Bend Humanity Coalition

11/02/2022

Anyone following this Council’s approach to Bend’s homeless crisis could tell the Council did not really want to pass a camping ordinance in the first place. The questions from the public provided a convenient excuse to push the vote until after the upcoming City Council elections, in which two incumbents will appear on the ballot.

https://www.bendbulletin.com/opinion/guest-column-bend-city-council-misses-opportunity-on-homelessness/article_4091f9ae-5a00-11ed-add0-d7c95ab0d07f.html?utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR0aJllVse7XT7BYsPKdg75suaUuzcbqzk2yw6tT4HLZsLT5vCTtsjPGZFE

The Bend City Council has punted on homelessness. A move to pass a crucial homeless camping ordinance, which the council promised to Bend residents earlier this year, has been abandoned.

09/11/2022

The Bulletin Editorial: Bend policy on vehicle camping is coming

"Councilors are not close to finalizing new vehicle camping rules. They plan to give plenty of time for public feedback. And they sure seem inclined to make an extra effort to listen to the views of people who camp in their vehicles on Bend streets now."

A draft code may be ready for the council’s Sept. 21 meeting. The plan is the council may vote on the code in November. You can tell councilors what you think by emailing them at [email protected].

Read the full editorial here:
https://www.bendbulletin.com/opinion/editorial-bend-policy-on-vehicle-camping-is-coming/article_7fdc9f80-3091-11ed-ade0-e338c04cc118.html?utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

08/29/2022

"LOCATION CHANGE: Tonight’s informational open house on camping code to be held at City Hall.

The City of Bend’s informational open house on the camping code process has moved locations due to the active investigation into yesterday’s shooting at the Eastside Safeway in Bend. The informational open house, originally scheduled at the Municipal Court, will now take place this evening at 5:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall (710 NW Wall Street). It will also be available to view online."

The event will be streamed on the City of Bend YouTube channel. Those who wish to ask questions during the open house should register with this Zoom link (https://bendoregon-gov.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PTfksaq4T2SSgQu2npYCxQ?medium=email&source=govdelivery).

Information is also posted on the unsanctioned camping code webpage: https://www.bendoregon.gov/city-projects/community-priorities/houselessness/unsanctioned-camping-code?medium=email&source=govdelivery

View the City of Bend Police Department’s press conference on YouTube live from Muni Court at 12:30 p.m. // Vea la conferencia de prensa del Departamento de Policía de la Ciudad de Bend en YouTube en vivo a las 12:30 p.m.

08/24/2022

The longstanding, semi-permanent camp on Hunnell Road in Bend is dangerous. Bend has the authority right now to clear dangerous camps, and it should clear the Hunnell Road camp now. We cannot allow that camp to continue to act as a hub for distribution of fentanyl and other lethal drugs.

https://ktvz.com/news/bend/2022/08/23/cert-team-raids-hunnell-road-trailer-seizes-m**h-suspected-fentanyl-owner-arrested/?fbclid=IwAR195qfb5TM5ZZbYBCbpuqswsc5WgDbCme_bku1g4ZQaSaIldVO-0PkmD_s

The Central Oregon Emergency Response Team served a search warrant and arrested the owner of a trailer along Hunnell Road on Monday afternoon, seizing commercial amounts of m**hamphetamine and blue bills believed to contain Fentanyl.

08/08/2022

"A 51-year-old resident of Bend’s emergency shelter on Northeast Second Street was arrested and jailed Saturday night on assault and other charges, accused of stabbing a fellow shelter resident with whom he’s had confrontations in recent months, police said Sunday."

A 51-year-old resident of Bend’s emergency shelter on Northeast Second Street was arrested and jailed Saturday night on assault and other charges, accused of stabbing a fellow shelter resident with whom he’s had confrontations in recent months, police said Sunday.

07/28/2022

Bend is no stranger to California transplants but this is different. The homeless camp on Bend’s Hunnell Road is dangerous, featuring drive-by shootings, other violence and deaths. The City of Bend has the authority to clear this dangerous camp, but has failed to do so.

“It’s not as hot as we’re used to,” said Jeremy Prater, who moved with his wife from Northern California just weeks ago.

Jeremy Prater made the short trek Tuesday afternoon, as he does every day from his tent on Hunnell Road, to the misters and water spouts set up down the road

07/22/2022

Bend City Councilor Megan Perkins says, "We have much to celebrate!," in her latest update on houselessness. She goes on to provide details about all the locations increasing shelter capacity and supporting services. She also mentions the Council will develop a camping code to better regulate where, when and how unsanctioned camping can happen on City rights-of-way.

What do you think should be included in the camping ordinance?

To read the full update, click here:
https://www.bendoregon.gov/Home/Components/News/News/5325

06/29/2022

“The China Hat situation is clearly OUT of CONTROL. Som**hing must be done now. The 5th year of a drought is not a safe time to ignore the rules of camping in our forests.” - Deschutes County Commissioner Patti Adair.

Out in the woods off China Hat Road south of Bend, more than 100 people are facing a deadline.

06/15/2022

Bend City Council meeting tonight and they are scheduled to, at long last, talk about an ordinance to regulate homeless camps. Bend has waited too long to enact an ordinance to clear homeless camps, and we have the homeless problem to prove it. However, the fact that the City Council has dallied means we have specific examples of ordinances enacted in other cities that demonstrate what the Bend City Council can and should do here.

Check out our latest call to action, "Here's how Bend can clean up homeless camps," and send in your thoughts by email before the Council meets tonight: https://bendhumanitycoalition.org/action

05/18/2022

A new call to action is up at https://bendhumanitycoalition.org/action to oppose proposed code amendments tonight. Councilor Campbell does a good job of reading concerned citizen emails, and responding, but on this one, she's incorrect.

State law provided such uses on a temporary basis. Bend’s code amendments are permanent. The state changes will expire. The Bend code amendments will not.

Take a moment to send in your email to Bend City Councilors before the meeting tonight. You can write your own email, or revise a draft provided at https://bendhumanitycoalition.org/action.

05/18/2022

Tonight, the Bend City Council will hold another hearing on code changes that would allow homeless shelters in almost any zone in the city, including in residential neighborhoods. Shelters like the 2nd Street shelter, which are considered “low-barrier” because people can use the shelter even if they are intoxicated, would be permitted uses in the neighborhoods families, kids and elderly people call home. The code changes increase the likelihood that the next beating will occur not in a commercial area like 3rd Street, but a residential street corner, or next to a school or retirement home.

Not long ago, Bend was the kind of place older people weren’t beaten on city streets. The City Council must not make Bend into the kind of place where assaults, and worse, occur where we live, work, attend school and shop. Please take a moment to contact the City Council now, before 7 pm tonight, to ask them to put our community first and reject the dangerous shelter code changes. Then, please share this message with others in Bend and urge them to do the same. Together, we can keep Bend safe.

https://bendhumanitycoalition.org/action

05/06/2022

The City of Bend is spending $35,000 per homeless person, yet the number of people experiencing homelessness increased by 17% in the past year. Worse, the number of unsheltered homeless increased from 824 in 2021 to 1,016 in 2022, despite significant investment in, and expansion of, shelter capacity. Unsheltered homelessness, and the inhumane conditions that attend it, will continue to increase until the City of Bend joins other cities in the West in legally curtailing camping on public property.

The number of homeless people in Central Oregon, as measured in an annual, federally overseen "Point in Time" count in January, rose 17% to nearly 1,300, despite outreach team challenges posed by a surge in COVID-19 cases, the Homeless Leadership Coalition reported Friday.