This past Tuesday, the City of Bend held the first of two open houses intended to “inform the community about how developing an unsanctioned camping code fits into the City and community response to homelessness.” Another one takes place Aug. 29.
Over the past several months the Bend City Council has begun establishing “time, place and manner” guidelines that will serve as a guidepost to where and when people can camp in tents or other temporary shelters around Bend. Suffice to say there’s almost nothing more controversial going on in Bend right now—save the other conversation about where to site managed camps.
Thus far, nothing has been set in stone, though at its early-August meeting the Council did indicate support for banning camping in the public rights of way in residential zones, within a certain distance from waterways and on city properties—with possible caveats.
Community members attending Tuesday’s meeting asked questions and shared concerns about everything from the campers at Hunnell Road to how income inequality is playing into the situation of having upward of 1,200 people experiencing homelessness in Crook, Jefferson and Deschutes counties, according to the most recent Point in Time Count. Some threatened to sue the City should it execute this new code without having the number of shelter beds available in the city be matched to the number of people experiencing homelessness. Still others expressed concern that new codes are being put in place, all while, according to their accounting, present city codes are not even being enforced.
We do not envy the city leaders whose job it is to put this program in place. On the one hand, some will say that new restrictions add difficulty to those experiencing homelessness. On the other, some will say that the City is being too permissive by putting into place a new set of codes that outline where, exactly, people CAN camp. In other words, some will see the act of putting a set of camping codes into place as being overly restrictive, while others will see it as being overly permissive.
Among the “sticky widgets” in this scenario is the notion of enforcement. Councilors and city staff appear in agreement that cops should not be the first points of contact when a camp is found to be in violation of any future camping code. So who, then, will those enforcement people be? Will anyone besides cops sign up to be the vanguard of the camp-clearing brigade, and of the people who might willingly sign up, will they possess the knowledge, skills and empathy needed to handle the difficult and emotional work of moving someone from a place they call home?
Right now, councilors are working through the nuts and bolts of time, place and manner guidelines, and we agree with councilors who have stated that while this is not a job they relish doing, the alternative—not having any guidelines in place at all—is the less-humane route in a housing, economic and cultural situation that is far from humane. Still, we also agree with those who believe that tackling the issue of enforcement—who will do it, how we’ll pay for it—should be addressed sooner rather than later.
Related Stories
STRaining the Housing Market?
This article appears in Aug 17, 2022 – Aug 23, 2023.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Key factor regarding enforcement –
Whereas Oregon law offers “(KOIN) — It’s a little known fact that in Oregon, regular citizens can issue traffic tickets to motorists violating the rules of the road.
https://www.koin.com/news/special-reports/….
That said – issuing citations for illegal camping does not fall under the traffic/motorist statute.
Meaning whomever issues an illegal camping citation in Bend other than a certified law enforcement officer would have to adhere to ORS 203.079 – “A person authorized to issue a citation for unlawful camping under state law, administrative rule or city or county ordinance may not issue the citation if the citation would be issued within 200 feet of the notice described in this section and within two hours before or after the notice was posted. [1995 c.121 §2; 1999 c.761 §1]”
And that person or persons need to be aware they will be met with aggressive, hostile, unhappy, intoxicated, under the influence, mentally/emotionally unstable and potentially violent “homeless” folks.
With all that means personal safety wise.
In short, the Bend City Council is learning the hard way that there is far more to this issue than simply allowing Jim Porter & Company to build a village, regardless of where that village might be.
It’s not really a difficult problem. All that needs to be done is immediately cut all funding to all non profit homeless advocacy groups. Without funding the groups will have no reason to exist, no growth potential, no career path for their leaders, and they will completely disappear. Without homeless advocacy groups there will be no reason for homeless camps exist and they will soon follow.
This latest contribution from the inevitable Greg Walker, as usual, further sullies the conversation. His characterization of unhoused people as “aggressive . . . ” etc. hardly fits the reality. These propagandistic pot shots at people living in the most precarious circumstances you can imagine only add to a campaign of dehumanization that leads to acts of violence AGAINST homeless folks. We have now seen at least 2 incidents in which gunfire was deployed against the Hunnell Road encampment–Aug. 5 and last Nov. 13.
We need to be very careful as a community and avoid dehumanizing and scapegoating people who find themselves homeless. If not, we could be looking at still more crimes like these shootings and the real possibility of a tragic outcome.
If we had a thousand Jim Porters (former Chief of Police of Bend) and legislative bodies willing to appropriate the funding and train the service providers required to address the national tragedy of homelessness, then we would have a fighting chance. Nonetheless, the current Bend City Council is making real on-the-ground progress: 2 years ago we did not even have a permanent shelter for protection against extreme weather. Add to that the City’s partnership in building the successful C.O. Veterans Village, the St. Vincent de Paul village, the motel renovations, the Navigation Center, and the proposed 27th St. managed facility for women and children.
Mr. Walker, I think you have been absent from Bend for far too long.
As a society we generally agree to take care of the disabled. What about those who, because of drug/alcohol addiction, don’t take care of themselves?
What obligation does society have towards them?
And what do these humans owe society in return?