Crisis in the Northwest: Inside one of Oregon’s largest homeless camps with a former drug dealer
The number of people living unsheltered in Oregon has risen steeply in recent years. Here's a look at one of the biggest homeless encampments in the state.
Police in Portland, Oregon, made their first arrest under a new ordinance restricting camping on public property, but the county jail refused to book the suspect.
It's the latest blow to city officials' attempts to crack down on pervasive homeless camps.
"I am disappointed by the Sheriff’s decision to refuse to book individuals arrested for violating the law," Mayor Ted Wheeler told Fox News Digital in a statement. "I am deeply concerned by this disconnect and what it may mean for future efforts to improve public safety."
Portland's new camping restrictions took effect July 1. People who refuse offers of shelter could face up to seven days in jail under the ordinance, but the county jail refused to book a man accused of breaking the law last week. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
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Last Friday, officers arrested a man accused of repeatedly refusing offers of shelter, including a tiny home, a spokesperson for the Portland Police Bureau told Fox News Digital. They took the man to the downtown jail, but staff declined to book him, so he was released.
The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) operates the two jails in Portland. Deputy John Plock, a spokesperson for the office, told Willamette Week that jail staff do not book people arrested for violating city rules, only those accused of committing misdemeanor or felony offenses under state law.
The policy stems from an August 2023 directive from Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell, Plock said.
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That came as a surprise to city officials, including the mayor, who said his office met with Morrisey O’Donnell and her team "several times over the last year and a half to receive input on the City’s public camping laws."
The sheriff's representatives "explicitly stated publicly that booking restrictions had been lifted," Wheeler said in his statement. "That is clearly not the case."
"I urge the Sheriff to reconsider her position," Wheeler's statement reads.
MCSO did not respond to emailed questions from Fox News Digital, but Morrisey O’Donnell released a statement Tuesday denying that her office had ever agreed to book people arrested for city ordinance violations.
"As the elected official charged with managing the jail, I believe we need to utilize the corrections system as a place for people who pose a genuine danger to the public, and that does not include individuals whose only offense is living unsheltered," Morrisey O’Donnell said in the statement.
Tents cover an open space near the Steel Bridge in Portland, Oregon on July 7, 2023. Portland's new rules ban people from camping on public property if they have "access to reasonable alternative shelter." The ordinance also bans campers from lighting fires or using gas heaters at campsites, causing environmental damage, or putting up structures. And it requires people to keep all their belongings within two feet of their tent. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)
Oregon's homeless population has skyrocketed in recent years. The crisis is most apparent in the state's largest city, where tents, RVs and campsites often sprawl across sidewalks, parks and other open areas.
The Portland City Council approved a daytime camping ban last year, but a lawsuit stopped it from being enforced on the grounds it violated state law.
Then this May, commissioners unanimously approved new time, place and manner restrictions that prohibit people from camping on public property if they have access to "reasonable alternative shelter." People who turn down an offer of shelter could face a $100 fine, seven days in jail, or both under the ordinance.
Even if shelter is not available, the ordinance prohibits camping sidewalks or anywhere that blocks access to businesses or other private property.
The city has performed more than 3,600 site assessments since the ordinance took effect on July 1. Most campers approached by the city have accepted shelter offers or otherwise complied with the restrictions, a spokesperson for the mayor's office told Fox News Digital.
Friday's arrest was the first since the ordinance took effect, according to Willamette Week. The mayor's office stressed that outreach workers had contacted the man at the campsite numerous times before the city referred the matter to police.
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Portland officials, including Wheeler, have long expressed frustration with state laws and other legal barriers that have hindered the city's ability to address issues like homeless camping and public drug use.
Oregon is set to recriminalize drug possession starting Sept. 1. Individuals caught with drugs are supposed to have a choice between jail or locally-operated deflection programs, but now Wheeler said now he's worried about what the sheriff's policy means for those who decline deflection.
The sheriff's office has budgeted 1,130 beds between its two jails and has previously warned that overcrowding could trigger the release of incarcerated individuals. The average daily inmate population has been around 80% of capacity or less since the sheriff's August 2023 directive, according to MCSO data.
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