PORTLAND, Ore. — More than a month after the Oregon legislature overwhelmingly approved an unprecedented bill designed to give the city of Portland jurisdiction to clear homeless camps off of ODOT land, representatives from both agencies confirm the first of many meetings needed to make that plan a reality has yet to happen.
In fact, Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Don Hamilton said it’s scheduled for later this month.
He also said the city of Portland likely won’t be able to take advantage of the agreement until January of 2019.
“These negotiations are going to start pretty soon, and the panel that’s working on this will determine the pace of that” he said. “We’ll get this done as quickly as we can.”
What’s needed is an Intergovernmental Agreement, or IGA, to lay out specific procedures and limitations between the two agencies.
It’s the key stipulation of HB 4054, which takes effect in January of 2019, though many residents had hoped expedited clean-ups and processes could be put in place sooner.
A few weeks after Governor Kate Brown signed the bill into law, Portlander Kevin Williams sent KGW photos of campsites perched along I-405, near Portland State University’s campus.
“Why is the city of Portland & ODOT allowing this to happen? I have been reporting this to the "One Point of Contact" yet nothing has happened in over two months,” he wrote. “Does someone have to fall and be killed before the city & ODOT take action?”
Michael Cox, communications director for Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office, said Wednesday staff understand residents wanted the city to take advantage of the partnership right away, but he points out years-old legal settlements against ODOT make this a delicate procedure.
He said drawing up an IGA that doesn’t put the city in a position to violate rules put in place by the courts, such as giving campers 10-19 days notice before clearing their property off a site, will likely take time.
“This is sort of a first-of-its-kind agreement that we’re trying to work out to give the city access to properties that exist within city boundaries,” he said. “I think people basically expect that if it happens in Portland, Portland city government should be able to deal with it. We don’t have all those tools now, but we’re working to get them.”
Cox added, though, he doesn’t anticipate the process will necessarily take until January to complete.
“As of yet, there is no target date,” he said.
In the meantime, Hamilton points out ODOT has contracted an outside agency, C&R Reforestation out of Aurora, to help crews handle the influx of calls and complaints about campers on state-owned land.
The $500,000 contract was approved on February 22 for one year.
“We’re clearly understanding that the more staffing power that we can bring to some of these sites the better we can do in getting these sites cleaned up and the quicker we can turn these around,” he said.
Hamilton said ODOT is struggling to deal with a growing problem.
In 2017, the agency posted 778 notices at homeless camps in Portland and spent $943,000 cleaning sites across the state.
That figure is up 261% from 2013’s spending total of $261,000.
ODOT put the crisis in more context via their updated Fact Sheet.
ODOT Camping Fact Sheet by KGW News on Scribd