What’s the difference between moving with one hour’s notice and 72 hours’ notice?

“A lot,” DJ Husar, Street Roots vendor, said.

The city swept Husar, an unhoused Portlander who’s lived in the city for the last 12 years, several times in recent weeks. A longtime resident of Old Town, Husar is no stranger to the standard Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program, or HUCIRP, sweep, which provides at least 72 hours’ notice to unhoused Portlanders before city contractors remove them from a given area.

Recently, Husar experienced a different type of sweep that gained renewed prominence with the city’s 90-day Old Town ‘reset’ — a structure abatement sweep, which can be ordered by the police chief or engineers in two different bureaus overseen by city commissioners.

“(Rapid Response) showed up and said ‘you have an hour to get your stuff out of here,’” Husar said. “I didn’t see any posting.”

Husar didn’t see the familiar green sweep posting prior to their arrival because there wasn’t one. Regardless, Husar said he was lucky to be present for that sweep. He had to replace his tent twice in three weeks in late May and early June after city contractors collected his tent and belongings during two sweeps he was not present for.

Structure abatements were a common avenue for sweeps prior to the Anderson Agreement — the informal title for a non-monetary settlement stemming from a lawsuit regarding sweeps — which spurred the creation of HUCIRP. City Code 14.50.050 “Erecting Permanent or Temporary Structures on Public Property or Public Rights of Way” — the city code listed on abatement sweep postings — was specifically discussed in the lawsuit, as well as the Anderson Agreement.

The Anderson Agreement included reaffirmations of the city’s previous sweep policies, including abatement sweeps, specifying sweeps require at least 24 hours’ notice with few exceptions.

The city subjected Husar, like many other unhoused Portlanders, to structure abatements with only an hour's notice — or none at all, depending on your interpretation — in recent months amid the flurry of sweeps executed during the Old Town ‘reset.’ In numerous cases, Portland police and Rapid Response BioClean arrived at encampments with no advance notice, placed orange abatement sweep postings and gave occupants one hour to remove their belongings.

The city declined to make anyone available on the record to discuss abatement sweeps.

Street Roots witnessed such abatements on May 5 prior to the May 7 Lunar New Year Dragon Dance Parade. Portland police officers and Rapid Response BioClean cleared all homeless Portlanders along at least eight blocks of the parade route in Old Town.

Shaded streets reflect portion of May 7 Lunar New Year Dragon Dance Parade route going through Old Town. Pins represent abatement sweep locations as reported in HUCIRP weekly report. (Map by Street Roots using Google Maps)

At the corner of Southwest Third Avenue and West Burnside Street, outside a Street Roots office, police and Rapid Response BioClean arrived just before 10:30 a.m. Within minutes, unhoused people were given trash bags and told to pack their belongings. No postings were present when Street Roots staff arrived at the office just before 10 a.m., though a photograph taken by Street Roots at 10:30 a.m. shows a fresh orange abatement sweep posting. The posting reads, in part, "the structure at this location was removed on 5/5/22 at 10:30."

Officers Caleb Honl, William Green and Nathan Kirby-Glatkowski were on the scene. Officers told Street Roots the sweep orders came directly from Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office in preparation for the parade. Wheeler, who serves as the police commissioner, oversees the police chief.

PPB did not return a request for comment for this story.

Per the Anderson Agreement, the city is only supposed to conduct structure abatement sweeps with less than 24 hours' notice in the event of an emergency or other extenuating circumstance: police “performing law enforcement activities in response to credible information about illegal activities," or “In the event of an emergency, such as possible contamination by hazardous materials, or when there is an immediate danger to human life, safety, or property,” or “If no property is going to be removed. In such cases a verbal warning with a reasonable time (generally up to one hour) to relocate is sufficient.”

It remains unclear if a single abatement sweep conducted in Old Town during the ‘reset’ included a 24-hour notice.

Street Roots asked Wheeler's office how officials determined the May 5 abatement sweeps, in addition to other abatement sweeps during the ‘reset’ met the criteria for reduced notice if, as Street Roots heard from many Portlanders in the area, no one from the city proactively evaluated the camps.

