YOU WOULDNâT have known it from the increasing panic over homelessness, but there was actual excitement over Mayor Charlie Halesâ âsafe sleep policy.â
In a nation where thereâs an increasing acknowledgment that criminalizing homeless people for being homeless is the wrong position, Halesâ six-month experimentâwhich formally allowed small groups to sleep on sidewalks or camp on âremnantâ properties, since there was nowhere else for themâlooked like something to watch.
And not just in February, when Halesâ office unveiled the much-discussed policies. Just last Wednesday, July 27, national advocates were thinking hard about the safe sleep experiment.
Eric Tars, a senior attorney with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, was at a conference in Washington, DC, that day. He told me heâd been planning on spotlighting Portland as a national leader in not criminalizing homelessness for a talk he was giving.
The problem: Hales had recently announced a massive sweep of the Springwater Corridor.
âWhereas we would have given Portland a very ringing endorsement before...now we have to say that weâre watching the situation much more closely to see how it develops," Tars said.
And now we know how it develops. A little less than six months after it was introduced, Hales announced Tuesday that the safe-sleep policy is officially deadâeffective immediately. (Local homeless advocates had advanced warning of the plan.)
âThe guidelines caused confusion,â Halesâ office said in the announcement. âPeople believed that camping was made legal, and outreach workers and law enforcement struggled to educate people about the difference between a safe nightâs sleep and unsanctioned camping.â
While Hales offered assurances he âremains committed to the principles behind the Safe Sleep Guidelines,â itâs impossible to ignore a glaring distinction: Of a raft of new policies Hales put in place earlier in the year, this is the only one thatâs getting the axe.
The mayor is extending the life of two day-storage containers, and will continue to place dumpsters and portable toilets in areas frequented by homeless Portlanders, he says. Heâll modify, but continue, plans to establish more organized encampments around the city. And heâll tweak a system that collects complaints about homelessness in one place.
But the safe-sleep policy, arguably the most radicalâand, some said, ârationalââof the mayorâs actions on homelessness, is gone.
This isnât out of the blue. Hales had told the Mercury in recent days the policy hadnât worked out as heâd hoped. The mayor also says heâll still prioritize enforcement in certain areas more than others.
That was pretty much the status quo before Februaryâa necessity since there's no way the city could enforce its camping ordinance across the board to begin with.
Hales' announcement comes less than a week after he placated concerned social services providers regarding a massive impending sweep of the Springwater Corridor. In the face of concernsâand a promised lawsuit from the Oregon Law CenterâHales agreed to push the sweep back a month. That's less than the law center had pushed for. A demand letter [PDF] the organization sent the cityâobtained via public records requestâshows the OLC initially pressed for "at least two additional months."
With his announcement today, the mayor probably dodges yet another lawsuit. As the Mercury was first to report, a judge dismissed a lawsuit over the safe sleep policy on July 13, but left the door open for plaintiffsâneighborhood representatives and business groupsâto re-file.
With today's news, Paul Conable, the attorney representing plaintiffs in the suit, was unsure whether his clients would pursue the litigation (which was solely aimed at tossing the safe sleep policy).
"Our filing would be due tomorrow," Conable said, "if it's still necessary."
More coverage:
Portland's Planned Springwater Sweep Has National Advocates TalkingâAnd Not in A Good Way
As Springwater Sweep Looms, Mayor Charlie Hales Says Camping Policy "Has Not Succeeded As We Hoped"
Mayor Charlie Hales is Pushing Back His Springwater Corridor Sweep
A Lawsuit Against the City's Camping Policy Has Been TossedâFor Now