Some days, Josh Alpert said, he feels like the most knowledgeable real estate guy in Portland.
For more than a year, Mayor Charlie Hales' director of strategic initiatives has searched for a new home for Right 2 Dream Too, the homeless camp approaching four years at the base of the Chinatown Gate.
He's browsed Craigslist, perused online listings, driven by properties and called would-be sellers, looking for a 10,000-square-foot plot near transit for roughly $850,000.
"That's incredibly difficult," Alpert said, citing Portland's red-hot real estate market. "The land goes quick, and the land is expensive."
One year after the Portland City Council approved a complex deal that set aside $846,000 in public money to buy or rent a new home for R2D2, the campers are no closer to leaving Old Town Chinatown - despite motivated parties on all sides.
About 70 people check in each night to sleep at R2D2 in the heart of downtown Portland, inside a fence of colorfully painted doors that block views from Burnside Street. Little has changed.
Elsewhere in the neighborhood, momentum is everywhere. New businesses are opening. The Portland Development Commission is selling off key properties. A plan to remake the Grove Hotel is advancing.
David Gold, an adjacent property owner and developer in Old Town, said R2D2 remains a stagnant presence in a neighborhood that's seen positive change. "I can't say R2D2 is stopping anything specific, but I don't think it's adding anything positive either."
Even complaints about the camp to the city's Development Services Bureau have dried up, with just one filed during the past 12 months.
"People that are concerned about their presence have given up," said Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who oversees the Housing Bureau. "They've given up on us [city leaders]. I think that has a lot to do with it."
Ibrahim Mubarak, co-founder of R2D2 and the Dignity Village homeless camp in Northeast Portland, said he's noticed a pattern during the past year. "When land is available and we say we want that land, all of a sudden, it's not available anymore."
In addition, he said, donations to the camp are down 30 percent.
"I don't know that people really understood what the money is supposed to be used for," Mubarak said, emphasizing that the money isn't available to R2D2. "The general public says, 'Y'all got all this money, what are you doing?'"
Background
R2D2 set up shop on the 7,762-square-foot former home to Cindy's Adult Bookstore in October 2011. Owner Michael Wright welcomed Mubarak and the homeless community to the empty lot amid the Occupy Portland protests.
The area provides a safe, covered place for people to sleep off the street. Gold said it's the overflow crowd -- those who are turned away and sleep and urinate in doorways -- who pose issues for business owners.
Staffers at the front desk screen visitors, and explicit rules are posted on the front gate. The property includes a portable toilet, recycling bins and garbage containers, tents for those seeking privacy, and large open communal sleeping quarters.
Food and supplies are stored in an employee-only area in back. An office has Internet access for resume writing and job searches. A gravel walkway meanders through the mostly tidy lot.
Last week, Melissa Rodriguez stood outside R2D2, petting the community's unofficial canine mascot, Paige. Rodriguez spent about a year living at site, but has since moved into an apartment with her husband.
She still hangs out at the site occasionally, calling the residents her family. "When I moved in here, it just felt like home instantly," she said. "Everybody cares about you; everybody was here to help you out and protect you no matter what happened to you on the streets."
For years, the city fined R2D2 for violating city code. The fines eventfully topped $20,000, and R2D2 and Wright sued the city.
In September 2013, Commissioner Amanda Fritz announced a settlement agreement and a plan to move the camp to a city-owned parking lot, called Lot 7, under a Broadway Bridge on-ramp.
But developers Homer Williams and Dike Dame, with a Marriott hotel set to open nearby, pushed back, as did the Pearl District Neighborhood Association.
Months later, Alpert helped broker a deal: The developers bought the parking lot for $142,000, and paid an additional $896,000 to escape an agreement to pay $1.5 million for 10 years of parking at a city-owned garage.
The city, in turn, agreed to set aside $846,000 to find a new home for R2D2. Everyone, it seemed, won.
Saltzman walked out
The City Council vote to approve the deal one year ago was unanimous, once Saltzman walked out.
Saltzman said he couldn't vote in favor. Now, he said, he's not surprised R2D2 is still there. "They're not going anywhere anytime soon," he added.
Last October, the Portland Development Commission signed an agreement with Wright to pay him $10,000 a month for 30 months -- or, if R2D2 moved, whatever was left of the $300,000 at once. Wright and his partners would also receive an additional $1.2 million - as long as R2D2 moved no later than October 2016.
"That will be funny to watch how that plays out," Saltzman said. "My prediction is they're not going anywhere."
What's Next
Fritz said she remains optimistic that the city will find a new home that is "not only better than Fourth and Burnside, but better than Lot 7."
She said one challenge is finding a property that allows a recreational campground permit. Fritz added that despite the outcry from Pearl residents in 2013, she has no plans to appease potential neighborhood opponents.
"I will not be doing extensive public involvement to ask permission of neighborhood associations for something that's allowed by right," she said.
Mubarak said he isn't surprised one year flew by without finding a home. He always figured it would take two years, citing the real estate market and neighborhood opposition as top factors. Even if the camp found a new home, he said, moving and setting up the new site could take months.
But Mubarak said there are plenty of reasons to feel positive. He's flown to Tucson, Arizona; Jackson Mississippi; Brooklyn; Chicago; Denver and other cities to talk about R2D2's success in the past year.
The trips are occasionally funded by nonprofit organizations or cities, Mubarak said. Right 2 Survive, R2D2's parent group, also uses grant funding to pay for his travel if necessary.
Alpert said it's "been made clear" R2D2 must move from the entrance to Chinatown. But given the lack of shelter space and affordable housing, the camp plays a valuable role. Over Thanksgiving weekend, Alpert spent a night at R2D2, and called the experience one of the most eye-opening of his life.
"When you take the politics out of their situation on that location, they are a community asset for us," he said, calling their compassion remarkable.
When asked whether the city will be in the same predicament a year from now, Alpert said: "I certainly hope not."
-- Andrew Theen
atheen@oregonian.com
503-294-4026
@cityhallwatch