Draco DeMontes prepares for the upcoming sweep of homeless camps on NE Second Street in Bend on Tuesday.

Increased calls for police response and campsites extending into roads have prompted the city of Bend to schedule another sweep in the area of NE Second Street, between NE Franklin and NE Greenwood avenues.

The homeless campers living on Second Street, and the service providers that help them, were told the city sweep will begin Oct. 25, after an assessment by Bend Police and the city last month that determined the campsites were “unsafe.”

Earlier this year, the city swept the same area in February and March.

This summer, from Aug. 22 to Sept. 22, police received over 120 calls for response to the area, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz told the city in a memo. Typically, before people camped on and around Second Street, police received less than eight calls a month. Then the frequency of calls skyrocketed to around 40 or more calls for police response per month in August.

“This amount of police calls for service to such a small geographic area indicates an overall negative community impact on public health, safety and livability,” Krantz said.

During the same time period, over 10,000 pounds of trash was collected from the area, Krantz said.

Central Oregon Bio Solutions, the cleanup company contracted by the city, maintains the area picking up trash and debris. Some employees take it upon themselves to check on people sheltering in the area.

“We’re trying to keep it a little cleaner and still provide services to the city as well,” said Darrell Goddard, an employee with the cleanup company.

The conditions on Second Street have improved greatly in the past year or so, said Gerritt Spatz, also with the cleanup company. There has been a decrease in unsanitary conditions, Spatz said. Daniel Elder, the general manager of the Campfire Hotel located near those living on Second Street, said this is the fourth time he has seen camps being cleared in that area since the summer of 2021.

“Unfortunately, I’ve seen the impact this has on people when they clear a camp. It’s extremely stressful,” Elder said.

Removal often increases dangerous activity in the area, Elder said. Neither the business community nor the unhoused population ever really win when it comes to removing camps, he said.

It’s important to build trust before removing people from their camps in any city, and not just Bend, said Cheyenne Purrington, the executive director of the newly established Coordinated Houseless Response Office.

Connections to further care, essential resources and housing opportunities are imperative to the process when clearing a camp, Purrington said. The office seeks to bridge gaps between Deschutes County and its cities in addressing homelessness.

“I am not pro-encampment, and that’s because no encampment setting is really intended for human habitation,” she said.

Some living in the area said there hasn’t been much contact with the city or connection to resources. Casey DeMontes, who lives on Second Street, said it is not often that she is told where she can go. She is only told where she can’t.

“Every place where I’ve been, I’ve been kicked out of,” said Casey’s husband, Draco DeMontes, who has lived on Second Street for around three months.

“We’re being forced out of a spot where we have gained comfort and safety. Not just safety by ourselves but safety in numbers,” DeMontes said.

Casey DeMontes said she doesn’t know where she and her husband will go after Oct. 25 and they are no longer allowed to live on Second Street. Casey DeMontes is disabled and has been homeless for about a year. She her husband can’t afford to repair her car, which they desperately need because it’s difficult for her to move around with her disability.

“I grew up here. I’ve lived here since the ‘90s. I went to school here. I had my kids here. I got my career here. Why should I have to move?” Casey DeMontes said.

The order for removal comes at a time when the city is developing an unsanctioned camping code that seeks to ban camping on city property if shelter is available.

“This campsite is an unsafe campsite right now, and we don’t know if and when that code will be in place,” said Anne Aurand, the city communications director.

The proposed code could be a long-term solution to assisting Bend’s unhoused population in addition to engaging and funding service providers and working to increase shelter capacity, Aurand said.

“Those are probably more effective solutions than repetitive closures and cleanups,” Aurand said