Mayor Julie Hoy leads effort to expand city, county ability to sweep homeless encampments

Mayor Julie Hoy has joined a coalition of the state’s largest employers seeking to make it easier for cities and counties to remove homeless people and their belongings from public spaces.

Hoy and two other chief petitioners filed an initiative Oct. 15 with the Oregon Secretary of State’s office titled “The Local Control & Safety Act.”

It seeks to repeal a 2021 state lawthat requires cities to justify whether removing someone from the public…