center, confirms she met with the mayor's office Tuesday prepared to file a lawsuit against the city on behalf of 11 disabled homeless residents—among them an Iraq War vet who was injured by an improvised explosive device, and a person who lost toes to frostbite after a camp sweep last year. The lawsuit was already written out, waiting only to be filed.

"Our clients are really happy that the mayor agreed to postpone the sweep until September 1," Goracke says. "They are vulnerable and do not have anywhere to go. We requested reasonable accommodation on their behalf to obtain more time to move and to have a clearer understanding of the plans to make sure they didn’t lose critical survival belongings."

If the mayor didn't budge, Goracke says, she was prepared to ask a judge extend the effort into a class-action suit, representing hundreds of people with disabilities camping along the Springwater.

But that didn't prove necessary. Goracke secured a memorandum of understanding [PDF] with the city, certifying that no cleanup would occur before September 1 in exchange for the OLC agreeing not to file "the proposed legal action." The arrangement still allows the city to post notice about an impending cleanup, and to "remove garbage and debris which do not constitute the personal belongings of disabled homeless persons..."

And the agreement makes clear that the city's still interested in a piece of Bureau of Environmental Services property not far from the Springwater as a potential site for a homeless encampment. As the Mercury reported last month, this plot, known as the Kalbrenner Property, is plagued by mounds of contaminated waste. The MOU says the city reserves the right to "prepare 'Kalbrener site' near 104th Avenue and Reedway..."

The decision to pull back eliminates a bunch of pressing issues for the mayor's office (though it won't likely find many fans among Lents residents who've been frantically protesting the camping along the Springwater). Not only does it take a lawsuit off the table, it potentially delays planned confrontations, and might well quiet threats to move homeless campers onto a median in Eastmoreland. The move is apparently not enough to stop a "Stop the Sweeps Rally" planned at City Hall tomorrow afternoon. Activists planning the rally are saying on a Facebook page for the event it will carry on.

Hales said this evening he still plans to bolster police patrols and "biohazard" cleanup along the trail, and that the city will place more dumpsters. And he blasted rumors—voiced repeatedly in recent days—that his planned August 1 cleanup was aimed solely at making the trail more passable for the Hood To Coast relay scheduled on August 26 and 27.

"I still don't know which day the Hood 2 Coast day is," Hales said. "When is it?"

News of the delayed cleanup reached social services providers around the city shortly before it was released to the public. That message, sent by a staffer named Lucas Hillier who works on the mayor's Housing/Homelessness Initiative Team, led with the sentence "It is my distinct pleasure to send this to all of you..."

Here is Hales' full statement.

Mayor Charlie Hales today announced that the major cleanup planned for the Springwater Corridor will be postponed until Thursday, Sept. 1, in response to social service provider, advocate, and disabled individuals’ requests for more time to relocate.

Mayor Hales on July 15 announced that homeless campers would be cleared from the Springwater Corridor, in response to urgent public safety issues and environmental damage in the area. The City-County Joint Office of Homeless Services planned for two weeks of intensive outreach — budgeting for additional outreach resources on the corridor — prior to the Aug. 1 cleanup.

During regular check-ins, social service providers have informed the Mayor’s Office that they needed more time to reach more vulnerable people on the corridor. Advocates met with Mayor Hales and, while many of their requests were already being addressed, they also asked to allow people more time to find someplace else to go. The Oregon Law Center told the mayor that their clients — people who are homeless and with disabilities — could not reasonably pack their belongings and relocate in just two weeks.

“Cascadia’s Housing Outreach Team has been working closely with the Mayor’s office and many other community partners to provide intensive outreach to the folks along the Springwater Corridor over the past two weeks. Although there has been significant outreach made, addressing mental health, addictions and housing needs for these individuals while appropriately connecting people with services is crucial and not something that is accomplished overnight," said Derald Walker, president and CEO of Cadcadia Behavioral Healthcare. "The extension to allow for more outreach will be invaluable for the health and safety of our clients, and all Portlanders.”

Through negotiations with clients represented by Oregon Law Center, Mayor Hales has pushed the major Springwater cleanup date out one month. The City and Oregon Law Center clients signed a formal agreement in which City agrees not to enforce the ban on camping and structures until Sept. 1. The agreement also formalizes the date that the clients will leave the corridor.

Recognizing that urgent public safety issues and environmental damage are occurring, the Portland Police Bureau will increase patrols along the corridor. The City will provide biohazard cleanup, will begin placing dumpsters along the corridor, and work with advocates on some garbage cleanup prior to Sept. 1.

“I said before that we resisted moving campers from the area because we don’t yet have good options for all the people living there,” Mayor Hales said. “That continues to be true. Recognizing that, I want to ensure this cleanup was is humane and compassionate as possible. Adjusting to social service providers’ requests is part of that.

“I know neighbors to the Springwater are dealing with very real problems, and I hope that initial steps now and a major cleanup in one month will balance our need to treat people humanely, with our need to restore the Springwater to a public asset.”

During August, service providers and advocates will continue outreach, and will work to ensure campers are aware that they must leave before Sept. 1. Signage will be posted informing people of the date, and Portland Police and park rangers will also help spread the word.

“As a community partner working to address concerns regarding the Springwater Corridor, we are deeply concerned about the well-being of our community's most vulnerable citizens who are living outdoors in these areas, particularly youth and young adults under 25 for who we may be able to provide immediate safety services,” said Dennis Lundberg, Director of Homeless Youth Services at Janus Youth Programs. “We are equally sensitive to the needs and concerns of the residents of these areas, as well as the broader community that utilizes these public spaces.

“We are concerned that there is evidence of very vulnerable and highly traumatized young people embedded in these camps with much older adults. The additional time the Mayor has proposed will allow our street outreach teams to explore these areas more closely, in an effort to identify potential youth and, most importantly, build the trusting relationships necessary to meaningfully connect these young people to resources and more viable long term communities of support.

“We know that if we are not trauma-informed in our methodology, we will absolutely lose these youth in the process of cleaning the Springwater Corridor and we could unintentionally drive them into less safe situations far beyond the reach of supportive, caring professional adults.