Portland Homeless: Setback for Plans to Move Right 2 Dream Too

A state board has dealt a blow to Portland's plans to move the Right 2 Dream Too homeless camp to a piece of land that is currently zoned for industrial use.

The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the city's plan to move the camp to an industrial zone on the East Side from its current home in Chinatown would be a violation of policy.

"It cannot possibly be consistent with the purpose and policy of protecting industrial sanctuaries from residential and similar uses incompatible with those sanctuaries, to categorize as an outright permitted use a use that is functionally similar, if not functionally identical, to a use that is prohibited outright in the city’s industrial zones because of its quasi-residential character, the board wrote in its decision.

Portland had attempted to exploit what it sa a a loophole in zoning rules by declaring the tent camp a "community services use" and not a mass shelter.

The board said no.

What remains to be seen is how the decision will affect the city's plans to convert a warehouse at Terminal One - also currently zoned for industrial use - into a 400 bed shelter.

Some of this is likely to come up on Wednesday when the Portland City Council meets.

One of the items on the agenda is a proposal by Mayor Hales to extend the city's housing state of emergency. he had proposed extending it by three years but after some commissioners balked, he is proposing a one-year extension.