Local government officials met with nearly two dozen providers of homeless services Tuesday morning in Redmond as Deschutes County works to devise plans for a managed homeless camp on the eastern edge of the city.

Tuesday was the first time the governments met formally with the group of nonprofits since the Deschutes County Commission voted to move forward with a specific model and location for the camp on July 29. The meeting was intended to gather feedback from the nonprofits, which the county would pay to run the camp, about what would make it successful.

Read more

Deschutes County to pursue managed homeless camp on 45 acres in east Redmond

With plans still in early stages, service providers said the project is too complex for a single nonprofit to tackle, and signaled that more funding will be needed beyond what’s already been identified.

The commission’s vote in late July set guidelines for the camp’s general structure: a fenced area with designated campsites, portable toilets, dumpsters, security patrols, on-site case management services and a camp host to monitor the camp. The camp would cover a portion of 45 acres of county property just inside the Redmond urban growth boundary, north of state Highway 126 and Oasis Village, a tiny-home shelter site.

The county plans to issue a request for proposals to determine who would run which parts of the camp and where exactly it would be located, said Kristie Bollinger, property manager for Deschutes County. She added that the camp would likely be on the south end of the 45-acre parcel, closer to the highway and other infrastructure.

“We have lots of flexibility, and we’re really eager to get your input on what that could look like,” she said.

New model

The proposal to create a managed camp in Redmond is unlike any other transitional housing project in Central Oregon, said John Lodise, director of shelter services for Shepherd’s House Ministries, which runs shelters in Bend and Redmond. He said the scope of the project will require multiple groups working together.

“It’s clear you’ve got experts in different areas,” he said.

Read more

Service ‘hub’ homeless shelter model is working in Bend, leaders say

Building a new shelter model from scratch will take time and money, said Erik Nelson, housing specialist with the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council. Funding for the east Redmond camp could come from the $1.5 million allocated for managed homeless camps by the Deschutes County Commission earlier this year. Although the money has not been awarded, a handful of projects are already competing for it, including expansions of safe parking, tiny home villages and other managed camps.

Even the full $1.5 million would likely not be enough to develop and staff the camp, Nelson said. In addition, service providers estimated it would cost about $1 million annually to operate the camp after that.

The county hasn’t yet allocated any ongoing funding for the project.

Many service providers operate on shoestring budgets, meaning funding sources are critical before jumping into a project, said Eliza Wilson, chair of the board for the Homeless Leadership Coalition, which administers state and federal grants for homelessness in Central Oregon. She said state and federal awards aren’t compatible with the type of outdoor managed camp under discussion, meaning funding will most likely have to come from cities and counties.

That was a fear of Commissioner Tony DeBone, who said the county had “stepped into quicksand” by voting to move forward with the development of a managed camp. He voted against it, pushing for a model similar to what the county is providing at Juniper Ridge with dumpsters, toilets, security patrols and case management but no full-time staff.

He argued a less time- and money-intensive camp would allow the county to more promptly address unauthorized encampments, especially after a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling provided local officials more legal confidence to enforce bans against camping on public lands.

Competing goals

The east Redmond camp is a potential alternative living place for unhoused people camped among undeveloped juniper forest just outside the city limits. The area is slated for industrial development following a pending land swap between Deschutes County and the Department of State Lands. But the state has put the deal on hold until the county removes unauthorized encampments from the land.

Rick Russell, executive director of Mountain View Development, which runs safe parking programs in Redmond, said he feels the managed camp has competing goals between county commissioners and service providers, and wanted more clarity about the intent of the project.

Read more

Grants Pass case gives Central Oregon lawmakers confidence in camping bans

“Is the goal to help people transition out of unauthorized encampments into stable housing? That’s a different goal than trying to accommodate a (Department of State Lands) land swap,” he said.

For the managed camp to work, it will need to provide enough services to incentivize people to leave their encampments, said Margaret Maffair, a volunteer with the Redmond Street Kitchen. Asking people to move to a place without those services could jeopardize trust between service providers and the homeless community, she said.

The sentiment was echoed by Bob Bohac, who has provided outreach services in the area for eight years and helped develop Oasis Village. Some of the people camped on county land east of Redmond were swept from Central Oregon Irrigation District property several years ago, he said.

“We can only do that so many times before people out there lose absolute trust in anybody in a position of authority or even of service providers to be able to help them,” he said.

He said survival items will be essential to the success of the camp: year-round water, which would likely only be achievable by drilling a well; and propane for cooking, which limits the need for open flames and reduces wildfire risk, he said.