FILE: A woman rests on her assigned bed at Portland’s Salvation Army Female Emergency Shelter, or SAFES, on Sept. 23, 2025. The Portland shelter is a fundamental component to Mayor Keith Wilson’s homelessness plan.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Days before Portland begins enforcing its public camping ban, some of those closest to the work — and its impact — are largely in the dark about how penalties will be carried out.
“We’ve gotten no information from the city about what this means,” said Katie O’Brien, the executive director of Rose Haven, a day center for women and non-binary people experiencing homelessness. “People are worried, and we don’t have a lot of answers. If there’s a plan, we would love to know what that looks like.”
The camping ban, adopted last year, prohibits people from camping in public spaces when “reasonable” alternative shelter is available. If someone camping refuses to move into shelter, they could be hit with a $100 fine or spend up to a week in jail.
The policy, which was authored by former Mayor Ted Wheeler and is now the responsibility of Mayor Keith Wilson, has been on pause as Wilson works to open hundreds of new shelter beds.
But Wilson has directed police to start enforcing the rule on Nov. 1.
Related: Portland Mayor Wheeler unveils a new public camping ban policy
Wilson says he doesn’t want to arrest people simply for being unhoused. He’s pointed to the important role courts and judges will play in connecting people cited under the new penalty with social services and other support instead of jail time.
“So the citation is designed for us to say, ‘This is not meeting our community standards. Let’s show up to court. Let’s start helping you now,’” Wilson said in a recent interview with OPB. “It’s a host of opportunities for us to help you.”
But those in the criminal justice system who’d usually be involved in setting up this kind of system know little about the particulars.
Chief Criminal Court Judge Michael Greenlick, who oversees the operations of the county’s criminal court system, said he has not yet spoken with Wilson about the new criminal citation.
“I’m not sure what the mayor’s plan is,” he told OPB.
Related: Portland Mayor Keith Wilson announces plans to open addiction recovery shelter beds
Greenlick and other leaders in the region’s criminal justice system are meeting with Wilson to discuss the camping policy Friday — less than 24 hours before officers are expected to start issuing citations.
Greenlick said he has concerns about how a new criminal citation will impact the county’s already strained courts system.
“We have hundreds and hundreds of misdemeanor cases right now in the system that are just stalled because there’s no representation for those folks,” Greenlick said.
This is because of the growing public defense shortage in Multnomah County — and across the state, something state lawmakers have spent years trying to fix. For non-violent misdemeanors, like a camping ban violation, Greenlick said people might have to wait several months before getting assigned an attorney.
“So that would be a big old roadblock,” he said.
Related: Oregon public defenders warn of ongoing crisis as defendants remain without representation
Greenlick said he’s open to the county creating an alternative court for low-level offenses, where people who engage in social services can have their charges dismissed. But establishing that court would cost money, something that the county’s criminal justice system is short on.
Cody Bowman, a spokesperson for Mayor Wilson, said that Wilson met with Greenlick in June to discuss the proposal. Bowman said Wilson also has met with Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell and Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez to talk about the new citation.
Bowman said that Wilson does not anticipate that enforcing the policy “will substantially burden their respective areas.”
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson listens during a press interview in his office in Portland City Hall on Oct. 22, 2025.
Eli Imadali / OPB
Morrisey O’Donnell and Vasquez will also attend the Friday meeting. Vasquez declined to comment on the proposal until meeting with Wilson.
“The office is still working through how to best handle [citations] when they come in,” said Pat Dooris, a spokesperson for Vasquez’s office.
A spokesperson for Morrisey O’Donnell said staff in her office have met with Wilson’s staff to discuss the policy. But she’s still waiting for more information.
Morrisey O’Donnell has a history with the city’s camping ban. Last year, she said she wouldn’t allow the county’s jail to be used to hold people penalized under the ban, since she didn’t support criminalizing homelessness.
In a statement to OPB, Morrisey O’Donnell said she supports Wilson, who was not in the mayor’s office when the policy was adopted. But she remains cautious about using the county jail.
“Our jails were never designed to absorb the weight of inadequate housing, medical, and behavioral health systems,” she said. “They should not be seen as the default response to illegal camping or unmanaged crises.”
Those working closely with Portland’s unsheltered community say they feel equally unprepared to explain how the new penalties work.
“We still don’t know how this is going to be enforced,” said Scott Kerman, director of the homeless day center Blanchet House.
Kerman said the city did give Blanchet House some pamphlets to hand out about the rules. But the brochure has scant information about what happens if people violate the policy.
O’Brien, with Rose Haven, said that the uncertainty of this new charge is just “one more thing” for unhoused Portlanders to stress about. She noted that the city’s enforcement begins the same day federal food stamp benefits are expected to be halted, due to the government shutdown.
“The timing, that’s the sad part about this,” she said. “Our guests are exhausted. They’re worn down about so many things, they’re scared. This only piles on.”
