By Stephen Przybylinski (Michigan State University) | In April 2021, the City of Portland, Oregon legalized sanctioned, self-managed houseless encampments. It did so in a very pedestrian manner, by amending its land use ordinances that regulate houseless camping in order to make encampments amenable with the city code. This is a big deal! Currently, the regulatory responses by municipalities experiencing high numbers of unsheltered houselessness is quite varied. There does seem to be support for the idea that organized encampments provide more dignified spaces of respite for unhoused people than those offered by mass shelters. Cities like Seattle and Oakland, for example, have permitted organized houseless encampments for years now. At the same time, municipal governments have targeted encampments for decades, dispersing the tent sites and taking individuals’ possessions. This punitive response continues today. In February 2023, for instance, the Culver City Council (Los Angeles) banned unhoused people from sleeping in tents in public (Solis 2023). In reality, these two approaches often operate hand-in-hand; organized encampments may simultaneously be tolerated or even permitted for some time by a municipality, while less organized sites are quickly disbanded by them. Portland’s recent land use amendment substantiates the city’s shift away from its longstanding opposition to homeless camping toward legitimating self-managed communal living. Whatever one thinks of this decision, Portland’s move to legalize self-managed encampments presents an interesting policy pathway for providing alternatives to mass shelters or rough sleeping in public spaces. Read More