'In our backyard at night': Dozens of RVs, cars return to NE Portland neighborhood

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Shortly after residents in the Argay Terrace neighborhood expressed concerns over RV encampments surrounding their homes, a shelter opened for the vehicles to clear the area.

In September 2022, KOIN 6 spoke to the residents living near dozens of RVs and cars parked along Sandy Boulevard, spilling into the neighborhoods. Then the vehicles cleared.

That is, until they came back.

Now, safety concerns have expanded to the apparent chop shop positioned near the vehicles right across the street from a park where a school bus drops off children. Residents have also taped security footage of people with guns in their backyard in the middle of the night, or found signs that someone had tried to break into their RVs or gone through their mail boxes.

“This neighbor had given me a video of a guy with his shirt off looking at the camera with a gun in his hand. You could see he had a gun. And I was like, ‘Oh, he's in our backyard at night,” Dolores Livesay said.

She told KOIN 6 she hopes there is a shelter of some kind for those involved.

“They need to say, ‘You're either going to go to a shelter, you're going to go over here, you're going to get some job training, you're going to do something’ – not just let them keep doing what they're doing,” Livesay said.

According to city and county data, Portland opened its first vehicle shelter, Sunderland Village, in June 2023 with 55 available spots serving 63 people.

The city hopes North Portland’s next temporary alternative shelter site, set to open this summer, will be able to house 120 vehicles and 20 pod homes serving 150 people.

Multnomah County’s Joint Office of Homeless Services also has plans for a car-only site in the Montavilla neighborhood with room for 30 cars or 40 people. It’s not clear when this site will open, but officials say they aim to at some point in 2024.

“That's the place for them, not someone's neighborhood,” Livesay said.