Homelessness may well be the central issue in this year’s race for Portland mayor as we progress toward May’s primary. It makes sense. Not only is the issue as visible as it’s ever been in Portland, but both of the race’s main contenders—state Treasurer Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Commissioner Jules Bailey—profess a deep concern […]
Homeless
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A Day Storage Site For the City’s Homeless Didn’t Arrive Thursday As Planned
Last week, after some gentle prodding, the City of Portland announced that it’d be opening one of two day storage sites for homeless people this week, months later than planned. We reported that’d be happening. It hasn’t. The west end of the Steel Bridge has neither the 53-foot modified shipping container officials said was on […]
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Did Portland’s Latest Organized Homeless Camp Just Pop Up Near Legacy Emanuel?
Dirk VanderHart Wesley Courveler, foreground, says the new camp has a right to exist. The city sprouted another organized homeless encampment on City of Portland property on Sunday. No one bothered to tell the city it was coming. “The mayor’s office didn’t know where we were planning on moving ahead of time,” says Steve Kimes, […]
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Portlanders Just Showed Up For A Homeless Resident Who Wants to Be A Cabbie
Sean Martinez, maybe your next cabbie. In these days of slackened taxi business, it’s not cheap to become a Portland cabbie. It costs anywhere from $75 to $100 for the background check the City of Portland administers, depending on what kind of driving you’d like to do. Then there are fees for drug tests, and […]
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Day Storage For The Homeless: Coming Next Week Beneath the Steel Bridge
City of Portland See that box up above? It’s the city’s latest approach to easing the burden of homelessness. Beginning next week, this large crate’s going to be posted up below the west end of the Steel Bridge, welcoming belongings of the city’s homeless. For the next six months or so, Portland’s in the day […]
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Overlook Neighbors Will Demand A Public List of Everyone Camping at Hazelnut Grove
James Rexroad The Overlook Neighborhood Association (OKNA) met in Kenton last night. Its purpose? It wanted to vent about Hazelnut Grove. And, man, did it ever. For more than an hour, residents complained about the homeless camp that sprang up this summer near N Greeley and Killingsworth. They came away with a surprising conclusion: That […]
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Worst Rain Ever? Portland’s Still Sweeping Homeless Camps
Remember Monday, when Portland shattered rain records, and manhole covers were popping off like pogs to unleash torrents of sewage into unsuspecting streets, and people had to be rescued by raft? That selfsame day, city contractors responsible for moving homeless campers off of city land marched through the elements to a messy camp near where […]
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It’s Cold. Here Are the Emergency Shelters Opening Up Tonight
With temperatures expected to dive below freezing over the next couple nights, Multnomah County’s emergency shelters are readying to welcome thousands of Portlanders stuck without a place to stay. On that list for the first time? A new shelter for homeless women the city’s about open in a former army reserve center in SW Portland. […]
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The City Is Leaving Water On, Bathrooms Open At Overlook Park To Help A Nearby Homeless Camp
James Rexroad Campers at Hazelnut Grove Commissioner Amanda Fritz has directed Portland Parks & Recreation to leave the restrooms open and water running in Overlook Park, to accommodate the organized homeless camp that took root nearby earlier this year. As part of its annual winterization process, PP&R this week turned off water spigots at the […]
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The City’s Planning to Shuttle Homeless Women To A New SW Portland Shelter
Google The Sgt. Jerome Sears US Army Reserve Center The City of Portland will pay to shuttle homeless women and couples from several spots in the central city to a new shelter near SW Portland’s Multnomah Village over the next six months. According to information released by Mayor Charlie Hales’ office, the new shelter, an […]
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Portland’s About to Get Its First Veterans-Only Homeless Shelter
Wikimedia Commons For much of this year, Portland officials have been putting a ton of effort into housing the city’s homeless veterans. They’re mostly following the lead of the federal government, which has decided to prioritize getting vets off the streets as homelessness becomes a growing issue all over the country. But while much of […]
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BC Just Ruled Sweeping Homeless Camps Off Limits
As the City of Portland wrestles with a housing emergency, and lends support to a new homeless encampment on North Greeley, our closest Canadian neighbors are crafting more lenient policies for dealing with the homeless. In a lengthy ruling this week British Columbia Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson found that the Vancouver-area city of […]