Staff from the City of Bend will kick people off city-owned land at Juniper Ridge next month to make way for a new section of sewer pipe. But meanwhile, new regulations passed by the City Council Wednesday night might make it possible to site a camp for the unhoused on land owned by the City.
The City of Bend and Deschutes County have been ordered by Gov. Kate Brown to come up with a strategy to protect people without shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic—and the economies of the region won’t open without one.
“We also need an effective quarantine and isolation program for people who test positive,” Gov. Brown at a press conference on Tuesday. “It will need to include strategies for nursing home residents and address the needs of people experiencing houselessness as well.”
But Shelly Smith, the unhoused liaison for the City of Bend, told local housing advocates in an email on April 10 that the City will post 30-day eviction notices at Juniper Ridge (a camping village in Northeast Bend) on April 27. Smith told the Source she had no “new information on where they would go.” The City is building a new sewer pipeline through the area—often used as a refuge for those without homes—to create infrastructure for future development.
Clearing encampments can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers. This increases the potential for infectious disease spread. -Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
By contrast, the City of Portland worked with Portland nonprofit JOIN to build three temporary outdoor emergency shelters that will open next week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published guidelines (last reviewed March 22) titled “Responding to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) among People Experiencing Unsheltered Homelessness.”
“Unless individual housing units are available, do not clear encampments during community spread of COVID-19,” the guidelines read. “Clearing encampments can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers. This increases the potential for infectious disease spread.”
The CDC recommends setting up portable latrines and hand-washing stations for encampments of more than 10 people.
Eric King, Bend city manager, told the Source that the City is not “evicting” people at Juniper Ridge, but instead needs to move people out of the construction zone to keep them safe.
“The City is working with the County to coordinate efforts for the unhoused such as hand-washing stations, billboards and outreach to all camps across the area, to people deemed high risk,” King said. “Juniper Ridge is one of many camps all over Central Oregon; people are living in vehicles, couch surfing; there’s a whole continuum of need. The sewer infrastructure will provide for more housing units and will affect the whole housing ecosystem.”
People in the homeless camps are concerned about the virus as much as the rest of us. They think they’re safer at the camps than they are coming into town. – J.W. Terry, executive director for Central Oregon Veterans Outreach
More challenges for housing advocates
J.W. Terry, executive director for Central Oregon Veterans Outreach, said some people at Juniper Ridge have already moved north toward other camps and away from the construction site, but not many. King said of the 30+ camps, around eight have moved.
“They are pretty apprehensive, very leery of the City,” Terry said. “They know from talking with COVO that everything is on hold for now, but they know it’s coming. This isn’t a good time until we’re through the pandemic. People in the homeless camps are concerned about the virus as much as the rest of us. They think they’re safer at the camps than they are coming into town.”
People without homes in Bend no longer have the option to stay at the Bend Shelter (next to the Deschutes County Adult Jail), originally set up as a winter warming facility. It closed Wednesday, after extending operations for an additional month. Sheriff Shane Nelson said he now needs the extra space to provide social distancing for adults in custody. The Bethlehem Inn and Shepherd’s House Ministries have not been accepting new guests for weeks now, also in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Local housing advocates are also struggling to provide food and meals because of disruptions to food service programs and increased demand with more people out of work. The Deschutes Public Library branches and other public spaces are closed for now, and the Community Shower Truck is out of commission. Both service providers and people sleeping outside and in shelters don’t have access to personal protective equipment.
Leaders of the Central Oregon Homeless Leadership Coalition are working with Deschutes County to rent a block of motel rooms with a goal of offering a place of quarantine and respite for unsheltered people who are vulnerable or who have contracted COVID-19, with some access to support services and medical staff. But local motels—many of which have already banned people without homes from staying at their properties—now have policies excluding people who have contracted COVID-19.
Molly Wells Darling, the Behavioral Health Branch Director through the Deschutes County Incident Command, said all motels in Deschutes County were contacted about the room-block program last night and this morning. The rooms and linens would be cleaned by sanitization professionals provided by Deschutes County, she said.
“We have place hand washing stations and bulletin boards in the homeless camps [including Juniper Ridge],” Wells Darling said. “We collaborated with the City of Bend to build an interactive map that maps open bathrooms, hand wash stations, food resources, WiFi access, etc.”
Hope for a “safe parking” camp in Bend during the pandemic
The Bend City Council passed an amended administrative order last night (extending through May 6) that includes a provision to establish “transitional housing, which may include yurts, huts, cabins, fabric structures, tents and similar accommodations,” on City property, according to the declaration. The City plans to work with local nonprofits to manage the temporary camp, but will not take the lead on the project, at least for now. The declaration also allows for emergency shelters at churches or other places without development approval from the City.
“The language of the declaration was there to provide some flexibility,” said Eric King. “The City does not provide direct services; our role is to fund affordable housing… The City has given millions to social services (including housing organizations) over the years.”
