Homeless encampments: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Elia-2019-12-20-Stop-the-Sweeps-PDX-rally.jpg|thumb|right|500px|Stop the Sweeps PDX rally, 12/20/19. photo by Cory Elia]]
''this article is part of the [
''[Note, this page has been set to editable only by Administrators, because privacy concerns and material takedown request were received from City of Portland / Office of Management and Finance / HUCIRP. New material/edits are still welcome, you can email to editor@housing.wiki]. ''
"Cities, suburban communities, and rural areas across the United States have seen in recent years the rise of groups of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness together. The term encampment is widely used by journalists and researchers to describe these groups, but other terms include tent cities, homeless settlements, and homeless camps. Although their existence is not unprecedented, media reports suggest that the number of encampments has increased sharply in recent years." - HUD 2019 report [Cohen et al 2019].
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In some cases, this choice of term may reflect and signal an authorization under which the settlement is operating: for example, in Portland, '''Right 2 Dream Too''' residents and supporters often deliberately refer to their location as a "rest area" because it is authorized as a campground under state law, similarly to highway rest stops. Residents, supporters and observers may also choose to avoid 'camp' or 'encampment' because the site may be non-temporary (e.g. with '''Dignity Village''', or '''Emerald Village''') or aspiring to be. Or, residents/supporters may employ a name intended to define themselves as a community or organization not necessarily fixed in one location: Right 2 Dream Too's web site states, "We are a nonprofit organization operating a space.."
In the context of the [[Village Buildings]] book project, we see 'encampments' as a common but contested, often incautiously or tendentiously used term that tends to conflate and illegitimize a diverse range of dwelling situations, and which is often not the term people dwelling in these sitautions themselves use. Also, the usage tends to obscure what may be positive potentialities of the situation, such as marginalized people's solidarity, creativity, agency and self-determination, political organizing and expression, self-building, mobility, and the possibility of incremental development of site, community, or dwellings into permanence.
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from intro:
"Tent Cities in America, A Pacific Coast Report lays the groundwork for:<br /> • Understanding the diversity and conditions under which tent cities are created<br /> • Comparing various levels of community acceptance, regulation, and governance<br /> • Advocating safe, legal, and effective methods and practices of encampment."</blockquote>[[File:DVV.jpg|thumb|Some in the community object to the concentration of RV dwelling on streets around Dignity Village]]While the report overall describes a number of clearly unsatisfactory situations, it notably singles out and features at the start of report, Portland, Oregon's '''Dignity Village''' as being set apart by its permanent site, high degree of self-governance, and status as a national/international model: <blockquote>" • Est. 2000 (Legally Recognized in 2001)<br /> • Population: 60<br /> • Location: Public Land / Urban Periphery / Permanent Site<br /> • Regulatory Status: Leased Public Land with City Contract to Operate.<br /> • Funding Source: The Community’s Own 501 c (3) Nonprofit<br /> • Structures: Wooden structures measuring up to 10x15 ft.
"Unlike other homeless encampments that are sponsored by local governments or outside nonprofits, Dignity Village’s model of complete self-governance and funding gives the homeless a unique sense of autonomy and ownership of their community. Having a permanent site (unlike other Pacific Northwest homeless encampments, which move to different churches every ninety days) furthers this sense of ownership and allows the homeless to make both tangible physical and social improvements to their community in a way that is not possible in a mobile community. Many of the homeless describe the village as a “stepping stone” to a better situation and the stability offered by the permanent nature of the village, which allows people to keep and store their items in one place, improve their residence and public assets, and be a part of a community that defines itself not simply as one of homeless people, but an eco-village and intentional community founded on socialistic and communal beliefs. All of this contribute to Dignity’s mission and sets it apart from the other encampments."
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=== HUCIRP - Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program ===
[[File:OMF-HUCIRP red toilet.jpeg|thumb|right|Inside one of the portable toilets installed by HUCIRP in 2020 in neighborhoods throughout the city
[[File:Red toilet ceiling.jpg|thumb|right|alleged blood splatter inside HUCIRP red toilet]]HUCIRP is a working unit of Office of Management and Finance within the municipal government of Portland, Oregon.<ref>https://www.portlandoregon.gov/cbo/article/743341</ref> It is a 3.0 FTE program that is staffed by Lucas Hillier, Katie Lindsay and Jonathan Lewis<ref>https://www.opb.org/article/2020/11/24/portland-program-aims-to-help-homeless-campers-and-reduce-impact-of-camps-on-neighborhoods/</ref>. The program was budgeted for $5.8 million in FY2019-2020, and $6.5 million is requested for FY2021-22<ref>portlandoregon.gov/cbo/article/780711</ref>(p.208). The program manager Lucas Hillier was an aide to former mayor Charles Hales.<blockquote>''HUCIRP "is responsible for coordinating cleanup/abatement of unsanctioned campsites on City and ODOT [Oregon Department of Transportation] owned properties/rights-of-way within the City while managing the City’s One Point of Contact campsite reporting system." [City of Portland [https://www.portlandoregon.gov/toolkit/article/562211 HUCIRP site]]. ''</blockquote>
▲[[File:OMF-HUCIRP red toilet.jpeg|thumb|right|Inside one of the portable toilets installed by HUCIRP in 2020 in neighborhoods throughout the city that has become a haven for homeless drug addict activity. ]]
The program staff pronounce it like "HUCK-urp."<br />We suggest "hue-SURP" - like "usurp." ▼
==== Controversies ====
The city auditor investigated OMF's HUCIRP and found that the program frequently ignored hundreds of complaints about transient camps from citizens and
▲The program staff pronounce it like "HUCK-urp."<br />We suggest "hue-SURP" - like "usurp."
