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attend the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) event. He said <br />the City was in full budget mode. <br /> <br /> <br />B. WORK SESSION: <br /> Homeless Camping <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz had been contacted by a community member who was concerned about how the Oregon <br />Revised Statute (ORS) regarding people sleeping in their cars was written. She said this was an <br />ongoing situation that needed to be revisited annually. She said it was the council’s responsibility <br />to tweak the system to help a few people who did not have a place to live have a better quality of <br />life. <br /> <br />Richie Weinman, Community Development Division (CDD), and Lt. Pete Desphande, EPD, <br />provided an overview of homelessness in Eugene. <br /> <br />Mr. Weinman reported 3,971 homeless people were counted in Lane County and 2,541 people <br />were unsheltered during the one night homeless count on January 27, 2010. Eugene had been <br />confronted with illegal camping issues for decades, and had worked to find a balance between the <br />needs of the community’s most vulnerable residents and the health and safety concerns of property <br />owners and tenants. The current program included a contract with St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) to <br />manage the City’s legal spaces for which the City paid $89,000 for a staff person to manage the <br />spaces, the cost of portable restrooms and garbage pick-up at legal camping locations. <br /> <br />Mr. Desphande said the issue with EPD was one of balancing compassion and enforcement. He <br />reviewed the current protocols for enforcement action, which was complaint-driven. When EPD <br />received a complaint, staff contacted SVDP staff, who effectively dealt with the situations that <br />arose. If SVDP staff could not resolve issues, EPD was contacted. EPD then made contact with <br />the people and generally resolved the issue. Citations were rarely issued. While the system was not <br />perfect, the program was successful. He had been contacted by agencies in other states who were <br />interested in the partnership between the City and SVDP. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark appreciated Mr. Weinman’s characterization that enforcement in the past had been <br />adversarial and unsatisfactory. Mr. Clark recently had a complaint from a constituent regarding a <br />situation that lasted a considerable length of time before the campers could be helped. He <br />appreciated the newer model and the compassionate look, and hoped the City would be as <br />responsive as possible. He was interested in finding answers by being creative and perhaps being <br />more accommodating with restrictions on private property for people who wanted to be a part of <br />the solution. <br /> <br />Mr. Weinman explained that in the past, the police were more aggressive with enforcement of the <br />camping laws which resulted in police spending time on this issue at the expense of other <br />enforcement needs, greater anger and stress on the streets among homeless people, and no greater <br />success at reducing homelessness. When the ordinance was adopted in 1998, it contained <br />provisions for on-street camping and camping in other locations, with the intent of allowing <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 24, 2010 Page 3 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />