In March, Deschutes County and the City of Redmond completed construction on a 36-site campground for people transitioning out of homelessness, complete with new gravel roads, water and power infrastructure and a black slatted chain link fence.
More than a month later, the campground remains empty, a padlock and chain latching the gate shut.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people are living in tents and trailers on government-owned lands nearby.
Despite building the infrastructure for Central Oregon’s first outdoor managed camp — a model meant to address the homelessness crisis by providing safety and services for people sleeping outside — local governments can’t find a suitable group to run it. That’s left them scrambling for a backup plan to open the camp as quickly as possible, before impending encampment sweeps threaten to push people even farther away.
Some of the region’s largest service providers told the Source via email that the County’s request for a camp operator offered too little funding to take on oversight of the region’s first-of-its-kind managed camp. Nonprofits were also concerned about taking on liability for the camp and the County’s hope that the nonprofit would be able to pay for operations after the first two years.
The County has budgeted $500,000 for operations over the two years. According to the County’s Request for Proposals, the duties would include providing onsite staff or security patrols, maintenance and snow removal, hauling trash, providing portable toilets and towing vehicles. The operator would also be responsible for enforcing a code of conduct policy for drugs and alcohol, pets, vehicles and trash, while ensuring campers transition into shelter or housing.
The County received three applications after soliciting proposals Jan. 28 through Feb. 27. But an evaluation committee of City and County homelessness and outreach program staff, along with a shelter provider, decided none of the proposals were good enough.
“Basically, the committee went through and determined the proposals did not meet what we wanted or what we were looking for,” Deschutes County Deputy County Administrator Erik Kropp told the Board of County Commissioners at a March 30 meeting. Among the proposals were ones from First Light, a nonprofit that mostly provides addiction treatment and reentry from prison programs, and another from Home More Network, a nonprofit focused on street outreach. Both formed within the last several years, and neither had experience managing shelters, Kropp said.
Deschutes County and the City of Redmond inked an agreement in October to split $676,000 in construction costs to build the camp. The site is on 5.5 acres of County-owned north of the Redmond Airport and U.S. Highway 126, about 1.5 miles east of downtown Redmond. The County set aside enough land to eventually double the camp to 72 spaces.
Initial planning began in summer 2024. A majority of Deschutes County commissioners and Redmond City councilors backed the project, as some members of each board dissented.
Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang blamed the delayed opening on a lack of full support and coordination for the project, and said the City and County should’ve collaborated more closely with service providers on the physical design and operations model.
“I lay significant responsibility for us having a built managed camp and no operator at our own feet, at the County and the City’s feet,” Chang said.
Redmond Mayor Ed Fitch told the Source he wasn’t too worried about the delayed opening, saying he’s confident the County will get the camp open soon.
“There was a hiccup there in the initial round of proposals, but I think they go it fixed and we’ll move on,” Fitch said.
Instead of seeking one nonprofit to run the entire camp, Chang said the County plans to break the work into smaller pieces that might be more manageable for service providers to take on. The County could also end up assuming liability for the camp, or pair down some of the most expensive parts of operation, like around-the-clock security patrols, Chang said.
Early warnings
Even in early meetings with the City and County, nonprofit service providers said the camp likely wouldn’t be successful without more funding, with some suggesting a team of nonprofits with different expertise would be needed to run it. They estimated the annual cost to run the camp would be more like $1 million.
Jerry Kaping, development director with the region’s largest shelter provider, Shepherd’s House, told the Source last week the managed camp isn’t in the typical wheelhouse for the nonprofit.
“Even if we were doing that, which we’re not, we’re not sure if there’s enough resources to take care of all the needs they would have for that two years,” Kaping said.
Oasis Village, a nonprofit that runs a supportive tiny home village a few hundred yards away from the managed campsite, also did not apply. Executive Director Josie Anders-Mize told the Source in an email the nonprofit’s board chose not to apply due to “timing and financial constraints.”
However, another nonprofit, Central Oregon Villages, which runs a tiny home village and safe parking sites in Bend, could provide hope for the County. Executive Director Scott Jones said the nonprofit didn’t have the staff capacity to take on the managed camp when the County first asked for applications, but that’s changed since.
“We are not lacking capacity at this time and anticipate being able to move forward without issue if the RFP opens in the future,” Jones said in an email.
Back in 2024, Deschutes County Commissioner Tony DeBone said he feared the County was “stepping into quicksand” with the managed camp project. At the March 20 meeting, he said he feared the County was stepping farther without a clear picture of future funding or operations.
“I would back way up,” he said.
As the County struggles to find an operator, the future of undeveloped lands in east Redmond — and the people living there — face an uncertain future.
The City of Redmond is moving ahead with removing dozens of encampments from vacant land in the City’s Desert Rise Industrial Park, about a mile north of the managed camp site. The City plans to issue a final notice to move May 1. That’s despite county commissioners asking the City to pause the sweep until the managed camp was open, fearing campers would move on to County lands nearby.
County staff reported this week 160 people living on County-owned lands in east Redmond and outside the city limits, including 10 people who had relocated from Desert Rise. There are still 11 people living on a 137-acre parcel slated for a land swap with the Department of State Lands — a deal the agency has held up due to homeless encampments in the area. There are 57 people living on land designated for CORE 3, a planned regional police training facility and emergency management center in east Redmond. And 74 people are living in what’s been designated the “Green Zone,” County land outside the city limits where people are permitted to camp for the time being.
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