Street Roots • July 22-28, 2016
E d it o r ia l
Page 3
Springwater Corridor challenges community’s will
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Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him at
israel@streetroots. org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
Ahe Springwater Corridor is a 21-mile multi-use
path and trail that runs through both Clackamas
-L and Multnomah County, traveling through both
Gresham and Portland.
The path follows the beautiful Johnson Creek
watershed, a critical drainage basin for the region. Its
paved trail provides a healthy transportation option for
thousands of pedestrians and bikers on a daily basis.
It’s a shining example of how to
maintain a natural setting within
urban America.
It’s also an example of how
D IR E C T O R 'S
Portland and the region have
DESK
created one of the greenest urban
environments in the world
By Israel Bayer
without any real strategy for
people experiencing poverty.
Today, the corridor weaves
itself in and put of changing and gentrifying
neighborhoods. It’s out with the old and in with the
new. The times they are a changing.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of more than 30,000
affordable housing units and a rapidly changing region
— it’s also home to hundreds of people experiencing
homelessness who now camp on the path.
Instead of tranquility, the path is an example of how
multi-jurisdictional government entities and a growing
affluent population try to address a changing
landscape of massive poverty and desperate survival.
In early August, Portland along with other law
enforcement agencies will most likely sweep hundreds
of people out of the corridor.
Both Street Roots and myself have been inundated
by inquires about how we feel about the situation and
what’s the right answer. At the same time social-
service agencies, who are already in triage mode
helping hundreds of vulnerable residents citywide,
including those on the Springwater Corridor, are now
being asked to stop what they are doing to help
coordinate the displacement of hundreds of people.
What follows are many of the questions I’ve gotten
over the past week and how I’ve answered them.
Are there really 500 sleeping on the Spring Water
Corridor?
No one really knows. Someone came up with the
number 500 and that’s what the media ran with.
Apparently, Portland has the largest homeless camp in
America. Click bait at its best.
Well, how many people are there?
Again, no one knows.
Are there hundreds?
Yes. Along with thousands more people
experiencing homelessness in the region.
| Is the Spring Water Corridor really unsafe for both the
community and people experiencing homelessness?
I would never attempt to say that anyone feeling
unsafe isn’t true. No question, it’s a delicate situation.
Saying that, it’s not like people experiencing
homelessness were safe with or without the
Springwater Corridor.
People experiencing homelessness certainly won’t
be safe after the corridor is swept. It’s not a kind
world out there.
Are neighbors overreacting?
Again, I can’t attempt to tell another person’s story.
Saying that, it’s really hard to cut through the noise
and determine what’s real and what’s not. People in
Southwest Portland were just as upset as neighbors
are on the Springwater Corridor about having a
vulnerable women’s homeless shelter in their
neighborhood. You tell me. Poverty is messy.
It’s much easier to think about tackling the problem
when it’s not right in front of you. People are
frustrated, no question. It’s also true that I’ve seen
more hateful comments directed toward the homeless
in the past year than I’ve seen in all my time on the
streets.
Where will people go after sweeping the trail?
Back into the neighborhoods and downtown. The
reality is that it is harder and harder to find a location
to bed down these days if you’re homeless. Areas of
the city that have historically absorbed people
experiencing homelessness — the backside of the
Pearl, S t Francis Park, the old Washington High
School, the inner Eastside Portland and Old Town are
all being developed and gentrified. In many ways we’re
a product of our own success and the rise in camping
in public parks is a direct result. It may sound
rhetorical, but there is no place for people to go.
Has Mayor’s Charlie Hales homeless camping plan
failed?
That’s an impossible question. Do you mean have
we failed as a nation by not providing basic housing
infrastructure that allows for hundreds of thousands of
American’s to have no safe place to call home? Yes, we
have failed.
Being a mayor in today’s climate, especially on the
West Coast, means having to deal with an almost
impossible situation.
Legalizing camping has created a series of
challenges. No question. Obviously, the issue has been
put in people’s faces. I’m not sure that’s a bad thing.
Prior to legalized camping homelessness continued to
grow, but there was little political motivation by the
general pubic or the state legislature to do anything
about it. It was businesses as usual. That’s not the
case today.
Flipping the script, criminalization isn’t the answer.
Not only is it inhumane, it’s not cost effective and
actually hinders people’s ability to access housing.
It’s impossible for any mayor to get it completely
r ig h t g iv e n th e c irc u m s ta n c e s . I t ’s q u ic k sa n d . I do
think Charlie Hales has been courageous. Of course,
that’s not a popular sentiment on either the left or the
right. Still, it’s true. Things are moving on the housing
front. Partially that’s the reality of the climate we’re
in, partially that’s having a bold city council right now
that’s delivering on housing policies that should have
been set long ago.
So, what do we do today? Do we need more shelters?
No, we do not. We need to maintain the shelters we
have, but adding more shelters doesn’t get us
anywhere.
For one, shelters are expensive. Number two. I
would bet the farm that the vast majority of people on
the Springwater Corridor wouldn’t access a shelter.
So, what do we need?
Housing. It’s something we can all agree on.
But, Israel, what about tomorrow? What about the
Springwater Corridor?
First, we need to increase organized camping.
Sounds crazy right? It is. But it’s the only way to
maintain order in a growing crisis of people sleeping
on our streets.
Second, if you’re going to clear out folks on the
Springwater you should do it surgically. If there are
bad actors, get them out of there. If people are having
an environmental impact, give them an ultimatum.
Clean your camps up or be swept.
Outside of that, dispersing hundreds of people into
the city is absolutely ridiculous, inhumane and won’t
actually solve anyone’s problem. It certainly won’t help
people on the road to recovery or being able to access
housing.
At the end of the day, regardless of which side of
this debate you find yourself on, we can all agree we
need more affordable housing and we need it now.
This isn’t a black and white issue. It’s complex and
constantly changing. Vote yes in November on the
affordable housing bond. Be safe, but be
compassionate. We’re all walking on this long path
together.
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