We could talk about Portland's homeless
crisis every single day for weeks, and
there would still be stories left to tell.
It feels like a story we've told many times.
Large homeless camp in a residential area.
That's our reality right now.
The only hope.
Concrete solutions that are
followed up on from start to fi.
People are sick of hearing this
identified as being urgent issu.
There's a sense of urgency to t.
Take a moment to address the
urgent crisis on our streets.
Communities demanding urgency we
they end up seeing little to no results.
I know that people are tired of hearing
us talk about addressing this i.
They expect action.
All kinds of ideas on how to soe
the homeless crisis have been
pitched to city and state leadership.
Dumping boulders in place of homeless camps,
The president is encouraging state and
local governments to use the fel
strategic plan as a blueprint banning
unsanctioned homeless camping ad
putting homeless people into six large
designated camping sites instea.
This whole. Merry go round of o,
we're going to do this and
end this homeless situation.
But yeah, it never gets stopped.
And now, investigative reporter
Kyle Aboshi is starting
a new series checking
on those proposals and pilot projects,
answering a simple question.
Whatever happened to that? Here's the story.
They popped up in parks,
city streets and neighborhoods.
Remember those bright red porta potties?
Starting in September of 2020,
the City of Portland put out
roughly 130 portable toilets
to help people experiencing
homelessness have access to clen
restrooms during the pandemic.
This pilot project,
as you may recall,
got a lot of backlash from
neighbors upset about the placet
of these portable toilets.
Portland's red porta potties
might as well be bull's eyes.
That's according to city offici,
one of whom got this voicemail.
Excuse me, ma'am, but what the ,
heaven or purgatory is that red thing
doing in front of my church? Whh
got us wondering, whatever happd
to those red porta potties?
According to a city spokesperso,
the majority of those portable toilets
are being taken off the streetse
to a lack of funding and vandal.
There's approximately 16 or so left now.
The Porta potties, they're all gone. You know, thee
we should be one right off down right there.
One of those red Porta potties.
Used to sit on the corner
of SE 57th and Powell.
Yeah, it's stressful, Nathan Sealant,
who lives in a van nearby, explained.
It's funny that you showed up.
You're asking about this because
that's a bathroom is a basic necessity.
You're right. It's definitely
something you take for granted.
You know, You don't think aboutt
until it's gone, till you're out here
and you're like middle of the n.
You're like, where do I use the bathroom?
Even there's no businesses open, you know?
You know, you just got to find e
alleyway or somewhere, you know?
In place of that red porta pott.
See, this is like the the thing
I was like just something basic.
But it'll be in. Nathan is builg
his own outdoor toilet that will
sit on top of a 5 gallon bucket,
You know, and then the bucket cn
slide in there, you know, and out. So
he's also creating a temporary wooden
enclosure so a female friend can have
some privacy while using the to.
Everyone who's got to use the
bathroom is going to find a way to go.
You know what I mean? It's in.
If they don't come up with some solution,
you know what I mean?
Unless you want to see turds
and disgusting stuff around,
you know, it's gross.
You know, something, something,
Figure something out.
There's no question.
Open urination and defecation
in and around homeless
encampments is disgusting.
It poses a risk to public
health and the environment.
The porta pots is very, very,
very, very important out here.
We really need them out here. Ad
think about it. A lack of a batm
can erode a person's sense of dignity.
I don't want the people that
are judgmental to judge me even
more than what they already do,
so it makes it very hard on us.
And I want to be inside
just like everybody else.
Currently, the homeless in
Portland have extremely limited
options for a public bathroom,
especially at night.
In addition to the 16 Porta pot,
there are 19 Portland louves.
The steel standalone bathrooms,
which means in all there are ju5
city funded restrooms in Portlad
with 24 hour yearround access.
Well, if we had, more
of them would be better.
the United Nations standards for longterm
refugee camps say there should t
least one toilet for every 20 people.
If you apply those standards to
Portland's growing homeless population,
it would require roughly
153 toilets citywide.
Those living in the street
recognize that's unlikely,
but they would appreciate
some more options. You
know, where do you go? You know,
I mean, businesses don't want,
you know, unless you're a custo,
the city says. Moving forward,
it plans to have a total of
20 to 25 portable toilets.
That's nowhere near the
original pilot project,
which placed nearly 130 bright
red porta potties across the ci.
Dignity is one thing I'd like.
I'd love to keep, you know?
Kyle's with me now.
And so interesting to see because I yeah,
whatever happened to all those
red Porta potties. And when you
talk about them being vandalize,
I imagine people are lighting them on fire.
All kinds of problems, really.
Fires, vandalism, graffiti, you name it.
They say basically every Porta potty they
put out there suffered some kind of damage.
Total cost, the anticipated was about $75,000
a month to deploy all these Porta potties,
maintain them, etcetera.
A lot of that money came from
COVID relief funds, federal fun.
Now that money is gone and so.
They say they don't have the
money and also the vandalism.
As a result, they're pulling bak
and you can see that it is a ne.
I mean it's a basic human need d
it's a need for our public spac.
So what comes next?
Well, they're struggling like
a lot of other big cities,
what to do with the homeless
and toilets and bathrooms.
Honestly, many other cities are
installing a lot more of these.
Portland,
lose those big metal circular
looking toilets that are out th.
Portland has a number of them already.
Also, the Porta potties.
Do we want to have more of them out there?
As you heard the story there,
the city of Portland is lookinga
little more than a couple dozen,
and it used to be strange and unusual.
But I saw a man relieving himself right
across our parking lot to the or
night and it seemed normal these days.
Yeah, we talked to some of these folks
who were struggling with the situation.
They need a bathroom.
They're just aren't public
restrooms available 24/7,
and they admit they don't like .
And unfortunately,
you've got to relieve yourself
somewhere and the bushes in some cases.
That's the only place to go.
Yeah.
Well, thanks for the followup.
And I'm excited about this seris
that you're launching.
Yeah,
we're looking at proposals and
projects big and small that youe
heard or read about by city leas
or nonprofits what we can do
to address the homeless crisis.
We want to hear from folks.
Remember when. And whatever happened.
So those are the kind of ideas.
And we'd love to hear from folk.
That's why we say it in The Newsroom.
Hey, whatever happened to that one thing?
All right, folks,
so we know you have lots of great ideas.
If you have ideas for Kyle's se,
please e-mail us.
The e-mail address is thestory@kgw.com.
Or feel free to call and leave a voicemail,
503-226-5090. We don't want to
know whether you like this idea,
because we know that you do.
We want to know what ideas do yu
have that he should be looking ?