Members and volunteers have begun dismantling R2DToo as it moves from its longtime home beneath the Chinatown Gate.
Members and volunteers have begun dismantling R2DToo as it moves from its longtime home beneath the Chinatown Gate. Kathleen Marie

Right 2 Dream Too is finally on the move, and you can help.

The well-regarded homeless rest area—which for six years sat beneath the city's Chinatown gate—began the laborious process of relocating to its new Rose Quarter home last week.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation-owned lot was identified by the city in a last-ditch effort in early April, and has since been set up with water service (though not power). The city finally gave R2DToo permission to begin moving in on May 26, according to Trillium Shannon, a board member with the nonprofit rest area.

The new spot.
The new spot. Dirk VanderHart

Since then, R2DToo's moved 10 tiny houses onto the land. They'll be offered to the members who stay on-site at all times (and they were provided through a Benson Polytechnic High School program we've written about). The rest area still needs to set up the large communal tents where homeless residents can spend the night away from the street.

"This weekend’s a big work weekend for us," Shannon tells the Mercury. "I don't want to pull anybody way from important things like opposing hate speech, but tomorrow's a big day."

Which means, if you have the time on Saturday, you can help! Shannon says skilled laborers can report to R2DToo's new digs, just across North Interstate from the Moda Center. If you're less skilled, but want to help move the old camp, you can report to Northwest Fourth and Burnside.

Incidentally, Shannon says the Rose Quarter has been welcoming to R2DToo as the parties work to hammer out a good neighbor agreement. Property owners in Chinatown had sued to get the camp to move (though the Old Town Chinatown Community Association voiced support for the organization).

"It’s just a whole different game now," Shannon says. "We actually have a neighbohood that wants us to be successful instead of shunning us."

Still, the camp's perch in the Rose Quarter is tenuous. R2DToo will need to move in October, if Portland City Council doesn't extend its declaration of a housing emergency, since that declaration lets officials skirt zoning rules. Even if the emergency is extended, though, a usage agreement says R2DToo has to be out by September 2018.