In an effort to curb the impact homeless camps have on property owners, the City of Portland formed its Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program (HUCIRP) which allows individuals to report homeless camps in order for them to be cleared by law enforcement and contracted cleaning crews. This “One Point of Contact” system for camp reporting even includes an updated live map of camps which have been reported.
This system seems to stand against the principals set forth at HUCIRP’s genesis, as in the mission statement for the program it is stated that HUCIRP’s goal is “to work for all Portland community members to reduce the impact of unsanctioned urban camping within the City of Portland through responsive community education, collaboration, coordination with outreach providers, and risk mitigation.” Yet, under HUCIRP when camps are cleared the personal property of the homeless is regularly seized and the camps are cleared without places for people to go.
HUCIRP’s stated goals include an effort to educate the public about issues surrounding homelessness, an increase in access to hygiene and sanitization for the homeless population, and the provision of safe and clean places for the homeless to shelter, yet under the program people are seeking camps near their properties to be cleared at an alarming rate with little in the way of community support being provided. Some initiatives such as Central City Concern’s Clean Start train members of the homeless community and teach them skills for employment, but these very people’s labor is being utilized to clean up the camps reported under HUCIRP. It would seem, then, that as a city we have a long road and a lot of work to put in towards finding a humane and egalitarian solution to the issue of homelessness within our borders without compromising the safety and humanity of the homeless population.
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