==== HUCIRP Strategic Plan 2019-2021 ====
[[File:City_of_Portland_OMF_HUCIRP_red_toilet.jpeg|thumb|right|the red toilet advocated by OMF-HUCIRP's Katherine Lindsay.
[[File:HUCIRP-Logo-City-of-Portland.png|thumb|right|HUCIRP logo]]
<blockquote>''Strategic Goal #3 IDENTIFY/CREATE LAWFUL PLACES FOR PEOPLE TO SLEEP<br /> • Continue to work with the Joint Office of Homeless Services, Multnomah County, and other jurisdictions on public space management strategies that reduce the need for campsite cleanup interventions which require the removal and storage of personal property.<br /> • Implement a model of collaboration and cooperation with Portland Housing Bureau, Prosper Portland, OMF-HUCIRP, and property owning bureaus to identify underutilized City properties, or properties in pre-development stages, that could be used for alternative shelter purposes to provide lawful and organized places for people experiencing homelessness to sleep.''</blockquote>
They have been known to secretively place red portable toilets in community while refusing to disclose their placement location to community members.[https://overlookneighborhood.org/overlook-neighborhood-update-sept-12/ September 2020 Overlook Neighborhood Association meeting] In an email correspondence obtained from the city by the Oregonian newspaper through public records request, OMF HUCIRP's program coordinator Katie Lindsay alleges that a police officer referred to her as a "yahoo". Furthermore, Lindsay claimed that a police officer told community members that PPB would not follow up on the incidents of theft as "it relates to the city property or in regards to the threats towards city vendors, city staff, or damage to vendor’s property.", according to the Oregonian. https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/12/portable-toilets-in-southeast-portland-stolen-vandalized-in-escalating-fight-between-city-and-neighbors.html▼
==== Toilets (Port-a-Potties) Controversy ====
[https://overlookneighborhood.org/overlook-neighborhood-update-sept-12/ September 2020 Overlook Neighborhood Association meeting] notes allege that HUCIRP has been known to place red portable toilets in community with little to no advance notice to community members.
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In a correspondence with a citizen in December 2020, City of Portland's HUCIRP program coordinator Katie Lindsay (who is also a qualified mental health professional and drug and alcohol counselor)<ref>https://www.streetroots.org/news/2019/03/15/portland-spends-millions-responding-homelessness-researchers-find</ref><ref>https://npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov/registry/provider-view/1568852655</ref> summarized that about 90% of complaints made to HUCIRP are speculative.
"Almost 90% of the complaints our program has received regarding these units are related to stigma connected to the homeless population and complaints about things that ‘could happen,’ but have not happened," Lindsay wrote to the citizen. In a response to a citizen's complaint about the toilet placed near the complainant's house, Lindsay replied "Access to water and appropriate toilet options are recognized by the UN General Assembly as a human right" <ref name="toilet"> https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/12/portable-toilets-in-southeast-portland-stolen-vandalized-in-escalating-fight-between-city-and-neighbors.html</ref>
In a media interview in her professional capacity, she described she's been besieged with angry phone calls about the red toilet.<ref>https://www.streetroots.org/news/2020/11/04/kaia-sand-access-hygiene-sanitation-human-right</ref> Speaking about her experiences in her own community of residence, Katie said: <blockquote>'''''"I've spent a lot of my profession when i worked, umm dealing with transients and I mean we're talking things like petty crime, public intoxication, but those aren't things I want in my community."'''''<ref>https://youtu.be/yeucKkIX5sM?t=4123 (City of Sherwood City Council Testimony June 12, 2013</ref> - Katie Lindsay at the June 12, 2013 Sherwood city council session. </blockquote>With regard to homelessness in Portland, Lindsay
She acknowledged that when she was working at an organization that is the "largest homeless shelter in Portland". (
====HUCIRP staff payroll expense====
The public expenses of the staff payroll for 2018 for the three staff at HUCIRP was as following<ref>https://openpayrolls.com/city/portland-or</ref>:
*Lucas Hillier $94,286.40
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