A solution to homelessness is simple: more housing. Permanent housing with supports that provide people with medical treatment and help finding employment does work. But where are the new locations in Bend where that could happen?

The city is working on many possible sites. Some are in development — a senior women’s shelter, a possible navigation center, tiny homes, the hotel being transformed on Division Street, safe parking options and more.

Not on that list: The former KOA campground at the corner of Cooley Road and U.S. Highway 97. It has been mentioned again and again. It has seemed to many people that it might be a good location. Being a former campground, it had basic infrastructure. It is not being used. It is actually quite close to the informal homeless camp on Hunnell Road.

But the idea of it becoming a site for a formal homeless camp seems dead, at this point.

Walmart had planned to build a superstore on the property. It bought up multiple parcels for $18 million in 2006. A local group opposed to the idea of a Walmart superstore formed to block it, Our Community First. But what actually killed the store was the ruling of a city hearings officer.

If you think the Cooley Road/Highway 97 can get bad now, it was bad then. The intersection was technically failing. Walmart offered to add traffic signals at some nearby intersections and add new turning lanes at Cooley and 97. A city hearings officer ruled that was not sufficient. Walmart appealed and lost. Since then, the property has essentially not been in use. Walmart still owns it.

The city has been working with Ken Streater, a real estate broker, to help it find locations for homeless shelters. He has looked at dozens of possible locations — motels, churches, shuttered restaurants. The list goes on.

He investigated the former KOA site, too. What he heard back was that Walmart would be looking to recoup its investment. He said that the idea that Walmart might donate the property “fell on deaf ears.”

The former KOA campground would only ever have been a partial remedy. It was worth investigating. Now finding feasible locations is just that little bit harder.