The Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association wants the City Council to ban people from sleeping within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and other places children congregate, the latest example of residents' frustration with Portland's housing crisis.

The Northeast Portland group submitted a proposed ordinance to city commissioners suggesting that police fine people who camp near a designated "safe zone" up to $100 or jail them for up to 30 days.

Camping is already illegal, but the city's lack of affordable housing means that more than 4,000 people don't have permanent homes and at least a third of those are likely sleeping on the streets on any given night. Police perform about 12 sweeps of campsites per week, prioritizing where they strike based on residential complaints and environmental and public safety factors.

The group suggested targeting athletic fields, playgrounds, beaches and recreation centers more heavily, but association president Scott Pratt said he expects much of the enforcement details to be worked out by commissioners if they choose to take up the proposal.

Pratt has lived in the Laurelhurst neighborhood since 1984 and said homeless camping has gotten progressively worse in the past few years. At a neighborhood meeting Wednesday night, Pratt said people reported finding feces in their driveways and seeing others urinate in their yards.

The association's public safety committee has collected dozens of photos that residents submitted of needles on the ground or people sleeping in tents, RVs or on the sidewalk.

Andrea McLean, who collects the photos, said the spots creating the most tension are near the TriMet stop at Northeast 42nd Avenue and Senate Street, Northeast Halsey Street and 33rd Avenue and around Laurelhurst Park.

Residents were especially concerned about the annex of Laurelhurst Park, where parents take their children to play on the playground, attend soccer games or take dance classes.

"Surrounding it has been a lot of campsites and I think what is even more of an issue is that people have been finding needles and human waste and people just passed out around the dance studio," Pratt said. "They don't feel comfortable taking their kids there anymore."

Mayor Ted Wheeler's office didn't respond to a request for comment. Wheeler dedicated $1.5 million to address the more visible symptoms of the homeless crisis in his latest budget. That money will go toward cleaning up camps, environmental degradation and public health and safety issues.

Earlier this week, another group of neighbors in Montavilla debated whether they wanted police sweeping homeless people in their neighborhood at all. Dozens of residents came out to support a symbolic resolution by the neighborhood association board that called for an end to the sweeps. However, many residents were upset by the move, saying it is the only way to provide even temporary relief to their fears of break-ins and problems with trash and needles on their property.

Wheeler said he wouldn't stop sweeps, and has been vocal in the past few months about the need to make neighborhoods and businesses more at ease with the large homeless population. He wants as many people to be in shelters or permanent housing, but the county doesn't have enough shelter or low-income housing capacity for that yet.

Pratt said he hopes other neighborhoods support the Laurelhurst measure.

"We don't want to just shove this problem off to another neighborhood, we know this requires a citywide solution," Pratt said.

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com

503-294-5923

@MollyHarbarger