PHOTOS: Houseless Residents at Owen Loop Evicted in Unprecedented Early Morning Weekend Sweep
On April 3, residents living in their vehicles on Owen Loop, in West Eugene, were forced to leave their homes and possessions in an unprecedented early weekend sweep.
Residents at Owen Loop—where many had been for over two years—were given a 72-hour clean-up notice four days prior on March 30. When the sweep didn’t happen on Saturday, April 2, many expected that the sweep would actually occur on Monday.
Instead, the City of Eugene, in an unprecedented move, began the sweep at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning. Caught by surprise, many residents were either wholly unprepared to move or were at work and would later find out that their belongings and means of shelter were gone.
Many of the vehicles were inoperable and several of them needed gas, jump starts, or their tires inflated.
Where they will go is unknown. The city has already banned recreational vehicles from parking on residential streets and, now, there are posted signs throughout Eugene that prohibit non-commercial vehicles from parking in industrial zones.
A notice from the City of Eugene on a vehicle parked at Owen Loop. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media] 
EPD Lt. Doug Mozan and following city workers close-in on residents at Owen Loop to enforce the two-day eviction notice given by City of Eugene. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media] 
Residents at Owen Loop preparing to leave. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]. 
A backhoe hired by the City of Eugene collects some of the larger objects such as spare tires and propane tanks used by people who lived at Owen Loop. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media] 
Residents of Owen Loop cart away their pets and the few belongings that they could bring. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media] 
A tow truck contracted by the City of Eugene sits readily at Owen Loop in West Eugene as city workers and officials evict inhabitants of RVs and other vehicles used for shelter. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media] 
Residents at Owen Loop watch as City of Eugene workers collect their belongings. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media] 
City of Eugene officials and an EPD Lt. Doug Mozan officer during the sweep at Owen Loop in West Eugene. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media] 
A contracted dump truck hired by the City of Eugene sits at Owen Loop ready to be filled with residents’ belongings. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media] 
A resident looks on as the parking camp’s sweep is in full effect. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
Thank you for this. I was there. It was devastating. My partner and I lost almost everything. Many people did. Several of those people are elderly, or disabled like myself. People forget that. Not everyone is a criminal or on drugs. I’m recovering from cancer and have no criminal record whatsoever. You may not know that before the big event, they came in days BEFORE the deadline and towed and demolished a few trailers and RVs, claiming they were derelict. I took dated photos. It was clearly a scare tactic. The one next to me that they demolished, the woman who owned it had just gotten it and was fixing it to move in. The one next to that had an elderly lady who had just bought hers, but it was not running so they took it.
The police and tow trucks woke us up at almost the crack of dawn, gave us a very brief time to get out if our vehicle was running, and after that had everyone blocked in so that most people actually had to leave with whatever they could carry. You can see that in these photos. The salvage guys were cherry picking through our stuff as we tried to pack up. They took vehicles, bikes, motorcycles, trailers, propane tanks, all sorts of things. I can tell you one thing, we were very deliberately far out on the edge of town, away from the public and residences. This was not necessary. They came down on us like a hammer. I heard from the street outreach team that they were shocked that we weren’t given an alternative like all the other camps were. Now people are sleeping in bushes. How is that better?