Public comment at city council meetings has recently centered on one topic: criminalizing Portland’s homeless population. One group that’s been especially vocal? The “Montavilla Initiative,” a conservative spinoff of the Montavilla Neighborhood Association. Montavilla Initiative members have vilified the police bureau for not responding to low-level crimes they say have been committed by homeless people in their steadily gentrifying East Portland neighborhood. The group also recently filmed individuals who were entering a syringe exchange site.
For the past two years, the East Burnside hotel served as a quarantine shelter for COVID-positive homeless people. Now, it's ready for other guests again.