Homeless encampments: Difference between revisions
→HUCIRP - Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program
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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> which had an expense to tax payers of $5.8 million in FY2019-2020 and was budgeted for $6.5 million 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>
The program staff pronounce it like "HUCK-urp."<br />We suggest "hue-SURP" - like "usurp."
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[[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 secretively place red portable toilets in community while refusing to disclose their placement location to community members.
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=== Katie Lindsay, HUCIRP program coordinator ===
In a correspondence with a citizen in December 2020, City of Portland's HUCIRP program coordinator Katie Lindsay(who's 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> They're denigrated to "dealing with transients" when their camps establish too close to Katie Lindsay's(formerly, Katherine Kalpakis<ref name="pitstop"/>) own house.<ref name="katie testimony"/>
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