4
street roots
Sept 16, 2011
1 j IH k A K l
Settlement gives homeless campers time to move property
BY JOANNE ZUHL
STA FF W R IT E R
T T omeless campers came out the
I ""I winners in a settlement with the
JL JL Oregon Department of
Transportation that buys them time before
their property is swept from camps.
The settlement, signed in August, puts
into effect this month new guidelines that
now require ODOT to post a pending camp
sweep no less than 10 days and no more
than 19 days prior to confiscating property.
The guidelines apply statewide, and are the
result of a lawsuit filed by the Oregon Law
Center on behalf of six homeless campers
who lost property in sweeps in Southeast
Portland.
“Before,, people
were literally leaving
their camp for a day
to find everything
"Too often in the past we've
they owned was gone
heard stories of people
with absolutely no
returning to their camp after notice,” says Oregon
Law Center’s Monica
a day spent looking for
Goracke who
services or work only to find
negotiated the
a ll their possessions gone."
settlement. “And they
MARC JOLIN could have moved it if
E X E C U T IV E D IR E C T O R , J O IN
they had been given a
little bit of notice.
Now they should have
at least 10 days, which
should give even
someone who doesn’t have a vehicle enough
time to relocate their belongings,” Goracke
said.
The lawsuit claimed that the sweeps riot
only violated the plaintiffs’ right to due
process, in being denied notice, but that
they also consisted of an unlawful search
and seizure in the loss of their property.
The new guidelines, agreed to by ODOT
of people returning to their camp after a day
spent looking for services or work only to
find all their possessions gone,” John says.
“Now they’ll know in advance a clean-up is
planned and will be able to move their stuff
and themselves out of the way.”
The temporary notices stating “Notice
Personal Property Must Be Removed” must
be posted regardless of whether or not a
permanent sign such as “No Camping” is
already in place at the site. The guidelines
also require that property be moved at least
1,500 feet from the notice to be in
compliance. It is also clearly required that
the personal property that is confiscated be
held for 30 days from the date of cleanup,
after which it can be discarded or recycled.
There are caveats for areas posted as “no
trespassing” when the area is not open to
the general public, as well as special
sections of highway right-of-way deemed
exclusion zones. In those cases, property
can be removed immediately as part of a
trespass citation or exclusion notice.
Goracke said that doesn’t mean ODOT has
the clearance to simply post all of its right
of way for “no trespassing.”
“If they’re doing that, people should
contact us, because it definitely wouldn’t be
honoring the spirit of the agreement,”
Goracke says.
Don Hamilton, spokesman for ODT for
the Portland metro area, said that it will
probably take a month or two before the
guidelines are fully implemented. Hainilton
said it will take time to train the Multnomah
County Sheriff’s deputies and the inmate
crews, who do the property sweeps, op the
new guidelines.
Regardless, ODOT still retains the right
to remove personal property from state
arid MultriBriiah I
right-of-ways.
“T here are s a ^ ty issues. T he right-of-
the start of September, and apply to all land
under ODOT authority. This includes under
all freeway overpasses, and essential
encompasses “a bubble” around all the
freeways, Goracke said.
Marc John, the executive director of
JOIN, which transitions people who are
homeless into housing, said the new policy
should have a significant positive effect for
people forced to sleep on public property
managed by ODOT.
“Too often in the past we’ve heard stories
ways are not designed to be campsites. That
requires a whole different type of safety
standards and regulations, and these are ,
potentially putting people in danger if you’re
staying on the right-of-ways.”
Goracke said the willingness of ODOT to
allow for reasonable notices for homeless
camps should send a message that there is
room for changes elsewhere. Portland
currently has a 24-hour camping notice.
“I think this shows that if ODOT can be
reasonable and implicitly recognize that;;' V
H
Ì&3I ■ A,
people have no where to go and give them a
reasonable and humane amount of time to
move themselves and their belongings,
there’s no reason other government bodies
couldn’t do the same thing.”
John said that the policies adopted in
these guidelines are similar to those that
P H O T O BY COLE
MERKEL
the City of Portland applies to camps on
non-i ightTrf’way’property thatthe~€ity owns
and are in keeping with the spirit of the
state statute that, requires posting and
property storage as part of the enforcement
of any camping ban by a city or county.
“It is critical to people that they get
notice and some protection for their
property regardless who manages the public
property they are left to sleep on. These
guidelines achieve that for the large
amounts of property managed by ODOT
around the state.”
With the rainy
season ahead, ..
bridge overpasses,
like this O D OT
right-of-way under
the Steel Bridge are
prim e areas fo r
people on the streets
to seek shelter fo r
the night.
by popular dem and and bigger and better than ever, it’s Street Roots’ a nnual online
auction! I t’s one week o f fu n a nd fu n d raising fo r Portland’s award-winning street
newspaper. The auction will take place at the end o f October. I f you are a worker or
business owner that would like to donate to the auction with a g ift certificate or services,
please contact Israel Bayer a t streetroots@hotmail.com