After weeks of debate, Portland officials are planning to clear the encampment along the Bayside Trail Tuesday morning, citing unsafe conditions for unhoused residents and members of the public.
City shelters are full with some 1,200 unhoused people, many of them asylum seekers, and Portland officials have said their resources are stretched to capacity. Some encampment residents along the trail say they're frustrated because they've been told to leave and have few, if any, options.
Social service workers who have been walking the trail say they believe the vast majority of the people there aren't sure where they'll go when city officials begin to remove the encampment Tuesday.
Bruce Cavallaro, who said he's lived near the Bayside Trail for about a year, is one of them. The last few weeks have been nerve-wracking, he said, as the city's plans for how and when to remove the encampment have changed.
"Most of us don't know what's going to happen," he said Monday morning, the day before removal was expected to begin. "We'll just be roaming, probably end up somebody else's problem, you know? We're trying not to, we'd like to take whatever resources or whatever options we can do and we're working at it, but as you can see we really don't have an option."
Cavallaro said he's been unhoused off and on for the last six years or so. He's worked with a liaison from Preble Street, a community non-profit, and is on a waiting list for public housing. If a spot inside a local shelter opened up, he said he'd take it, but most shelters are at capacity.
"The new one? Full," Cavallaro said of the Homeless Services Center that opened on Riverside Street back in March. Milestone [Recovery Shelter] only has 36 beds. It takes a while to get into the other places. Everywhere is full. There is no place to go."
Jimmy Dolloff, who began living along the Bayside Trail a months ago, said he's not sure where he'll go. He's been trying to get on the waiting list for the Elena's Way wellness shelter, he said.
"If a bed opens up and I'm next on the list, yeah, I'll take it," he said.
In the meantime, Dolloff said he's used to moving around and will probably just find another spot outdoors this week.
Portland city officials have said they recognize that some people may have no other option but to stay outside.
"In those cases, we recommend that they do not place any tent, structure, or personal belongings on or near a public road or path, and keep their site small, clean and safe," Danielle West, who's expected to be named permanent city manager by the Portland City Council Monday evening, said in a memo to councilors and Mayor Kate Snyder.
City officials have also formed a task force to coordinate resources for those living in encampments. Federal officials with the Department of Housing and Urban Development are expected to visit Portland this week and offer assistance, West added.
As for Cavallaro, he said he plans to see what his friends at the encampment want to do Tuesday morning. He acknowledges that the trail could be cleaner but said he's found support among the others there.
"On this side of the fence, we're taking care of each other, helping care for each other," Cavallaro said. "But on the other side of the fence they're calling us bums, and hobos and whatnot. We're just people too. Some of us are just down on our luck."
Cavallaro said he's hopeful that they can find another place to live together, likely outside. City officials are expected to begin sweeping the area around 9 a.m. Tuesday. The Portland City Council will discuss the encampment removal and plans for the newly formed task force Monday evening.
