Deschutes County Commissioners held a joint meeting with the Bend City Council on April 29 to discuss the plans for an upcoming partial closure of land in Juniper Ridge, a sprawling area north of Bend with a large population of unhoused individuals.
Last fall, the City and County agreed on a temporary solution, allowing people to remain in the area while attempting to decrease fire danger and conduct mitigation work in fire-prone areas.
The agreement followed a robust fire season, including the Mile Marker 132 Fire, which was traced to a cooking fire near Juniper Ridge that burned 78 acres before firefighters stopped its progression. After the fire, many residents urged the City and County to do more to decrease fire risks.
The two entities decided on a Temporary Safe Stay Area – a section of county and city-owned land where people are allowed to camp with access to sanitation and case management services.
The community conversation on Monday outlined the final plans for the TSSA, the range of services and the timeline associated with the wider land closure, which is set to start on May 31.
Plans for a managed camp
The TSSA, agreed upon by the Bend City Council and the Board of County Commissioners, will allow for local entities to offer services to those living in the area, while establishing a plan for slowly transitioning people into housing.
The original intent of the TSSA, according to the adopted resolution, says it will “mitigate and improve the health and safety risks associated with unmanaged camping,” while providing services to help move people into safe shelter or housing.
The City and County’s original plan included a reduction of the TSSA over time. According to Matt Stuart, the City’s real estate and facilities director, the plan would reduce the TSSA by 50% by Dec. 31. The next step, he said, is a full closure of the TSSA by Dec. 31, 2026.
At the meeting, Stuart said there are about 70-80 established camps currently within the TSSA and about 15 outside of the area, with an estimate of about 120 to 130 people living in the Juniper Ridge area. According to Stuart, those camping outside of the TSSA limits have been notified of the May 31 deadline.
Safety and services
In order to allow people to camp in the area, the City and County have put a series of rules and guidelines in place for those who choose to stay in the designated area. The TSSA, according to the joint agreement, will be limited to vehicles, including cars, trucks, RVs and trailers. While Stuart said on Monday that the vehicles don’t have to be completely road-worthy, those camping in tents or structures will not be allowed.
Other rules include some around fire safety, with all open flames and fires, including recreation fires, burning garbage, bonfires or other flames banned. New services coming to the Juniper Ridge area include more robust security.
“We had so many transient fires last year; I appreciate that security is spending considerably more time there keeping everyone SAFE,” Commissioner Patti Adair told the Source via email.
The County and City also outlined plans to provide a total of five hygiene stations, in addition to trash and water services. The City and County will jointly allocate about $1.1 million to local organizations to provide case management, food, transportation, job skills training, pet supplies and veterinary care, vehicle parts and repairs and housing search assistance, including funding support for housing application fees and deposits. Stuart said daily patrols will ensure people are following posted guidelines.
An experimental change
Since the TSSA is a new project for both the City and the County, council members and commissioners plan to follow the project closely, ensuring it’s working for residents and that people are moving to more stable housing.
“We have a plan for this to be phased out over years, and that’s going to continue to require further collaboration and touch points, I think, just to make sure [we see] how it’s going, if any adjustments need to be made,” Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler said at the meeting.
While a full closure of the area is not expected until 2026, County Commissioner Phil Chang inquired about those next steps.
“Do we think that in December 2026, we will be trying to exit hundreds of people from that site without knowing where they could go?” Chang asked at the meeting.
In addition to the partial Juniper Ridge closure, a full closure of another camp south of Bend, near China Hat Road, is taking place on May 1. In the last several weeks, homelessness advocates have called to halt the project, to avoid the displacement of individuals living on forest land along China Hat Road. Advocates have raised concerns about a lack of shelter space in and around Bend.
While the City is working to increase safe parking sites and the number of shelter beds, City and County leaders agreed to evaluate the future of Juniper Ridge at the next joint meeting, once they have an idea of how successful they are in transitioning people out of the area.
Mayor Kebler says the City will evaluate progress at the TSSA, looking at the number of people moving out of the area and what housing availability looks like.
“I would love to take that topic to our next joint meeting, around the end of the summer or early fall, because then we could also get some really good information on how it’s going out there,” Kebler said at the meeting.
This article appears in Source Weekly May 1st, 2025.
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Some of these “campers” have been living on our taxpayer paid public lands for FIVE YEARS. The devastation of garbage, needles, human excrement, crime, and fire hazards (including, but not limited to, exploding propane tanks and burning cars) cannot be underestimated. The
City of Bend and its woke mayor, Melanie Kebler, the city council (particularly Megan), and Deschutes County nightmare commissioner Phil Chang, have allowed this disaster to grow and dangerously fester. Never mind the dead bodies buried. It’s unconscionable what they have done to our public lands.
The use of the word “TEMPORARY” just means the issue is swept under the rugs in the city official/politicians offices. And yet these loafers/losers/druggies are years long into living on our public lands and are now being provided water/garbage and hygiene stations – WHAT? So we’re making their life more comfortable at our expense? They will literally NEVER leave until forced to leave. Take their campers/tents and move them to a city and right next to a police station, there are plenty of cities in Oregon with bleeding heart ideals that would accept these homeless with open arms, if rewarded financially to do so. It seems we tax paying and law abiding citizens have to endure and PAY for this mis-management of our public lands and forests. How many more risks do we need to take with forest fires, pollution to our rivers/lakes/streams and destruction of our beautiful forests? These people are thriving on the label of being homeless at the rest of our expense, literally. If the homeless advocates are so worried about these people, then they need to find a safe place for them and where they can be monitored vs. advocating to leave them where they are to their own devices.. These people are bad decision makers, no matter the reason why they’re at this point in their lives, so it’s time for us going in the right direction in life to manage them and keep them in a place where they can’t destroy with fire, excrement, trash, unnatural use of the forest and yes, just where do they put their dead? No one worried about that?