Page 4
December 16, 2015
No Where
Left To Go
C ontinued from f ront
The Hazelnut Grove camp has
been active since at least May, and
has developed into an organized
community with a code of con-
duct. It’s located on a small plot
of public and private land at the
base of a steep hill next to a non-
profit garden that works with the
Sisters of the Road Café, which
serves houseless populations and
serves low and no-cost meals to
the public.
The city has brought in a trash
bin and a portable toilet to keep
the area more sanitary. But the
tensions are still there. But with
up to 50 people living on the site,
and a waiting list of people who
would like to join the community,
it’s clear there are more people
who need a place to go, be it this
camp or elsewhere.
Daniella Herman, chair of the
Overlook neighborhood group,
complains in an open letter to
the Mayor and other city leaders
that what was set up as a tempo-
rary camps have “no meaningful
boundary or population limits, nor
safety and enforcement support
for the residents.”
Herman also calls the living
conditions inhumane, referencing
the icy temperatures, severe rain
and winds, and mud pooling at
the base of the tents. But there’s
no offer of resources to help the
houseless campers who say they
would happily work with protec-
tive structures if they had access
to any.
“How can they condemn us
for being too poor and not hav-
ing proper drainage, when they
are warm in their houses and
condos up above us?” asked one
of the campers. “We would love
to be less cold in more humane
conditions if there was any way
for us to access that on minimum
wage.”
He wished not be named be-
cause of fears he would have
blowback if his employer found
out he had lost his home.
Many of campers said they are
photo by o livia o livia /t he p ortland o bserver
Cooking at the Hazelnut Grove homeless camp along North Greely Avenue is one of a number of
tasks residents are asked to provide. Other activities can include cleaning, helping out with supplies
or looking out for the safety of others.
working, but struggling to make
ends meet because they can’t af-
ford the current Portland rental
market. Some of them spoke of
going to bed early so they could
get to work, and many of them
walk the treacherous path down
the side of the four lane highway
to get to a bus or a MAX line so
they can go to work or school or
meet their other social commit-
ments.
The Hazelnut Grove campers
have been told they would not be
moved during the winter, which
many campers are hoping will
allow them time and resources to
insulate some of their cobbled-to-
gether homes, which range from
tents to make-shift “tiny homes”
of lumber and other materials.
“If I want to focus on what I
want this to be instead of what
I’m afraid will happen, I’d say my
dream is for everyone here to have
a tiny home,” Serrica says. “That
way everyone who needed just a
little place to go would have that,
and we would have a garden to
tend to next door and cook collec-
tively together.”
The second camp has created
some tensions, since they don’t
appear to have a similar set of
guidelines as Hazelnut Grove.
As for any of the homeless, a
forced move would be devastating
to them.
“There are more empty homes
in this country than there are
homeless people. If we wanted to
house human beings, we could.
But since we that’s not our prior-
ity, we should at least be allowed
to house ourselves,” said one of
the Hazelnut Grove campers,
who asked to go by the name Jim
Smith.
Another resident, Raymond
Wade, who has been here since
the camp’s inception, has a tiny
home he’s built that is so far the
strongest one in the community.
Wade says he can build more, and
has started on a storage unit for
residents’ belongings.
“I just think that it’s a basic
human right everyone should
have, to be housed. I can’t afford
the outrageous cost of rent. I can
make homes. I can make several
homes,” he says. “We deserve to
have a roof over our heads. I wish
I could offer that to everyone.”
The camp has become so pop-
ular that there is now a waitlist of
people who hope to be sheltered
in the small, self-guided commu-
nal area.