Sweeps Weeks: the messy business of West coast cities throwing away their poorest resident’s stuff

February 20, 2020 · by · in Uncategorized

Last Thursday I went to one of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s Community Conversations on homelessness in Portland. This was the 3rd conversation of this kind that I’ve been to in the last couple months (the first was put on by the Downtown Neighborhood Association in November, and more recently the first 2 of 4 in a series that the Mayor is convening around the city). In each we have had the chance to hear from a variety of representatives from the Joint Office of Homeless Services (the office is a collaborative project of the City of Portland and Multnomah County, so that the two governing bodies aren’t working at cross-purposes or creating wasteful redundancy) and from partners, contractors, and other agencies they collaborate with in the work of dealing with Portlanders who are outside, in shelters, or at risk of losing their housing.
In all three of these meetings we have heard stories about how hard the city is working to put people into housing, and the way it is building lots of shelter (of various types, and throughout all kinds of neighborhoods) as a kind of stop-gap measure as housing is found for them. There’s a lot of good people doing good work on this front, but that’s not what I want to talk about. Instead, I’d like to talk about the portion of these meetings where they talk about sweeps or, as the Orwellian term they are often known by, “camp cleanups”. We are told about the city’s Homelessness/Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program (HUCIRP); this is the “single point of contact” where Portlanders can call to complain about their homeless neighbors. These calls (or website- or app-submitted complaints) start the process that for many people end in their being given a 48-hour removal notice and, if they have not moved by then, the possible impounding and disposal of their personal property.
The Portland Mercury did a fantastic deep dive into what all these sweeps look like, what kind of property is often lost and the long-term impacts it can have for the folks who are swept, and the story they tell is very consistent with other accounts we’ve heard directly from some of our friends about having their property taken. Street Roots also recently ran an article on a woman who died due to medical complications from a surgery after her medications were lost in a sweep. This isn’t a uniquely Portland problem. Groups in other cities have done fantastic work documenting the impact of sweeps in their own communities. I’m particularly fond of the #StolenBelonging project that folks have done with the Coalition on Homeless in San Francisco connecting names and faces to some of the valuable and sometimes irreplaceable items taken by the city and it’s actors.

The reason we wanted to write about this is while it has been a constant reality for many of our friends living outside, we’ve been seeing more and more sweeps of more and more secluded camps and, like the folks in San Fransisco, once items are taken they are not returned. One of our regulars told me just a couple weeks ago of reclaiming his property from to HUCIRP only to find his wallet and backpack empty of their contents – including cash. Another group of friends who had been in the same place for over a year told us they’d been posted with a 48-hour notice 3 different times within just 1 week, each time requiring them to then find a new location to pitch their tent. Presumably this will go on indefinitely or until they are able to find somewhere so secluded that no one notices them (note that on the night of Jan 23, 2019, the date of the last published point in time count, there was, at the absolute least, some 2,037 people sleeping outside in Portland, many of who presumably would have had similar incentives to stay off of neighbors’ as well as local officials’ radar) and regardless of the claim the folks at HUCIRP make, that this is at least partly about protecting sensitive environments from long-term damage, constantly forcing people to relocate to new locations makes the long-term environmental footprints of these camps much worse each time they settle a new location. Just like when you go camping in the woods, even if you’re a messy camper and don’t pick up after yourself, the most damage you can make is almost certainly by camping in previously uncamped areas, blazing new trails into wooded areas.
Beyond the question of whether or not sweeping folks is a good idea, or whether it’s actually sound conservation strategy, or a good use of the Millions of dollars we are committing to do it each year, there’s a decent chance it’s not even legal. In the fall of 2018 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on the case Boise vs Martin, saying that enforcement of bans on camping and sleeping when there is no viable alternative offered is cruel and unusual punishment and thus in violation of the 8th Amendment of the US Constitution. In 2019 the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear an appeal of the case. As a result cities like Olympia, for example, have interpreted this to mean that sweeps aren’t legal, at least not without lots of viable alternatives, and as a result have seen a huge upsurge in visible homelessness as people move out of the woods and closer to the supportive services they depend on [Edit: I’d missed that once Olympia had this 1 city run encampment they started resuming sweeps. Among other things this begs the question though about what the legal options are for those that get thrown out of said spaces? Can the city throw you out and then say you have options once they sweep your new encampment?]. The city of Portland, on the other hand, seems less worried about the implications of Boise vs Martin for them; after all, there’s places like Right2DreamToo, and there are all the shelters they’ve been building over the last few years, so are there really no viable alternatives? And at least for now the court has given them a pass. But that doesn’t mean that we should.
If you are able I encourage you to go to the upcoming conversations the mayor’s office is holding and draw conversations back to how sweeps undermine the lives of our most vulnerable neighbors. As elections arrive, ask hard questions and look at the specific policies of candidates running for city council, Mayor, or District Attorney and ask, if these were directed at your loved ones, how would this help them? And as you notice people camping near where you live, work, or play I hope you will find ways to deal with them in ways that acknowledge their humanity and do not contain the potential of their personal property being taken by city contractors (that means if at all possible, don’t call the single point of contact; instead start by getting to know your new neighbors and working together to keep the neighborhood clean).
Lastly, I just wanted to say thank you to our donors. It is because of folks like you that we have the time and resources to replace some of the vital things that have been taken be it blankets and tarps, or an ID and phone. It is because of your invaluable support of us that we are available to support our neighbors as they struggle with the physical and emotional aspects of hard times, including sweeps. (We also love to celebrate with them during good times.) Thank you for helping us in this work.

Homelessness in San Francisco means the city could confiscate your property at any time. pic.twitter.com/NqiUzWwA1Z