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The city of Portland is asking that a class action lawsuit filed last month against the city by a group of Portlanders with disabilities over street tent camping include three other parties in the lawsuit: Multnomah County, Metro and the state of Oregon.
Portland City Attorney Robert Taylor wrote to one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers Sept. 12 that the lawsuit should widen its scope of defendants.
“If your clients’ goals are to pursue a broader solution to houseless sidewalk camping, I would invite you to consider joining in your lawsuit the other government entities with responsibility for addressing houselessness in our community,” Taylor wrote to John DiLorenzo, one of the attorneys from Davis Wright Tremaine representing the plaintiffs. “As your lawsuit is currently presented, I believe it fails to recognize the important role and responsibility played by these other government entities, in addition to the City, in addressing this complex problem.”
At issue is a lawsuit filed against the city last month by 10 Portlanders with disabilities who argue that the city is failing to uphold disability access under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuit asks that a judge mandate the city sweep all tents from sidewalks and provide their occupants alternative shelter.
It appears in Taylor’s email that the city may be preparing for a worst-case scenario: that a judge rules the defendant must build the shelter capacity to accommodate for every houseless Portlander.
If the lawsuit names other defendants also responsible for shelter across Portland, the city could shoulder less of the monetary burden.
“I encourage you to consider whether the broad and enduring scope of relief sought by plaintiffs in your case,” Taylor wrote to DiLorenzo, “can be practically achieved if these other government entities are not also asked to share in the responsibility to ‘construct, purchase, or otherwise provide for emergency shelters in which to house the unsheltered persons affected by the Court’s judgment.’”
DiLorenzo provided Taylor’s email to local reporters Wednesday, adding that on Tuesday he issued subpoenas to the county and the Joint Office of Homeless Services (an office shared between the city and county) in an attempt to learn one thing: whether tents and tarps the Joint Office handed out in 2021 are some of the same tents and tarps that the city is now being sued over.
County budget documents cited by DiLorenzo show that the Joint Office distributed 6,550 tents and 27,000 tarps across the county during 2021 from COVID-19 supply centers.
DiLorenzo says he’s made no decisions yet to add other defendants to the lawsuit, but told Taylor in an email that he would consider it.
“I strongly suspect that the County has been passing out new tents only to have the City sweep them,” DiLorenzo wrote.