Oregon’s Delta Sandy River Encampments Face Closure as Authorities Clear Decades of Debris, Displacing 40 Homeless Residents

About 40 homeless people must move out of the Delta Sandy River encampments in Troutdale this month. Some residents have called the area, off the Thousand Acres Trail, home for 20 years.

The Camps are Being Closed to Clear Out Huge Amounts of Debris

The Department of State Lands (DSL) is closing 50 acres of the park in a clean-up operation to clear out huge amounts of debris accumulating at the homeless site for years.

Some residents say they have not been given sufficient time to find alternative accommodation, but authorities say residents of the encampments were informed last year and have since been provided with resources to assist with a smooth relocation.

The DSL, together with Multnomah County’s Homeless Services Department and the Salvation Army, is providing resources and outreach teams to advise residents.

DSL has cleaned up the encampments on several occasions in the past, but will now close 50 acres of the park until fall so that a clean-up operation can be launched of what has been described as massive amounts of debris.

The encampments are linked to a complicated extension of electrical lines that are hooked to generators. Apart from tents and wooden forts, there are also tree houses. There are at least 50 broken bicycles at one of the camps, while another has a commercial portable toilet on site.