King’s declaration does not provide any direct funding for hosting a safe camping area on City property. King said City Council will likely discuss a structured camp for the unhoused in Bend during the May 6 City Council meeting, but the focus will likely be on a the tiny homes for veterans project already in the planning stages.
“I was hopeful that HB 4001 (housing emergency bill) would have passed in the [Oregon Legislature “short” session] which would have funded a navigation center in Bend, and removed some regulatory barriers that would make it easier to site [shelters and camps],” King said. “But with the COVID crisis, the Governor may resurrect some of these concepts.”
The “short” session in the Oregon Legislature ended early this winter because Republicans walked out, once again, to protest a climate action bill. HB 4001 would have brought over $4 million to Central Oregon for navigation centers in Bend and Redmond.
This article appears in Mar 25 – May 20, 2020.
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It seems self-evident that if the government can limit personal freedoms to respond effectively (the government’s assumption, not mine) to COVID-19, then the government may control homeless camps to control the infectious disease time bombs that they are. In fact, it now becomes clear that the governor long has had the power to do so, but lacked the political will.
Dear Citizens and Residents,
As entered into the Public Record on Wednesday night as Testimony:
1. Classification of less than 32 day Rental Leases as short-term rentals.
2. Strict Rent Controls for the next 12-18 months.
3. Avoid the hindsight of 2020- Should’a, would’a could’a.
The choice is discussing real property value related to base earnings or hyperinflation? 2.2 Trillion was injected into the marketplace and we are just getting started.
You become homeless when pre-existing shelter disappears mostly due to individual inability to pay contractual agreements within a Corporatetized system and existing economic structure. The only ethical and moral code of this system was maximizing PROFIT as a singular value.
Rent Controls were invented as a Policy Tool to level the playing field in times of sustained economic uncertainty and/or collapse. It keeps people housed and minimizes the impacts of hyperinflation within the local economy.
Is the near future a choice between ‘We the People’ or ‘Corporate Personage’?
Warm Regards,
Justin Gottlieb
PS – Freddy the dog says, “Woof!”
For one, the difficulty they are having locating a motel willing to hose the homeless and sheltered and provide social distancing and quarantine for high-risk and confirmed cases only highlights the unintended consequences of a form of discrimination that should be illegal to begin with.
Discrimination, whether it be due to race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social status etc is illegal in most consumer facing industries.
It should be equally illegal to discriminate based on housing status. No motel owner should be allowed to tell somebody that they are not allowed to stay there as a paying guest under the exact same terms as anybody else who paid market rate based solely on whether or not they have a residence. In fact, considering there is no legitimate need for them to obtain that information from any prospective guests, housing status should not be allowed to come into question.
Furthermore, it is already federally illegal to discriminate based on many specific medical diagnosis in any sector for any reason oh, that should be extended to encompass any form of explicit discrimination based solely on any particular medical diagnosis or condition actual or perceived.
Those motel owners should not only be ashamed of themselves, but if there is a rise in deaths and infections in the area they should be held accountable criminally and civilly.
Drove by Lost Tracks golf course and about 2 miles past there begins a long stretch of homeless camps.. one had an unattended fire going..
It is unconscionable that NeighborImpact would close the only open homeless shelter and send defenseless homeless people out into the streets in the middle of a pandemic. As a community, we give hundreds of thousands of dollars to this organization every year. As a citizen and donor I feel this act is morally reprehensible. How do we sit quietly and allow this blatant disregard for human decency to take place in our community? Are we not better than this?
It is morally reprehensible that NeighborImpact closed the shelter and sent the homeless community out into the worst pandemic in our history. Furthermore, as a community how are we not outraged that a nonprofit organization would feel treating human beings this way is an acceptable course of action?
Portland has not been successful in its efforts as this recent story and video show.
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/hom…
Early on those seeking to provide shelters, whether in fenced parking lots (tent shelters) or selected/participating motels learned this about the street population.
Although concerned to one degree or another they are not willing to “move in” to such locations. Why?
First, they have to check in and check out if they do. They cannot come and go as they please. And they are screened. If they have street pets, almost always dogs, they cannot bring their animals into the shelters or motels with them (for safety reasons). If they are addicts they are afraid of not being able to “use” or to get out and score. They are leery of their meager possessions being gone through and perhaps confiscated/thrown away, again out of safety for others in the shelter areas or motels. Those that feel they have outstanding warrants are concerned about getting identified and arrested. And then there are those who simply prefer to continue to live on the street and there is no law or way to entice them anywhere else – such as the video reveals.
There are, as COVO knows for example, multiple camps out in the high desert where the homeless feel safe, comfortable, and simply want to be left alone. They will not wear masks or social distance and GOV Brown’s guidelines do indeed exempt them from doing so. Same in Portland, Salem, Eugene and so on.
This is not a tidy little issue at all and there are only “best efforts” to be made. Otherwise those without shelter, other than their tents, are free to stay where they will or want to.