CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. — Last week, Clackamas County commissioners proposed changes to county code to make it easier to remove what they’re calling “nuisance” RVs and campers that are parked on county rights-of-way.
This change could affect people like Jaime Smith, where she and her boyfriend live out of Smith’s camper on a dead-end street in unincorporated Clackamas County between a recycling center and a manufacturing plant.
“This camp has been here for years, and everybody knows to bring their RVs here,” Smith explained. “It’s not too much, but it’s a big step up from a tent,” she said of her camper.
However, the makeshift homeless neighborhood she’s called home for about eight months could soon come to an end.
The county's proposal comes after years of community members raising concerns about the impact of these homeless camps.
Currently, the county has the authority to tow abandoned vehicles. It's when someone stays in them that there are legal challenges.
“It’s my house. It’s where I live. It’s home,” said Bernie Fleeman, who lives in the RV next to Smith’s camper.
Under the proposed code changes, if an RV or camper is being lived in, impacts health and safety, and the people have refused to leave despite prior notice and outreach efforts, the sheriff's office could get a warrant and use reasonable force if necessary to remove whoever lives there and have the vehicle towed.
“We were even going to think about barricading the road if they came so we could stand up for our rights and try to keep it,” Fleeman said.
The county is working with local nonprofits to provide outreach services to help people like Fleeman, so they aren’t displaced if their vehicle is towed.
“We're not hurting nobody,” Fleeman protested.
However, those who work at the neighboring manufacturing plant disagree.
“The smell, the garbage, the syringe needles, the drugs and all the defecating,” described Suzanne, an employee at Conveyco Manufacturing Corporation who picks up syringe needles each morning that have been thrown onto their property near the camp.
“They're cutting our fences to get in to steal scrap steel or whatever the case may be,” added her coworker, Nate.
It's unclear if those living at the camp are the ones vandalizing their fence; Conveyco Manufacturing Corporation spent $22,000 repairing their fence, which is the only thing separating them from the camp.
“I agree that they have no other place to go and where are they going to go, but at the same time, you got to get rid of them,” Nate said.
“It’s like I’m not human, like, there's no compassion left in this world. There's no empathy left in this world,” Smith bemoaned.
The county still has to vote on the proposed code changes, and a date for that has yet to be set.