Update Feb. 2, 2018

Portland police and city park rangers began a sweep of the Village of Hope homeless encampment Friday morning, starting at around 7 a.m. The sweep is ongoing. Please check back for updates.

Steve Kimes and the seven residents of the Village of Hope homeless camp don't know when the police will come to clear them out.

It might be Friday morning. It could be in the afternoon.

And if they're fortunate enough to remain undisturbed through the evening, the site is safe until Monday because cops don't conduct sweeps on the weekends, they say.

But Kimes, a pastor for Anawim Christian Community, has appealed to the city in hopes campers can stay on the plot of land where they say they've removed more than 40 bags of trash and established a low-impact settlement for those who need a bit of stability.

Both Kimes and fellow Village of Hope co-founder Lisa Lake are no strangers to homeless advocacy and outreach. The Gresham pastor was once homeless himself and now operates a shelter on a three-acre plot run by his church.

Lake is the director of Advocacy 5, a nonprofit that funds groups that provide meals, crisis management, basic health care and other services for the homeless. They, along with Right 2 Dream Too co-founder Ibrahim Mubarak, helped found Village of Hope at the behest of folks who have camped in the area for years.

Their endeavor comes as debate rages in the Foster-Powell neighborhood over the site of a 120-bed shelter Multnomah County commissioners agreed to develop last week. Portlanders logged more than 1,600 complaints against homeless people and campsites each month in 2017, having reached record highs in the year after city officials swept settlements on the Springwater Corridor.

Kimes, Lake, Mubarak and a group of volunteers spent much of the week spreading soft bark dust across paths leading to the Village of Hope site — this one located off Airport Way in Northeast Portland — and building platforms supported by concrete blocks for campers to pitch tents without disturbing the ground below.

"We've been extraordinarily careful in taking care of the land and trying to land softly," he told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Park rangers served exclusion orders to Village of Hope campers Thursday morning. Later in the day, police posted signs warning against trespassing.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler issued a statement saying "rigid structures should not be constructed on public environmentally sensitive lands," several media reported Wednesday. Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who oversees Portland Parks, also wrote in a statement that "parks are for everyone, not open for settlement by particular individuals or groups."

But camp organizers say the city-owned plot they're on, situated on a parcel known as Big Four Corners, is zoned industrial, not park lands.

"As far as the space being for everyone, I don't really understand that," Kimes said. "This isn't an official park. It's a slough area we've built on a hill upon a sliver of fence. We're actually making the place safer."

To them, the calculus is simple: There are at least an estimated 4,177 people without permanent homes living in Multnomah County. The City of Portland has introduced initiatives that would provide services for 2,000.

The Village of Hope site wasn't being used by anyone. So, what's the harm in building a temporary solution for those who have nowhere else to go?

"The city is eventually going to put up more shelter beds," Kimes said. "But there's not going to be enough shelter beds for all of the people who want them."

And aside from demand outpacing the need, Kimes said some folks need more stability than a shelter can offer them. Most places only open their doors at night, leaving patrons on their own during the day.

"Shelters do not offer stability," he said. "There's a lot of drama. There's a lot of rules. There's a lot of tension."

Besides, Lake said, at least three of the camp's managers have lived on and around the site for five to six years already.

"They describe it as their home," she said. "They came to us, their street advocates, and asked us to help them create this movement."

Kimes gets irked when he hears from Portlanders who say they're sympathetic to the plights of those on the streets who don't offer solutions themselves. He said it's time for people who say "somebody needs to be doing something" to pitch in.

"We're doing something. We did something. And I'm frustrated that the city is giving us such a harsh response for us trying to create a solution," he said.

In the meantime, supporters have called for a 10-day protest to protect the camp, urging sympathizers to attend city council meetings and press Wheeler and Fritz to allow Village of Hope's seven residents to remain.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

ecampuzano@oregonian.com