Two schools in Portland, Oregon have pulled their support for a nearby homeless village of LGBTQ+ people because the city does not meet any of their proposed minimum safety requirements, including criminal background checks for convicted sex offenders and violent criminals, according to a report from the Post Millennial.
The Safe Rest Village, located on SW Naito Parkway will serve about 40 homeless LGBTQ+ Portlanders. The homeless village sits just 75 feet away from a private elementary school called the International School of Portland, as well as Bridges Middle School.
“Since the beginning, we have publicly and privately supported the Safe Rest Villages, and this new approach to help the houseless. We had been looking forward to welcoming the village participants and collaborating with the city to make the 2300 SW Naito village a success for all stakeholders,” wrote ISP Head of School Bodo Heiliger and BMS Principle Beven Byrnes in a statement.
“From the day the site was announced, the schools have been clear that we are all in support of the village as long as certain minimum expectations are met,” they continued.
The development was set to be only the latest in a series of hotels to house the homeless in the area, with around six hotels having been purchased previously. The county is planning to purchase at least 12 more.
After “months of meetings with the City SRV team” the school leadership had received very few answers, they noted, adding that “our Stakeholder Group has been growing increasingly less confident of the City’s plans for the CSV/Safe Rest Village.”
“We therefore reached out to other neighborhood associations, and discovered that they shared our sentiment. Together, fourteen neighborhood and community organizations identified three items to include in all SRV Good Neighbor Agreements (GNA)s. We then reached out to City and County leadership with these collective requests,” the letter read.
Among the requests listed included strict law enforcement for SRV’s that sit within 500 feet of school grounds, required background checks for “those with felony convictions of violent crimes against a person, sex crimes, and property crimes within past seven years,” a 1,000 foot “buffer zone” where camping is not allowed; trash cannot accumulate, without any drug dealing or other criminal activity.
The letter noted that the requests were needed given the fact that the two schools host nearly 600 students, aged 3 to 13, adding that the students at Bridges Middle School have learning disabilities, and “have experienced traumatic rejection, isolation, and bullying” in previous schools. They are “some of the most vulnerable human beings” in Portland, the letter argued.
However, after finally meeting jointly with officials of both the City and County, the letter confirmed that none of their requests were met, including the requirement of felony background checks, which the letter said was the “most concerning” out of all the developments.
The city had initially told the schools that there would be background checks for the SRV’s, the school leaders wrote. Many of the other hotels in operation have not included background checks, as they operate as “low barrier” facilities, meaning that residents are also allowed to bring alcohol onto the property.
“Given this denial of our requests, we can no longer support the Safe Rest Villages because of safety and security concerns. This is with a very heavy heart, as we truly hoped to be able to welcome the villagers with open arms,” they said.
“After months of providing very few answers to our requested information, the City recently announced that the participants are scheduled to move in next week. We are now turning to our community of parents, teachers, community leaders, and neighborhood associations to join together in a show of disapproval,” they wrote.
“Due to the lack of collaboration and support from government officials that we have experienced over the last few months, we can no longer endorse their plans for the Naito Parkway village that will be situated within 75 ft of our two schools. We hope that you will join us in voicing your concerns to City and County leadership,” the letter concluded.
A virtual community town hall meeting is set for Tuesday, and is open to parents and others in the community. The letter further included a sample letter for concerned community members to send to city and county leaders.