PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Portland is in the middle of a homeless crisis, but one local lawmaker thinks she has found at least a temporary solution.
Joan Grimm is a tiny home activist. She said, “There’s thousands of bedrooms every night in Portland that are empty and meanwhile there are thousands of people sleeping in the street.”
The city is now letting people live in tiny homes on wheels and RVs that are parked on private property with permission from home or business owners.
City councilor Chloe Eudaly said, “This is really a way to allow friends and neighbors and family members to provide a safe space for people to shelter.”
Commissioner Eudaly is in charge of the bureau of developmental services. She says the bureau will “deprioritize enforcing existing codes against tiny homes and people sleeping in RVs” amidst the city’s growing homeless emergency
“I don’t foresee that becoming permanent unless our housing state of emergency becomes permanent,” Eudaly said.
Joan Grimm has a tiny home parked in her backyard. She’s also a leader in the tiny house movement “More and more people are less interested in spending their days working at a job they don’t like to pay for a house they don’t have any time to spend in,” Grimm explained.
Grimm says innovative ideas like tiny homes are a step in the right direction. “Tiny houses on wheels is just one of the solutions. The city is saying we recognize the potential here. We want to do this right.”
While restrictions will be relaxed under Eudaly, the city could still crack down on units that are a nuisance or threat to public safety
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