Wheeler’s office would only answer questions for this story on the condition Street Roots agreed to attribute answers to “staff from the Mayor’s Office and the Street Services Coordination Center,” rather than the officials providing the statements, citing threats against city staff and officials. Street Roots refused the arrangement, citing editorial standards and journalistic ethics.

In total, HUCIRP weekly campsite reports list 48 abatement sweeps since the start of the year, with 39 since March 14, the week after the Old Town Community Association unveiled the 90-day ‘reset.’ However, a Street Roots analysis found cumulative data for abatement sweeps may not be as reliable as cumulative data for HUCIRP sweeps. While officials have not explained how abatement sweeps are recorded, they do not appear to follow the same standard as HUCIRP sweeps.

For instance, the May 5 abatement sweeps prior to the parade covered eight blocks according to the officers enforcing the sweeps — Northwest Third Avenue between Flanders Street and Burnside Street, Northwest Fourth Avenue between Everett Street and Burnside Street and Burnside Street between Northwest Fourth Avenue and Northwest Third Avenue.

The weekly report lists only four abatement sweeps: “NW 3rd and W Burnside,” “NW 4th and W Burnside,” “NW 4th and NW Everett,” “NW 3rd and NW Flanders” — all of which fall within the semi-rectangular Old Town portion of the parade route, providing a range of sweeps rather than actual locations.

HUCIRP sweeps list the intersection of each street swept. If the May 5 abatement sweeps were recorded the same way, the reported number of abatement sweeps performed that week would double.

Street Roots asked Wheeler’s office if police are expected to report abatement sweeps the same way HUCIRP sweeps are reported. As with the rest of the questions provided by Street Roots, Wheeler’s office refused to provide an answer if Street Roots did not agree to attribute them in line with the city’s demand.

In light of Wheeler’s stated intent to expand aggressive sweep practices used in Old Town, which more than tripled sweeps during the 90-day ‘reset’ according to city data, unhoused Portlanders told Street Roots the practice is “inhumane.”

“We should each have the same rights and be treated humanely, whether you have money or not,” Husar said.

Wookie, another Street Roots vendor who sleeps in and around Old Town, said he experienced an abatement sweep in May.

“I was lucky I was there,” Wookie said of the sweep. “If I hadn’t have been there, I would’ve lost everything.”

Wookie said sweeping unhoused Portlanders — especially on such short notice — with the goal of forcing them into emergency congregate shelters undermines what little stability people have.

“(Being swept with such short notice causes) a lot of stress,” Wookie said. “Those cots are 50 bucks — they’re not cheap. Sleeping bags aren’t cheap … My hard-earned money goes into stuff that’s in my tent. I’m not willing to go into a shelter for the reason of stuff getting stolen.

“What do you think I feel about having my shit swept on me, coming back from, say, a hard day at work or at class, and then find out I ain’t got nothing there?”

Wookie, while not a fan of the many HUCIRP sweeps he’s experienced, said having 72 hours' notice at least provides a vague timeline to work with.

“That’s better because at least you know what you’re dealing with,” Wookie said. “It gives you time … If I’m concerned about myself, I’m out within that 72 hours. It’s rare that I don’t move, but I didn’t move that time because I had no idea where to move.”

The suddenness and apparent randomness of sweeps have amplified the fear and uncertainty for unhoused Portlanders as they go to work, the store, appointments or visit friends and family.

“You don’t ever expect your apartment to be gone when you go home,” Husar said. “Every time it happens, you have to start over.”

Wookie, who sells papers, volunteers at his church, and takes journalism classes at Street Roots taught by a Portland Community College instructor, said starting over after a sweep has repeatedly stunted his ability to find housing.

“I’m back to step one,” Wookie said of the aftermath of sweeps. “Here I feel ‘okay, I’m getting somewhere, I’m close to doing what I’m trying to do.’ Now you sweep me and I’ve gotta use everything I’ve been saving up to get all my stuff back. Bullshit. So, now I’ve gone from maybe step three to step one.

“I don’t worry about trying to get anything that they’ve swept. When they sweep stuff, they don’t look at trying to put things in any kind of semblance of ‘it’s still a safe thing to use.’ They don’t worry about that your tent has got broken poles and things like that. Half the time, you don’t want to worry about getting stuff back that they’ve swept, because it’s not worth getting back.”

