Following months of careful deliberation and community input, the Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners voted on July 21 to move forward with Central Oregon’s new managed camp for people experiencing houselessness. The vote was 2-1, with Commissioners Patti Adair and Phil Chang voting yes and Commissioner Tony DeBone opposing.
The board approved up to $250,000 in spending per year for at least the next two years and will work with the city of Redmond on a long-discussed managed camp to be built on the city’s east side.
The facility will be located just inside Redmond city limits, north of the airport and near the existing Oasis Village transitional shelter. Officials describe the project as a first-of-its-kind facility for the region.
RV park-style layout with support
“It’ll look kind of like an RV park,” said Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang in an interview with the Source. Well-lit gravel loops will wind through the camp, leading to 36 different sites complete with a parking pad, tent area and electricity for device charging. The managed camp will also have a shared kitchen, basic sanitation facilities and designated pet areas.
The facility will be fenced for security purposes. “It’ll be fenced, not to keep the people in, like a prison but to keep people from messing with the people who are in the camp,” Chang said.
Chang said the County chose managed camps over leaving people in unauthorized encampments because they provide better conditions at lower cost than indoor shelters. “We don’t have enough beds in all in the transitional housing and shelters, for all those people,” Chang said. “So our choice is basically to have those people living unsheltered in unmanaged, unregulated, unauthorized encampments sprinkled around our community, or to provide a managed camp, which — per unit — is much cheaper to build than an indoor shelter.”
Ideally, Chang explained, each resident would be screened before entry. Once accepted into the camp, each resident would be assigned a case manager to work with them on specific goals, like obtaining an ID or looking for a job. Continuation of residence would depend on making progress toward those goals. “It’s basically a combination of supports and accountability. Their continued stay at the campground was conditioned on making progress on the goals that they set out,” Chang said.
Crucial timing
The timing of this project is critical as Central Oregon faces growing numbers of people experiencing homelessness. The Homeless Leadership Coalition reported this year that 2,108 adults and children in Central Oregon experienced homelessness, up from 1,799 last year. With the recent closure of the Deschutes National Forest at China Hat south of Bend and the Temporary Safe Stay Area at Juniper Ridge set to close by Dec. 2026, many have struggled to find a place to stay.
“The big challenge is that there are more people becoming homeless every year than are leaving or departing homelessness, so our overall numbers have not come down yet, but it’s really important to remember that every single one of those hundreds of people who have exited homelessness is a success,” Chang said. “And what it says to me is that we actually know the right things to do to exit people from homelessness. We just aren’t doing it at an adequate scale yet to bend the curve.”
Ambitious plans
Plans are to start building the managed camp within the next two months, and have it be operational by November or December. But the timeline is ambitious, given the work still needed beyond physical construction. No decision has been made yet on who will manage the camp.
Questions also remain regarding access to services and transportation. Currently, two options exist for public transportation. The closest bus stop would be at the airport 1.7 miles away, or residents could use Dial-a-Ride through Cascades East Transit with 24-hour notice. Neither option is ideal, as it places residents at a difficult distance from medical care, mental health services, job opportunities and other essentials. Chang acknowledges the challenges, explaining that the new site outside central Redmond was selected based on available County property and commissioner support.
“We have to figure out all of this. You know, what are the rules going to be? What is the management going to be? How do we provide case management out there?” remarked Chang.
This article appears in Source Weekly July 31, 2025.
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