Portland City Council on Wednesday will consider adopting a daytime camping ban on public property across the city.
Mayor Ted Wheeler’s proposed plan would prohibit all camping between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
It would also ban camping in places like parks, sidewalks, and near schools and day cares at all times.
The new policy aligns with an Oregon state law -- House Bill 3115 -- which has to do with time, place, and manner for people being able to camp in public. The bill requires all cities to update their camping ordinances by July 1.
Those who serve people experiencing homelessness say this plan will come with challenges for them.
Rose Haven serves unhoused women, and they say this proposal is "unreasonable" and could come with challenges for them.
“My initial thoughts were that it seemed really unrealistic if people are sleeping outside and expected in the morning to pack their things up and carry them around with them all day," said Rose Haven Executive Director Katie O'Brien.
O'Brien says it's frustrating that Rose Haven only learned about this plan last week, and they haven't had time to prepare.
“And never had anybody come to us and asked us if this is feasible and how this would impact us or how they can help," she said.
Rose Haven is a daytime shelter for women to get their basic needs met. It's a place where they can take showers, get medical attention, and food. They can also work with advocates to learn more about how to get into supportive housing, but all of this comes at a cost that neither the city nor the federal government is helping with, O'Brien said.
Rose Haven recently raised $2.2 million to keep operations going. The facility was also moved to a bigger location because they are on track to serve more than 4,000 women a year.
“I think there’s just been little regard for people who are bearing the weight, agencies like ours who are bearing the weight of decisions like this," O'Brien said.
Sandy Chung is the executive director of the ACLU of Oregon. She is skeptical of a camping ban, citing past policy failures.
“It seems like a repeated pattern of the city of Portland engaging in ineffective policies in this area. Not even ineffective, one’s that backfire and make the problems worse," Chung said.
The ACLU of Oregon believes Wheeler’s proposed daytime camping ban lacks clarity for the people who must follow it.
Chung also cited guidance from experts at the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. In a publication from last year, they said: "Criminalizing homelessness is becoming more common. While laws that criminalize homelessness have long been in existence, recent years have witnessed many states and communities across the United States enacting laws that fine and arrest people for doing activities in public that are otherwise legal in the setting of a home: sleeping, sitting, eating, drinking."
“We know what the solution is. There needs to be much more affordable accessible housing as well as support services for folks with situations like mental health or substance abuse issues," Chung said.
She added that people in the homeless community would like a seat at the table when decisions like this are made.
“When these laws are passed, what we keep hearing from the homeless community is no one’s actually reached out to us to ask us about the impact of these laws, about whether they will work," said Chung.
The big question is if daytime public camping is banned, where will everyone go? O'Brien asked the mayor's office that question on Tuesday when she met with one of the mayor's policy advisers.
“I asked for them to define specific areas where people could go because there’s no clarity around that," O'Brien told KATU News.
O'Brien also asked the mayor's office for open communication and funding as daytime shelters could be taking a lot more people in.