Deschutes County Commissioners are considering a safe parking program in the unincorporated area of the county. At a Nov. 27 board meeting, County staff presented commissioners with a proposal for the program, which allows property owners or tenants the ability to offer overnight parking for people experiencing houselessness. While plans for the safe parking in the county differ from the Bend and Redmond’s programs, much of the criteria would be compatible.
County commissioners reviewed two board orders allowing safe parking in Deschutes County. According to Erik Kropp, deputy county administrator for Deschutes County, the proposed safe parking program would allow the county to provide additional sites to people who need them.
“Right now, those programs are limited to Bend city limits and Redmond city limits,” said Kropp. “Under this proposal, that program would essentially be broadened to include land within the UGB [Urban Growth Boundary] and a mile from the UGBs of those two cities.”
The board orders enact portions of House Bill 2006, passed by the Oregon legislature in 2021, which allows local governments to site emergency shelters if certain conditions are met. The order would authorize overnight camping in a vehicle on property owned or operated by any public or private entity, however, the rules differ slightly when it comes to sites inside or outside of the UGB.
Since state land use laws vary for land within the UGB and outside the UGB, Kropp said, the county was required to create two separate board orders.
The proposal for safe parking within the UGB allows for vehicles, tents and yurts, while the proposal for safe parking outside of the UGB only authorizes vehicles. With both board orders, the sites require a sponsor that will provide sanitation and case management services.
“The idea was to be as consistent as possible with Bend and Redmond’s programs,” said Kropp. “They are a little different, but we wanted to have consistency.” Any safe parking on county lands located inside the Bend or Redmond’s UGBs would fall under the same rules as the rules implemented by those cities, Kropp said.
City safe parking challenges
Bend’s safe parking program has been active since 2021 and continues to be a great addition to houselessness services, according to Amy Fraley, the City of Bend’s senior program manager for houselessness solutions.
While Bend currently has 16 safe parking spots, Fraley noted some challenges when it comes to safe parking. “There’s always concerns from the neighbors if there might be something new, but we’ve found a lot of support for safe parking.”
Rick Russell, the executive director of Redmond’s safe parking program, hopes the additional safe parking will help with these issues. “I think there’s still a perception that programs like safe parking look like unmanaged unauthorized encampments with tents, and no garbage service and no sanitation facilities,” said Russell. “If those landowners could see they are providing a real service to our community, that it will be safe and sanitary, that this really is a win for everybody in the community.”
Redmond currently has seven safe parking locations housing about 50 people. One of the biggest obstacles to expanding safe parking, according to Russell, is finding new locations where they can be hosted.
Bend United Methodist Church has two Pallet-brand shelters in its parking lot — shelters considered part of the safe parking program in Bend, because the shelters occupy what would otherwise be parking spaces. According to Pastor Jen Stuart with the church, they’ve had zero problems regarding safe parking. “Two of the people who have been in our program have graduated, one into housing, one went to go to school,” she said. “So, from our perspective, it is very successful.”
While her church has seen great outcomes with safe parking, she, too, hopes the program will continue to grow.
“We cannot depend on the churches to do all of this. We have to have other businesses who are willing to invest in helping people out, because we, the nonprofits, can’t do all this by ourselves. We need our county to step up and give space for these programs,” said Stuart.
At the Nov. 27 meeting, commissioners asked to further discuss the proposals at the Dec. 6 board meeting, to allow time for public input. At that point, commissioners may continue discussions or adopt one or both of the board orders. “If they adopted the board orders, then we would get the program up and running for interested applicants,” said Kropp.
“Safe parking is part of the solution. We need solutions across the board for houselessness in our communities,” said Fraley of the City of Bend. “We welcome and support the County in their process of developing a program.”
This article appears in Source Weekly November 30, 2023.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
