Homeless Camps now have another foe. Portlanders with disabilities is suing the city over tents on sidewalks. Those tents make up the homeless camps this news outlet has done reporting around. The disabled’s class action lawsuit seeks to force the city to eliminate homeless camps. They say that the camps violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The problem, the lawsuit alleges, is that tents on the sidewalk prevent people with wheelchairs and walkers from passing without difficulty. Plaintiffs want a judge to order the city to clear sidewalks of tents and provide emergency shelters for everyone displaced as a result. The lawsuit also asks a judge to include all Portlanders with mobility disabilities and their caretakers as plaintiffs.
The class action lawsuit was filed last week on Tuesday in federal court. It accuses the city of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by allowing people to camp on city sidewalks. The Americans with Disabilities Act, known as the ADA, bars discrimination based on disability and requires sidewalks be accessible to everyone.
What is most interesting is most of the homeless has some form of disability. In fact, a 2019 count of the county’s homeless population found that more than half of the people living outdoors or in shelters had a physical or mental disability. Both homeless and disability advocates say this lawsuit will do little to help this population and dismissed the suit as misguided.
In a press conference last week, held in the Wells Fargo Exchange Block steps from City Hall, some of the plaintiffs spoke about the difficulties they’ve had navigating Portland streets in the last few years as tents have proliferated across the city.
Right now, the lawsuit states, Portland sidewalks are only available to those who have the ability to sidestep the camps. The suit names 10 plaintiffs, most of whom use a wheelchair, cane or walkers and say they have to go out of their way to navigate around tents.
