Debbra Graham stands outside her tent at The ARCHES Project. The camp is expected to be evicted by the middle of the week and she doesn’t know where she will go next. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter)
When Ashley Hamilton arrives to The ARCHES Project on Monday mornings, she’ll often start picking up trash. The nonprofit’s property gets messier over the weekends with fewer agency employees around.
As she picked up yesterday, she saw that some of the 40 or so tents encamped around the Northeast Commercial Street property for months had gone.
“The first thing I noticed is bare ground,” she said. “We haven’t been able to see bare ground for awhile. This morning I’m seeing grass and I said ‘OK, things are shifting.’”
The shift wasn’t obvious. After the Salem City Council approved a public camping ban on Dec. 2, the Salem Police Department said officers would start evicting tents and structures on Tuesday.
Police intended to post notices, giving campers 24 hours to move, according to spokesperson Lt. Debbie Agular. Police will also give verbal warnings. Campers who don’t move can be cited.
“During this process, the police department will be working with partners such as social service agencies, the Salem Housing Authority, and others to perform outreach to those that this camping ban affects,” Aguilar said. “Our goal is voluntary compliance of this ordinance as we understand that citations or arrests aren’t a long-term solution.”
But the crack down, nonetheless, was five months in the making.
The public camping ban emerged in July in a group of new laws intended to curb behaviors reportedly disrupting downtown. Urban Development Director Kristin Retherford and Police Chief Jerry Moore proposed the new laws.
The most controversial plan was to impose a citywide ban on sitting or lying on sidewalks from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Debate spun up quickly, mostly as it related to Salem’s downtown. Many homeless people stay there to be near agencies providing homeless services.
Businesses said the law would prevent homeless residents from sleeping near storefronts, keeping customers at bay. They said they sometimes found human waste, broken windows and other problems.
But others worried the sitting-and-lying portion’s hours restrictions would force homeless residents out of downtown and away from social services.
After a series of public meetings through the fall discussing the laws, the city council met Nov. 25 to approve a modified plan for dealing with the homeless issue, dropping the sitting-and-lying aspect.
The camping ban and a prohibition on abandoning personal property remained. Councilors subsequently twice considered where people would stay when they could no longer place tents on public property.
The council agreed on Dec. 9 to pay more than $200,000 to The ARCHES Project and two local churches to expand hours for warming shelters. The funding, they said, would allow the shelters to open seven days a week from Jan. 1 to the end of March, providing about 140 beds.
Councilors also said during the meeting that they could still find city property to set up a permanent campground for those who prefer it. Such an effort could cost $1 million per year to run, according to a staff report.
By Monday morning at The ARCHES Project, some campers were still holding out hope that a city-run campground could be set up.
“Hopefully they got a spot for us,” said Virgil Simons, 37, standing outside his green tent. He added that he has no intention of using the expanded warming shelters. “I’m a survivor. I stay pretty strong. I can make it outside. I prefer it outside,” he said.
Debbra Graham, 55, said she would use the shelter beds – but she recognizes it’s not enough space for most of Salem’s homeless residents. Nonprofits estimate there are between 1,300 and 1,800 homeless residents in Marion and Polk counties.
“If I had a bed and somebody else needed it more than I did,” she said she would give her slot. “I’m a very giving person. As long as I have it, I like to give.”
Have a tip? Contact reporter Troy Brynelson at 503-575-9930, [email protected] or @TroyWB.
