PORTLAND, Ore. — It's been almost two months since the city of Portland's daytime ban on homeless camps took effect, at least on paper. For a few weeks now, the city has been in possession of a long-promised map showing where people can and cannot camp at night — but few people actually know about it.
"Here's the map ... oh my god," said Angelique, who is homeless in Southeast Portland, laughing incredulously. "That's like on the entire outskirts ... What the heck."
Angelique currently camps off Southeast 80th and Rhine, now one of the streets where camping is allowed at night, assuming the city cannot provide her with shelter.
"That's not that bad," she said. "I mean, that is kind of stupid ... what are we supposed to do with our stuff?"
Christina, a resident of this neighborhood, has a house across the street from Angelique's camp. She looked over the city's map, noting the areas marked in red where camping is prohibited at all hours. Like schools and major rights of way, parks are included in the full-time part of the ban, so the city's natural areas stand out as bastions of red.
"So, on the richer side of town — that's interesting," Christina said. "Our neighborhood apparently is free range."
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Christina hoped that her street would be included in the all-hours portion of the ban. It has been a magnet for camps and drug use, she said.
"This street has been hit so hard over the last 7 years," Christina said. "Yeah, the fact that they still to this day are like, 'Who cares, we're going to protect all these other neighborhoods first' ... yeah, that's heartbreaking to me."
Under the updated city code, camping is banned on all public property from the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Homeless Portlanders will be expected to pack up and move somewhere during those hours. But at night, camping is allowed in certain areas, marked in gray on the map. Regardless, major questions remain.
"I don't know how in the heck that map is going to mean anything," Christina said. "How are they going to enforce it?"
The city of Portland says that violators of the ban will get two warnings. More than that could result in an arrest, fines or jail time.
"I would not consider this camping," said Mark, another homeless resident of Southeast Portland. "It would be more like I'm in transition, I'm hiking."
Mark has been on the streets for 15 years. He now lives out of a shopping cart so that he can stay mobile once enforcement of the camping ban begins.
"It's easy to move around and I would tape a tarp over it if I needed to," he said of his conveyance.
He marveled at the gray areas on the map, remarking on the variety of options for "overnight short-timers." It's his first time seeing the map, just like Angelique and Christina. Mayor Ted Wheeler's office said that they are handing out the map and other educational materials to outreach workers in batches, leaving some people to access the materials on their own via the online portal.
"Well see, I don't have access to that cause I went to federal prison for hacking so like I'm not able to access any internet device at all," Angelique noted.
Even among the local organizations that connect with homeless people on a daily basis, the map hasn't reached everyone — including Courtney Dodds with the Union Gospel Mission, where they serve 500 homeless people each week.
"We hadn't actually heard about this recent map that came out from the camping ban until today," she said.
Dodds thinks there needs to be more clarity and detail about the ban made available before it's enforced.
"So, if you can't camp, where can you go?" she asked. "I think clear information as much as possible for everyone would be really helpful."
Though the ban is already in effect, the city of Portland remains in an "educational phase" while the word gets out about the details of the ban and resources like the map. Enforcement is expected to begin in the fall.
In the meantime, Portland is still working to expand shelter options. The city's first large sanctioned campsite opened this summer off Southeast Powell. It will ultimately have room for about 200 people, but those spots can only be accessed through referrals. KGW asked to speak with Mayor Wheeler for more details and is still awaiting a response.