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<br />1 <br /> <br />Nightingale Health Sanctuary rest stop residents during <br />Everyone Matters Day event, April 2016 <br />Photo courtesy of City of Eugene <br />Community Supported Shelters “Safe Spot” rest stop residents <br />Photo courtesy of Community Supported Shelters <br />Purpose of this Handbook <br /> <br />In February 2017, the Eugene City Council directed the City Manager to work with task teams of <br />interested community members to identify potential new sites for rest stops. The Rest Stop and Car <br />Camping Programs provide safe and legal places for people who are unhoused to sleep overnight <br />and keep their belongings. While the Car Camping Program has existed for over a decade, the Rest <br />Stop Program began in 2013 and recently moved from a pilot phase to a permanent program with <br />the Council’s decision to remove its sunset date. The programs have been extensively community- <br />driven—an important component of their success. This handbook is intended to support these <br />community-led efforts and improve prospects for finding new places to site rest stops or car camps. <br />City staff will help support and be a resource to these groups, while the handbook allows teams of <br />neighbors to continue to move this work forward and grow awareness and opportunities for these <br />programs. <br /> <br /> The purpose of this handbook is to help prepare interested community members and <br />groups to talk about the City of Eugene’s Rest Stop and Car Camping Programs with others <br />in their neighborhoods and work with City staff and the community to identify eligible rest <br />stop sites for consideration and potential approval by the City Council. <br /> <br /> The intent is to assist and enable community members to conduct this work and outreach in <br />a way that engages them actively in different aspects of the process, increases transparency, <br />strengthens relationships, and builds trust and collaboration among neighbors, advocates, <br />the City, and the broader community. <br /> <br />As the process and guidelines for establishing a rest stop tend to be more circumscribed than those <br />for establishing car camping sites, the reader will find more detailed information about rest stops in <br />the handbook. Primary differences between the programs include: 1) rest stops can have capacity <br />for up to 20 people, while car camping sites allow up to 6 vehicles as defined by applicable City <br />code; 2) rest stop sites must be approved by the City Council, while car camping sites do not require <br />Council approval; and 3) establishing new rest stop sites requires more extensive outreach in the <br />immediate neighborhood. <br /> <br />We will update this handbook in the future to keep it relevant and accurate. Overall, we hope it is a <br />useful tool for community members who are interested in these programs and in engaging and <br />working with their neighbors to better understand and address homelessness in our community. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />January 23, 2019, Work Session - Item 2