The Oregon city has reached a settlement with Disability Rights Oregon, agreeing to provide at least 150 ADA-compliant camping spaces for homeless residents with disabilities.
“This settlement represents a significant step forward in ensuring people with disabilities experiencing homelessness have places to rest, basic necessities like drinking water, and real opportunity to stabilize their lives,” Jake Cornett, executive director and CEO of Disability Rights Oregon, said in a statement.
“Being homeless is really hard on a person’s body, especially if you have physical disabilities,” said plaintiff Janine Harris, 57, in a court declaration. “I just want everyone to know that a lot of people who are living outside are people, just like them, who are doing their best to get by.” Harris was forced by the city to leave the J Street lot, collecting her belongings in a wagon. “I have arthritis in my hips and knees, asthma, and severe pain in my shoulders and back. I often need a cane when I walk to make sure I don’t fall … If there’s no place where I can be, what am I supposed to do?”
According to Multnomah County’s 2022 Point-In-Time Count, over 80% of unsheltered houseless people in Oregon report living with at least one disability, one in three older adults is rent burdened, and one in four people who are homeless is over 55 years old.
The lawsuit alleged the city discriminated against persons with disabilities by enforcing unreasonable camping rules. Under the settlement, Grants Pass must ensure:
- Provide ample drinking water at all approved camping sites.
- Provide accessible, low barrier camping capacity for 150 people in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) throughout the next 12 months.
- Award an additional $60k block grant to a local nonprofit providing support services to homeless residents.
The city must also provide $60,000 in grant funding to a nonprofit for homeless services.
