From relative stability in an established community, to being repeatedly swept on the streets of Multnomah County, unhoused residents formerly living in the Sandy River Delta highlight a breakdown in the fight to address homelessness.
A community of over 30 people was swept out of what’s known as the Thousand Acres recreation zone on October 1, after a previous attempt in June included an incident of Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL) contractors pepper spraying multiple people, including a bystander.
DSL says the removals are necessary to restore the area and prevent further environmental degradation. The former residents are now struggling to survive on the streets of Multnomah County.
Among the dozens of people displaced were some who had lived at the wilderness site for years. Some say they were told to go to Thousand Acres by the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office years ago. The Sheriff’s Office denies directing people there, but says it’s been known as a place where unhoused people could live relatively unbothered since at least 2017.
MCSO spokesperson John Plock told the Mercury earlier this year that a lack of enforcement may have been misinterpreted as permission to live on the public land.
This time, DSL worked with Oregon State Police and contracted Rapid Response Bio Clean, the primary company conducting encampment removals in Portland.
“There had to be over 100 different law enforcement showing up throughout the day,” Donald Countryman, one of the residents, said. “They were stirring up trouble, harassing people, and being just Nazis.”
Earlier this year when DSL announced its plans to clear the encampment at Thousand Acres, the agency took heat for disrupting several encampments that had been on the property for years, mostly due to a lack of enforcement or intervention from the state agency.
The October sweep took place on a rainy day. Multiple residents described being moved out by police and being forced to stand in the elements, even when trying to take shelter under an awning to gather their things and figure out a plan for where to go.
Residents had no complaints about Rapid Response, and praised one employee in particular, Sara Manning, but Manning confirmed she recently left Rapid Response, citing a change in culture over the years away from what originally helped her leave houselessness.
DSL Communications Director Alyssa Rash said a number of services have been offered to the Thousand Acres residents by an outreach team with the Salvation Army, including one-on-one conversations, shelter interest surveys, and connections to other services. However, permanent supportive housing was not listed, despite DSL’s own stated goal of connecting people to housing.
“The cumulative impact of decades of unmanaged, unauthorized camping at the Sandy River Delta has caused significant environmental harm,” Rash told the Mercury. “As stewards of these public lands, DSL recognized the need to act to protect and restore the area. In hindsight, yes, it was a mistake to allow the situation to persist for so long without intervention.”
The makeshift shelters at Thousand Acres often had a considerable amount of debris in the immediate surroundings. According to residents, they had trash service for years before the sweeps, but this was stopped six weeks before the sweep attempt in June, likely worsening garbage buildup.
The Thousand Acres community describes themselves as a family. They had cemeteries and memorials for passed pets and loved ones. Going into shelter would likely mean splitting up, losing pets, and entering a system that has failed many of them already.
In response to the difficult situation, Erica Manley, one of the residents, put together a cooperative stewardship plan for Thousand Acres. The plan would have allowed the community to remain and take care of the land in partnership with the state, while also building tiny home shelters for the residents.
“We’ve even secured trash and sanitation services for a year, wash stations, and outhouses… if we can find the property, if they let us move forward somewhere with the proposal,” Manley said. “We’ve continued to work towards that goal. It’s hard to navigate through those systems. Somebody’s always there to tell you the reasons why that can’t work.”
The plan was presented to DSL and Governor Tina Kotek’s office, but was shot down. Rash said the land is not suitable for habitation, and despite the care put into the proposal, DSL does not serve as a landlord.
Since the state dismantled the makeshift homes at Thousand Acres, the residents have since been scattered, facing frequent sweeps in Multnomah County, creating further instability that lowers their chances of attaining permanent housing.
“We’ve moved four times since then,” Countryman said on October 21. “We’ve just been running from one place to the next. ‘You can’t be here, you can’t be here, you can’t be here,’ [they say]. Well, where can we be? That’s the question no one seems to be able to answer.”
This comes as Portland’s leaders debate the efficacy of sweeps amid renewed enforcement of the city’s public camping ban. An effort to redirect $4.3 million from the city department that funds encampment removals was ultimately shot down by a majority of Portland city councilors.
Despite legitimate concerns about safety and violence in encampments, sweeps are “ineffective, costly, and harmful,” according to the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council.
While DSL and many of Portland’s more moderate leaders make frequent references to dignity, it doesn’t feel that way to many of those facing sweeps.
“They think I don’t have a right to exist anymore,” Countryman said. “What’re they gonna do? Put me in an oven and cook me? It would be nice if we lived in a society that could see another human that’s going through something unnecessary and help them. It would be nice to see humanity step up to the plate.”
Kevin Foster
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