The city of Bend conducts a sweep of people living on Hunnell Road in Bend on July 18.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by three homeless residents against Bend officials seeking a delay of a homeless encampment cleanup on the city’s northern edge.

In an opinion issued Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Judge Ann Aiken found numerous reasons to deny a challenge from Myntora Aguilar, Michelle Hester and Nicholas Schindler, who are homeless people with disabilities living in the Hunnell Road area, and Eric Garrity, local outreach provider with the Bend Equity Project. They all represented themselves.

The people behind the lawsuit

Who are the people challenging the Hunnell-Clausen area homeless sweeps?

The federal suit, which was filed Monday, requested a temporary restraining order, which would have effectively delayed the homeless encampment cleanup that began July 19 and will now continue starting Thursday morning.

Aiken determined the city was sound in its policies, specifically calling the city camping code, which regulates when, where and how people can camp or stay in their vehicles within city limits, reasonable.

“It is in the public interest to regulate public streets in a way that could allow all to use the roads,” Aiken’s opinion said, “including plaintiffs according to the camping code, and the public for passage.”

The suit came after an earlier decision from Deschutes County Circuit Judge Wells Ashby that had a similar outcome. That earlier legal challenge was at the core of the federal lawsuit, Aiken’s opinion read.

City sweeps camps

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Wednesday’s dismissal was a victory for city officials, who have been challenged in court three times in July related to homeless encampments.

“Judge Aiken today is yet another indication that our regulation of city property is reasonable,” City Councilor Anthony Broadman told The Bulletin on Wednesday. “Both Judge Aiken and Judge Ashby and council acknowledge that we have the responsibility to manage public space so that it’s safe for everyone.”

Broadman said he’s focused on the strides the city is making in creating new shelter beds, bolstering safe parking sites and encouraging new and affordable housing developments.

“This community, and all of us, is committed to choosing real solutions on homelessness,” Broadman said. “We’ve shown that.”

Garrity, the outreach provider, said the city has yet to put forth any long-term solutions to homelessness.

“If the city of Bend believes that sweeps are a good expenditure of taxpayer money or that the city of Bend camping code is not harmful to people experiencing homelessness and the efforts of service providers to get people off the street, then they should publicly make that argument,” Garrity wrote in an email to The Bulletin.

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Aiken ruled in her opinion that Garrity could not legally represent the Bend Equity Project, a nonprofit, or others experiencing homelessness. The organization needs to be represented by an attorney.

In response, he said retaining legal counsel “to protect the rights of the community members we serve … is certainly on the table and under active consideration.”