A person nestles in the belongings of homeless people Wednesday, taking shelter from extreme heat and smoke as ODOT sweeps a camp near Division and Aune streets on Bend's south side. 

People living on property owned by the Oregon Department of Transportation near U.S. Highway 97 in Bend moved this week, agreeing to the agency’s demands, but transportation officials are trying something different to address homelessness.

Earlier this month, ODOT designated an employee to engage with people living on its property, according to state transportation spokesperson Kacey Davey. However, that employee won’t be a full-time liaison but will have to visit encampments between duties as a maintenance worker — cleaning graffiti and picking up litter.

“We’re trying to be as proactive as we can to try and keep the amount of camps that we’re seeing in the right-of-way as small as possible,” Davey told The Bulletin.

She said the agency has been seeing progress with the new approach.

As of Thursday afternoon, 17 encampments, or about 20 people, had to move from a path near local brewpub Crux Fermentation Project, along with an area near the Reed Market Road and U.S. Highway 97 interchange, said Davey. ODOT crews began Wednesday and will continue through Aug. 25.

The agency’s new focus is a welcome change to those who had to move from the path near Crux on Wednesday, especially for those who want to stick to the rules, not cause trouble and remain near city amenities.

“They’re more empathetic, more patient,” said Lara Myers, who has lived on numerous ODOT parcels in recent months, including near the highway on-ramp at Revere Avenue.

Wednesday was at least the second time this year ODOT has cleared the area near the brewpub near Aune Street.

ODOT has seen people living on its property throughout the state, Davey said.

“It feels like anybody who has a city or a large population is experiencing a similar thing,” she said.

Part of the new focus is to help ODOT more efficiently maintain rights of way and reduce costs associated with property restoration and cleanups. The average cleanup like the one near Crux on Wednesday costs around $10,000 a day, according to ODOT’s most recent estimates. Those costs account for staff, hazmat crews, equipment, supplies and disposal fees.

The department’s property near Crux abuts city property, and both parcels were cleared in April. Afterward, the city immediately prohibited camping in the area because it contains a multiuse path. That seemed to work because the city did not have the same problem ODOT did this time around, according to city spokesperson Anne Aurand.

“We have a camping code, and we have one to two people out there actively enforcing it,” Aurand said.

While the city has been enforcing its camping code through complaints and proactive enforcement, some people are frustrated with being asked to move so frequently.

Shannon Johnson, who had been living on ODOT property near Crux for a few weeks, estimated Wednesday was the 15th time she’d had to move in the past six months. She wasn’t sure where she’d go next.

“It’s illegal to make camping illegal in the city,” she said. “So they make it impossible.”