Homeless Portlanders will sue to block anti-camping ordinance

Federal lawsuit expected to test constitutional limits of six-year-old law / By Peter Korn / The Portland Tribune — A sweep of a homeless camp like this one under one of Portland’s bridges has led to a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the city’s anti-camping ordinance.

The nonprofit Oregon Law Center plans to file a class-action lawsuit Friday in federal court challenging the constitutionality of Portland’s anti-camping ordinance.

The lawsuit, to be filed on behalf of three homeless Portland men and one woman who were either cited by police for sleeping in public or who were rousted from their public sleeping camps, signals a new chapter in the city’s ongoing battle over the rights of homeless people.

The lawsuit, to be filed in U.S. District Court, names as defendants the city, Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer, and two police officers who enforced the anti-camping ordinance against the defendants. Also included as defendants were 50 unnamed police officers, who were listed as “John Does 1-50.”

Six years ago, the city adopted the anti-camping ordinance that makes it unlawful for people to sleep on public property or public right of way, and carries a maximum fine of $100 and a maximum jail sentence of 30 days.

In April of this year, after complaints of fights, Portland police rousted a number of homeless people sleeping under downtown bridges, according to the police. In May, dozens of advocates for the homeless staged a protest by camping out in front of City Hall. The city has since opened a number of new shelters with beds for the homeless, but authorities say the demand for beds still is much greater than the supply.

The lawsuit was provided to the Tribune on Thursday by lawyers for the Oregon Law Center, which provides free civil legal services to low-income people.

Driving the homeless out of town

According to the four homeless people’s complaint, one of the plaintiffs — Mary Bailey — suffers frequent seizures due to a brain injury and cannot stay in women’s shelters because of her medical condition. Attorneys say Bailey and the three other plaintiffs had their property seized by police during a sweep and were unable to recover much of it when they went to the police storage facility. Monica Goracke, one of the attorneys for the Oregon Law Center, said the four, who tend to camp in inner Southeast Portland, lost two bicycles, two bike trailers and much of their personal possessions.

The lawsuit asserts that without adequate shelters, some homeless people have no alternative to sleeping outside. Enforcing the anti-camping ordinance against those people by not allowing them to sleep outside violates the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment restriction against “cruel and unusual punishment,” according to the lawsuit.

The complaint also asserts that enforcement of the anti-camping ordinance, and another city ordinance that restricts temporary structures like tents on public property, violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s right to travel and freedom of movement.

“When Portland’s police and municipal court enforce these ordinances, they effectively drive homeless people out of town and prevent them from coming here,” according to the lawsuit.

Goracke said she does not know how many citations for violation of the anti-camping ordinance have been issued, but that in October the city changed its directive to police officers to allow them to enforce it more broadly.

“They are enforcing it and they would like to enforce it more,” Goracke said.

And that makes no sense, Goracke said, as long as there are homeless people without alternatives to sleeping outside.

“The issue isn’t that the city isn’t doing anything,” Goracke said. “It’s just that what they are doing can only serve a fraction of the need, and at the same time they shouldn’t be out there arresting people and sweeping their camps.”

Portland police central precinct commander Mike Reese said Thursday afternoon that the the city’s written guidance to police, slightly changed in October, did not give police more leeway to enforce the law.

“Since we’ve changed it, we haven’t had any additional enforcement,” Reese said.

Reese said Portland police give out citations for violation of anti-camping only “a handful” of times a year. Generally, Reese said, police only roust the homeless when they begin camping in large groups, which often leads to fights, or erecting makeshift structures, which can hide drug use or dealing.

“We don’t go out of our way trying to force people to move off the sidewalk in the middle of the night,” Reese said.

Goracke said she would like the lawsuit to force the city to stop enforcing the anti-camping ordinance at all locations during the night.

“They (homeless people) just get these tickets over and over and they do their eight hours of community time,” Goracke said. “But it’s such a waste. If they had a place to live, they would live there.”

New city Commissioner Nick Fish, who oversees housing for the city, said Thursday afternoon that he was “disappointed” in the filing of the lawsuit. Fish said city officials had been talking to the plaintiffs about possibly modifying the anti-camping ordinance.

“I hoped we could continue to meet and discuss a resolution of this issue,” Fish said.

“No one is happy with this situation. But the city has the legal right to enforce a humane and balanced anti-camping policy. This litigation will test whether it is constitutional.”

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