PORTLAND, Ore. — Under the Morrison Bridge in Portland’s Central Eastside, a storage unit is packed with supplies for homeless people. Sandra Comstock opens the door of what she calls a bedding and clothing exchange at Hygiene 4 All, the nonprofit she runs that gives homeless people survival tools.
Multnomah County records show in the last year, Hygiene 4 All handed out about 230 tarps and 65 tents, mainly during the winter months, Comstock said.
“I mean, it’s a matter of life and death… We get them from a variety of places, including Save Lives Oregon, as well as the Joint Office of Homeless Services,” Comstock explained.
The Joint Office of Homeless Services is the county- and city- run group helping support nonprofits like Comstock’s.
Last week, Multnomah County commissioners approved setting aside about $750,000 in taxpayer dollars to pay for more harm-reduction supplies, including tents and tarps. The county then gives those supplies to dozens of groups like Hygiene 4 All. Those groups then hand them to people, like Nataly, who stays at a homeless camp along an Interstate 5 on-ramp in North Portland.
Nataly couldn’t count how many tarps she had at her site.
“I have quite a few … they wear out. Rats chew holes in them,” she said.
However, Nataly knows what nonprofits to go to get more.
“Street Roots, Rose Haven, and the Q Center,” she said, just to name a few.
In the past year, Multnomah County has given out more than 24,000 tarps and more than 6,500 tents. Records show Central City Concern got the most: 680 tarps and 260 tents.
A spokesperson for Central City Concern sent KGW the following statement:
“CCC’s approach is in alignment with Multnomah County’s in terms of viewing tent and tarp distribution as necessary life safety interventions for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness as long as our community lacks adequate accessible and appropriate shelter and permanent housing options. The distribution of tents and tarps allow us to center the humanity of people living outside who otherwise would have no protection from the elements, and also facilitates opportunities for our outreach teams to build trust and relationships with people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. CCC supports a plan which expands access to supportive shelter opportunities in the near term, combined with an expansion of rent assistance, a permanent or renewed funding source to support the construction and pipeline of deeply affordable housing as well as a re-tooled behavioral health system of care for people with substance use disorders and severe mental illnesses.”
In one section of the North Portland encampment along Interstate 405, a KGW crew counted nine tarps and three tents for two people, and they weren’t all being used to keep them out of the elements.
“I hardly ever sleep in them,” said Tyesha, who instead uses the tents to store her things.
On Friday, the tents were packed with tarps, backpacks, clothes and old furniture, among other things.
Another woman, Jennifer, staying at a different encampment along Interstate 405, is addicted to fentanyl and says she uses her tent as a private place to smoke.
“I don’t think it should be illegal, but I don’t think you should do it in front of youngsters,” Jennifer said.
Records also show Rapid Response Bio Clean — the commercial cleaning company the city of Portland pays $26 million over four years to clear homeless camps — removed 8,000 to 12,000 tents in the past year —arguably many of the same tents Multnomah County paid for.
“I’m very impressed with what’s happening at the county level, and I just wish the city would row along with us instead of constantly putting obstacles in the way,” Comstock said.
However, some Portland city commissioners see it differently than Comstock, including Rene Gonzalez, who is running for mayor and has continued to express his concerns on this topic over the past few weeks.
“This vicious cycle of Whac-A-Mole with people moving down the street with tents and tarps from public entities and nonprofits ... we have to stop this cycle in our community,” Gonzalez said.