3 city-sanctioned safe rest villages announced for homeless

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Three Portland neighborhoods will soon be home to the city’s first “safe rest villages.” Oregon Public Broadcasting reports Commissioner Dan Ryan is leading the effort to construct six city-sanctioned outdoor homeless villages by the end of the year. He announced the downtown, Brentwood-Darlington and Hazelwood locations Thursday. He said the sites are a critical response to the “humanitarian crisis” unfolding on Portland’s streets. While there has not been an official count of Portland’s homeless population since 2019, encampments appear to have proliferated during the pandemic. Portlanders reported over 60,000 campsites to the city during the last fiscal year — up from about 40,000 the year prior.