Homeless Service "Hub" Proposed for East Redmond - The Source

A proposal to create a new service “hub” in east Redmond for homeless people to connect with housing resources, mental health programs, food and other services is gaining support from the Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners.

The service center would be part of a burgeoning campus of homeless assistance projects in east Redmond, close to where hundreds of people are living in RVs, tents and trailers on government-owned lands slated for future industrial development.

Deschutes County commissioners on June 3 approved a letter of support for outreach nonprofit Jericho Road to lease 1.7 acres of County land to develop a 2,500-square-foot building to act as the service center and another smaller storage building. But before the County commits to a lease or contributes staff time, Jericho Road will first need to show it has most of the funding for a project expected to cost $1,000,000 to build and $550,000 per year to run, the letter says.

The County’s letter will help with those fundraising efforts, said Eleanor Bessonette, Jericho Road’s board chair.

“It’s hard to apply for funding or approach funders if we don’t have some type of promise or guarantee that we would have land to actually put the hub on,” Bessonette said.

The nonprofit has not requested funding from Deschutes County for the project. Jericho Road already has $200,000 set aside and hopes to have the service center running by next spring, according to Bessonette.

According to Don Senecal, fund developer for Jericho Road, the center would act as a home base for Jericho Road’s programs, including outreach to homeless camps, basic supplies, propane exchange, eviction prevention and a mobile shower trailer. It would also be a space for other nonprofits to meet with clients to provide case management.

“The whole focus will be to, not just to provide services, but to help folks get out of the dirt, to move on to stable housing,” Bessonette told commissioners in an April 6 meeting.

The land is located just inside the Redmond urban growth boundary, north of U.S. Highway 126 and the Redmond Airport, about 2 miles east of downtown. The property abuts Oasis Village, a 15-unit tiny shelter transitional housing project, and the future site of a 75-home supportive housing village for people leaving homelessness that developers hope to break ground on this year. Directly to the north lies a 36-site campground the County and City recently developed with gravel roads, power and water lines. They’re now negotiating a contract with another nonprofit to provide services at the camp.

All of this lies on land owned and leased by Deschutes County.

Proposed east Redmond homeless service center location

But the fact that these facilities are on the outskirts of town poses a challenge for people seeking support, said Don Senecal, fund developer with Jericho Road.

“Transportation is a huge issue,” Senecal told the Source. “This facility will remove a great deal of that.”

The City of Redmond and the Redmond Chamber of Commerce have also written letters in support, along with a handful of other homeless service nonprofits and housing providers.

All three county commissioners gave unanimous support for the letter, but not before two raised questions and concerns during an April 6 meeting.

Commissioner Patti Adair asked how many people had actually moved out of homelessness through the Oasis Village shelter program.

Commissioner Tony DeBone, who has not supported land leases for other homeless facilities in the area, said adding more resources might attract more homeless people rather than moving them into housing.

“I don’t know that we’re turning the corner on this,” DeBone said. “It feels good to help people, but sometimes it’s a one-way street.”

The service center proposal comes as about 160 people are camped on County lands in the area, including a few on a 137-acre parcel designated for a land swap with the state that’s been held up by the presence of encampments since 2022. Most people are now living in an area outside the city limits dubbed the “Green Zone,” where the County isn’t forcing people to move for the time being.

But Central Oregon saw a decrease in homelessness this year, according to the annual Point-In-Time Count. Commissioner Phil Chang attributed that partly to the work of service providers like Jericho Road.

“I wish there was a solution that we could say, ‘Wow this is it,’” Bessonette told commissioners in April. “Right now, with a lot of folks working together, I see that we can make a difference. I know that we’re touching and changing lives. But that has to continue.”