PORTLAND, Oregon — Students across Portland are heading back to the classroom this week, but the start of the school year puts a fresh spotlight on Portland's struggle to establish and enforce rules for where homeless encampments are supposed to go.
At Oliver P. Lent Elementary School, students played outside during recess Wednesday morning while on the other side of the school fence, Portland homeless camp removal crews toss mattresses and wooden pallets into a large moving truck, breaking down a camp that was too close to the schoolyard.
“It’s a great idea they’re being cleared. They should not be near a school at all,” said Robert, who camps nearby and was picking up his stolen bike tires he found in that camp’s debris. “They should know better you know.”
This time last year, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler prohibited homeless camping on streets that K-12 students use to walk to school. All month, city crews have been removing camps that violate this rule. But many remain.
It’s a growing problem that’s now caught the attention of Multnomah County Commissioner and Portland Public Schools board member Julia Brim-Edwards.
“It’s important that our kids feel safe on their way to school,” Brim-Edwards said.
She took to social media this week, pointing out multiple Portland schools still surrounded by camps, like the one next to Kellogg Middle School on the corner of Southeast 71st Avenue and Powell Boulevard.
“I think it’s terrible, they have to figure out something to do with them,” said Mike, who lives down the street and has to walk in the road to avoid that camp.
“I’m a parent of three kids and I went to PPS, I walked to school every day for nine years and I know it’s important our kids have the ability to walk to school,” added Brim-Edwards. And she said she knows the issue goes beyond just camp removals.
“One of the things the city and the county need to make sure there is adequate shelter space,” she said.
Sufficient shelter space is a key part of all of this, and the plan to get there seems to be the subject of a never-ending conversation between the county and city leaders.
KGW also heard from Portland Public Schools on Wednesday. The district said in a statement: "PPS relies on the city to monitor and address safety concerns in our school communities, including encampments. While the health and safety of our students is our sincerest concern, our foremost priority is to educate our students."