Multnomah County Considers Establishing Its Own Camping Limits

Portland and Gresham officials met with Multnomah County officials Tuesday to discuss rules governing camping within city limits.

The work session was the first step toward potentially developing a new policy to regulate camping in unincorporated parts of the county, such as Sauvie Island and other small enclaves that fall outside the jurisdiction of any city.

“While cities have taken steps to determine how they will address unauthorized camping, the county, to date, has not done so,” said Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards. “Multnomah County has an obligation to provide guidance in unincorporated areas and responsibility for county-owned properties within the municipal city limits.”

The purpose of the meeting was to consider what the county policy might include and how it would be enforced. Brim-Edwards staff, who led the discussion of the county’s possible policy, asked other commissioners to consider where the county would be responsible for enforcement, who would clean up violating encampments and whether fines would promote compliance.

Portland and Gresham officials have detailed their camping regulations and enforcement policies. Both cities make multiple offers of shelter before forcibly removing people from campsites and cleaning up tents. The county includes all or parts of five other cities, including Wood Village, Troutdale and FairviewLake Oswego.

Portland’s current camping ordinance went into effect in July. Under the ordinance, people who refuse to provide shelter and stop camping in a spot they’re asked to leave can be fined up to $100 or imprisoned for up to seven days. Gresham doesn’t fine people who camp in unsanctioned spots, but it does have an expansive no-camping policy that essentially bans camping on all public lands within city limits that aren’t specifically designated for camping.

Portland’s regulations focus on the impact of encampments on rights-of-way and neighborhood safety. Encampments with larger impacts — dozens of bikes parked on the sidewalk, for example, or excess trash — are removed first, city officials said.

Both city officials said they are following state law and giving residents 72 hours notice to remove the encampment.

Eric Zimmerman, Brim-Edwards’ chief of staff and a candidate for Portland City Council, District 4, provided a tentative timeline for developing legislation that could result in a new county policy by mid-November.

Commissioner Lori Stegmann said she sees Tuesday’s work session as just the beginning of the discussion and is not ready to comment on whether the county should have a policy at all.

“I’m trying to understand what the crux of the matter is, why this is being brought up,” Stegmann said. “I need to understand where are these pockets that are Multnomah County and maybe Portland police don’t have jurisdiction. I need to understand: Where are these pockets? How many people? We have a lot of fish to fry. I just don’t see this as the number one issue.”

According to Portland State University’s Center for Population Research, about 6,000 Multnomah County residents, or less than 1% of the total population, live outside the boundaries of Portland, Gresham or the county’s five other cities.