Portland Police arrested a homeless man on July 26 for defying the city’s new anti-camping regulations, but the county sheriff declined to book him into jail, arguing that punishing vagrants won’t solve the housing crisis, reports the Willamette Week.

This development is a significant setback for the Portland City Council, which enacted a series of anti-camping regulations on May 8 after extensive deliberations. These measures were intended to address the public safety crisis exacerbated by homeless vagrants, who have contributed to rising crime and open-air drug use in the city. The law, effective July 1, imposes up to 7 days in jail for non-compliance.

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office stated it would only book individuals for felonies and misdemeanors, not violations of city ordinances.

“Arresting and booking our way out of the housing crisis is not a constructive solution,” Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell wrote in a statement. “As the elected official charged with managing the jail, I believe we need to utilize the corrections system for those who pose a genuine danger to the public, and that does not include individuals whose only offense is living unsheltered.”

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler mentioned that his office had numerous meetings with Sheriff O’Donnell and her team “over the last year and a half to receive input on the city’s public camping laws,” where they specifically discussed “booking criteria” to ensure that vagrants would be booked under the new regulations and that old booking regulations “had been lifted.”

“I am disappointed by the sheriff’s decision to refuse to book individuals arrested for violating the law,” Mayor Wheeler said, according to the paper. In August 2023, the sheriff declared ‘open booking,’ and in later meetings, her representatives explicitly stated that booking restrictions had been lifted. That is clearly not the case.”

Sheriff O’Donnell issued a directive in August 2023 clarifying its “open booking” policies, which included felonies and misdemeanors, but not city ordinances. Mayor Wheeler claimed the city laid out the expectation during the meetings that the sheriff would jail violators of the city’s anti-camping ordinance.

“Cities do not typically need to get agreements in writing confirming that their sheriff will enforce the law,” said Mayoral spokesman Cody Bowman, per the Willamette Week.

Mayor Wheeler urged Sheriff O’Donnell to “reconsider her position” on Tuesday and expressed “deep concern over the disconnect and what it may mean for future efforts to improve public safety.”