PORTLAND, Oregon — At 11 a.m. every Friday, Friends of Couch Park meet for coffee to discuss how to better their small space in Portland. It’s a simple way for the local community to tackle issues caused by the increasing homeless population and try to create a safe haven from crime and rampant drug use in the city.

“We’re an additional set of eyes,” Kara Shane Colley, the president of Friends of Couch Park, said. “We are the citizen neighbors. We just believe, in this park, people should not be allowed to camp next to it, and people should not be able to do drugs. I think that’s a reasonable ask.”