PORTLAND, Ore. — In Southwest Portland, tucked where the wall of an overpass meets a fence along I-405, is a tent that's become a target for people in search of fentanyl. A young woman named Jo and her partner Griffin live there.
It’s so bad that Jo even made a cardboard sign that reads in white and black bubble letters: “QUIT COMING OVER JUST TO SMOKE OR ASK FOR FETTI … GO AWAY IF WE DON’T KNOW YOU.”
"Fetti" is street slang for the deadly drug fentanyl.
“Somebody hears them asking for that, and they’re going to think I’m just a junkie or something,” Jo said.
However, starting next week, Jo's site could be a target of something else: Portland’s ban on homeless camping.
In an exclusive interview with KGW, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said Monday the city will begin enforcing the ban on July 1.
This comes after the city tried doing something similar several months ago, but it ended up being blocked by a Multnomah County judge. As a result, the city revised its rules and language around the ban to make it so that, for the most part, camping outside is punishable only when there is shelter available.
It’s a change that comes as a surprise to many homeless people and their service providers, despite the city’s month-long effort to inform people.
“We've put leaflets out on the streets for people who are homeless," Wheeler told KGW. "They've had the opportunity to see so they know what the rules are ... We’ve been doing training with our police officers, so they understand what the rules are ... Everybody knows what the rules are, so on July 1, we begin enforcing that rule.”
On this street, at least, people don't seem to be on the same page.
“There are no flyers. The outreach people haven't told us. Nobody,” Jo insisted.
“I had no idea. No one told us anything about it,” Griffin added.
“I didn’t know, but it’s going to be hard on some people,” added Gee, another homeless man.
Under the revised ordinance, a city outreach worker will first target a camp causing the most community unrest — what the city calls “problematic” campsites. Those outreach workers will use a new city app to check how many shelter beds are available in real-time. If there is available shelter, they’ll offer it to the homeless people. If they refuse the offer, that’s when Portland police will show up.
If the homeless people still refuse shelter once police arrive, they will either face a week in jail, a $100 fine or both.
“Go to jail? So, it's illegal to be homeless now?” Griffin said.
Under this ordinance, camping is banned around-the-clock wherever it would block things like sidewalks or access to private property, and fires or gas heaters are banned. Personal belongings must be within two feet of a tent, and the ordinance bans activities that cause environmental damage.
“If you refuse to comply after you've been offered carrot after carrot after carrot, in comes the stick, and the stick is a fine or a jail term or both,” Wheeler said.
A KGW crew asked Jo if she would take the offer of shelter, and she said only if she could bring her partner and dog. If not, she would choose jail and or a fine.
“The people we're serving right now are really suffering,” said Scott Kerman, the head of Blanchet House, an Old Town nonprofit offering meals and other services to homeless people.
The Blanchet House team received pamphlets from the city before noon on Tuesday with directions on how people can access recovery services. It was unclear if those pamphlets were related to the camping ban. The Blanchet House team, along with other service providers, knew little about enforcement starting July 1.
“I haven't seen anything in the last week or so to sort of suggest this is happening, this is happening next week … I don't think anybody agrees that the solution is jailing homeless people,” Kerman said.
“The only way you can define fairness, if you want to use the word 'fair,' is you establish rules, you make clear what the rules are, and everybody plays by the same rules and that's what's fair,” Wheeler said.
Since the city of Portland does not have enough shelter to meet the needs of all homeless people, the ban will be selectively enforced, meaning only certain camps will be targeted and only when shelter is available in some cases.
KGW asked Portland police about what their role will look like in all this. They didn’t have anything to share Tuesday but said we may hear from them later this week.