Wookie, who has received shelter referrals from the city during sweeps, said one night in a congregate shelter is an insufficient substitute after losing an encampment.

“You’re literally uprooting someone,” Wookie said. “One night isn’t enough.”

Husar said the frequency of both HUCIRP and abatement sweeps increased dramatically in recent months, a statement supported by city data. When interviewing with Street Roots in Old Town the morning of June 29, a passerby told Husar city contractors were sweeping Husar’s encampment on Northwest Davis Street near Broadway.

Street Roots followed Husar to the site, where Rapid Response BioClean workers were clearing the block of approximately 15 tents during a HUCIRP sweep. A Rapid Response BioClean worker told Husar they were to sweep an adjoining block the following day, so a friend helped him lift his tent and carry it around the corner.

By 2 p.m., Street Roots was alerted to a HUCIRP sweep on Broadway, where Husar moved his tent earlier that morning. By the time Street Roots arrived, much of the gear in the encampment had already been stuffed into trash bags and loaded into a crowded box truck. Husar’s belongings sat in a garbage bag on the sidewalk in preparation for being loaded.

After a conversation with Rapid Response BioClean workers, they allowed Husar’s friends to hold onto his belongings until he returned.

When Street Roots located Husar later in the afternoon of June 29, he was stunned workers swept the encampment after all, but grateful to not have to replace a third tent in such a short time. In previous instances where Husars’ belongings have been taken by Rapid Response BioClean, he’s been forced to sleep somewhere he doesn’t feel safe, whether it’s another location on the streets, or in a shelter.

“I wind up feeling lost and kind of forced to go to a shelter for the night,” Husar said, adding congregate shelter environments treat people like “criminals.”

Both men disagreed emphatically when asked if recent actions improved services for unhoused Portlanders, as Wheeler said in a June 13 press release. Husar vigorously shook his head before Street Roots had finished asking the question. Wookie said it benefits someone, but it’s not unhoused Portlanders.

“It’s all about business,” Wookie said of the aggressive sweep practices. “It’s all about money.”

Commissioner Mingus Mapps is one of two commissioners who are also able to order abatements through a bureau they oversee. Mischa Webley, Mapps’ spokesperson, said Mapps has not ordered any abatements in Old Town.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, the other commissioner who can order abatements, said via spokesperson Matt McNally that she had not ordered any abatements.

“I have never been involved in authorizing an abatement,” Hardesty said. “It’s my hope our abatement system is only used in emergency situations and not as a tool for getting around the legal requirement to provide at least 72 hours’ notice. I would much rather see Portland leaders focused on ambitious, compassionate, permanent solutions to our houseless crisis over destabilizing sweeps that just move people into neighborhoods, criminalizing poverty, and concerning proposals for forced entry into temporary mass shelters.”

Wookie and Husar agree the tactic of increasing sweeps and offering temporary shelters that only allow for two bags and often exclude people with pets or opposite-sex partners won’t work — they’ll just result in people becoming less stable in exchange for short-lived aesthetic changes.

“Until you have actual housing — not shelters, housing for people — then you’re gonna solve the problem,” Wookie said. “But not until then.”

Cody Bowman, Wheeler’s spokesperson, told Street Roots on behalf of the mayor and Heather Hafer, spokesperson for the Street Services Coordination Center, the city would only answer the questions if Street Roots agreed not to attribute the answers to Bowman, Wheeler or Hafer, citing “recent serious threats made against city staff.”

Street Roots provided a separate set of questions to Hafer, who also serves as the spokesperson for the Office of Management and Finance which houses HUCIRP, for this story.

“Per the City Attorney's Office, we will require that you attribute the response to ‘staff from the Mayor’s Office and the Street Services Coordination Center,’” Bowman told Street Roots in a June 24 email.

Street Roots declined the conditions Bowman provided, citing journalistic standards prohibiting deceptive attribution and the public’s right to know which public employee or official is making a particular statement. Street Roots also noted the lack of any existing legal precedent in which a city government can "require" a newspaper not to print the names of public officials in connection with official statements. 

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