MULTNOMAH COUNTY, Ore. — Since last July, more than 6,500 tents and more than 24,000 tarps have been handed out to people living on the streets in Multnomah County. Some local leaders argue it's a humane way to respond to the homeless crisis, while others believe the money spent on these harm-reduction supplies should instead go to opening more shelters.
On Wednesday morning inside city council chambers, attorney John DiLorenzo revealed what some are calling alarming new data.
DiLorenzo is the attorney behind the 2022 lawsuit against the city of Portland, which claimed the tents block ADA access on public sidewalks. As part of the settlement deal reached last spring, the city agreed to prioritize removing campsites obstructing sidewalks and to track that progress. The city also agreed to not distribute tents except in limited circumstances, such as at severe weather shelters or to replace property damaged during a camp removal.
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During Wednesday morning’s testimony at city council, DiLorenzo gave an update on that work and the findings of a public records request his team recently received.
According to a quarterly report, since the settlement agreement, the city has removed over 4,000 encampments, which DiLorenzo said equates to about 8,000 to 12,000 tents. That's more tents than the number of homeless people in Multnomah County, according to the most recent Point-in-Time count.
New data from the public records request gives a potential explanation: the same time those encampments were being removed, the Joint Office of Homeless Services — a city- and county-run group where the county holds most of the power — was handing out another 6,554 tents and 24,172 tarps.
"It's a crazy exercise of trying to walk up the down escalator," DiLorenzo said.
Last week, in a Multnomah County commissioners passed a $3.96 billion budget in a 4-1 vote; Commissioner Sharon Meieran voted against it. A main focus of the budget was to increase services for homelessness and behavioral health. The budget also includes $230,000 for distribution of about 6,500 tents and $515,000 for distribution of five million clean syringes under what’s considered harm reduction efforts.
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Portland city commissioner and mayoral candidate Rene Gonzalez continues to raise his concerns around those efforts.
"Deeply concerning — we're seeing the cycle of pumping tents and tarps into our community. We know a lot of that is coming from the Joint Office of Homeless Services and some of our well-intentioned nonprofits, and we're continuing to spend way too much as a city trying to clean up our streets," he told KGW Wednesday regarding the new data revealed at city council.
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson responded by sending KGW the following statement:
“Our goal is helping people survive until there is enough treatment and shelter available. During emergency weather events especially, this means handing out tents so people sleeping outside with nowhere else to go have some protection from the elements while we work as fast as we can to bring people into shelter and ultimately, into stable housing. The expected cost for tents in FY 2025 is $230,000, paying for approximately 6,500 tents – or about 0.05% of the total Joint Office budget. This small investment provides some relief for people sleeping outside until they can be connected to shelter and resources. It is all a part of having a humane response to those living on our streets while we increase our housing and shelter capacity.”
DiLorenzo objects: "That is the least humane way of responding. It encourages people to stay outdoors. The whole idea is to encourage people to come indoors."
A recent city audit found that while shelter capacity in Multnomah County has nearly quadrupled since 2015, it's still woefully inadequate for the number of homeless people in the county — proving that at this point, there are not sufficient spots indoors for everyone currently living outside whether they are willing to accept the offer or not.
In response to last week's nearly $4 billion budget vote, Portland city commissioner and mayoral candidate Carmen Rubio sent KGW the following statement:
“I’ve had conversations directly with Chair Vega Pederson and Director Field — and they both know that the city would like to learn more regarding their latest thinking related to harm reductions investments. Harm reduction is an important, necessary strategy that saves lives, but it must be adaptable to current challenges. In a world in which we are still building out our shelter system, tent bans will only push homeless community members into parks, doorways of small businesses, and under our bridges. That is not a solution — nor humane. We need adaptable approaches to our challenges as we stand up more Temporary Alternative Shelters Sites and do the outreach needed to get people to relocate to them."
KGW did not immediately hear back from city commissioner and mayoral candidate Mingus Mapps for comment.
Records also show Rapid Response Bio-Clean — the commercial cleaning service the city pays more than $26 million for a four-year contract to remove homeless camps — also got some of the county-funded tents and tarps. It's unclear where exactly they ended up. Some local leaders speculate they are used to entice homeless people to cooperate with camp removals.
"The problem is those very tents that they checked out, they're going to have to charge the city ultimately to clean up too, so it's all just an endless cycle ... makes no sense at all," DiLorenzo said.
"We've got some tough conversations coming in the next two weeks on this topic, but I'll say I'm deeply, deeply concerned," Gonzalez added.
The city gives the county about $40 million dollars a year to fund the Joint Office of Homeless Services, the group responsible for purchasing all the tents and tarps. Some are calling on the city to sever those ties and instead put the money toward opening more shelters. There will be a vote on whether or not the city will continue funding the Joint Office in the coming weeks.