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residents adversely affected by homeless camping. Ms. Ortiz wondered if the City had turned away any <br />opportunities for additional camping sites due to a lack of funds. Mr. Wise said there were some <br />additional sites currently under consideration. He noted that each site, some of which could <br />accommodate multiple campers, cost approximately $1,000 annually; that did not include staff time or the <br />costs of towing. <br />Ms. Ortiz supported additional funding to support more camping sites. She asked how residents could <br />secure signs prohibiting overnight camping on their streets. Sergeant Stubbs reported that Public Works <br />considered the placement of such signs on a case -by -case basis. City Manager Ruiz invited Ms. Ortiz to <br />send staff suggestions for sign locations. Ms. Ortiz suggested staff develop a matrix that residents could <br />review to determine if their street was suitable for such a sign. She cited location on a dead end street <br />leading to a park as an example criterion for such a sign. <br />Responding to a question from Mr. Pryor about the proportion of car campers who were situationally <br />homeless as opposed to being chronically homeless, Mr. Wise said almost all the families in the Family <br />Program were situationally homeless and because of that received more intensive assistance and case <br />management. The majority of single campers were chronically homeless, some with mental illness or <br />other disabilities. The majority of those on the street or at the Service Station would never be self - <br />supporting unless there was a major shift in how the country addressed such problems. <br />Mr. Pryor suggested the chronically homeless required a different and more structural solution. Mr. Wise <br />believed how the problem was managed was a key factor in the program's success. It was not possible to <br />have sufficient legal camping spaces to address all the demand, but the structure of the program fostered <br />cooperation on the part of campers and helped to meet the need. Mr. Wise suggested that overall, the <br />program worked amazingly well, and noted that jurisdictions such as Santa Barbara and Shasta County <br />had adopted elements of Eugene's program and Seattle was considering adoption of a similar model. <br />Responding to a question from Mr. Pryor about the potential of more consistent enforcement that did not <br />depend on officers having free time, Sergeant Stubbs said that enforcement had been added to the call <br />screen and all patrol officers would address such calls, leading to a more expedited response. <br />Mr. Clark believed that homeless camping was growing into a more significant problem that required a <br />better response from the City. He suggested that the City could do more to work with private property <br />owners who wished to make their property available for camping. Mr. Clark determined from Sergeant <br />Stubbs that enforcement of illegal camping in the parks was largely complaint- driven, although officers <br />did some proactive enforcement as time allowed. Mr. Clark determined from Mr. Wise that the "safe <br />parks" concept was never funded or implemented. <br />Mayor Piercy recommended that the council hold another session on related homeless camping issues. <br />She suggested that staff consider changes to the code that might help improve conditions for residents, <br />such as a good neighbor policy that prohibited the behavior mentioned by Mr. Poling. She also suggested <br />that the City actively advertise the need for more camping spots and publicize its assistance with <br />sanitation. Speaking to the potential of more prohibited camping signs, Mayor Piercy suggested that such <br />signs merely pushed the problem to the next block and represented a limited solution. She asked what <br />role mediation played in disputes between campers and neighbors. <br />Mayor Piercy noted that Corvallis had recently received a donated house for "wet beds" and suggested <br />that Eugene might learn from that experience and attempt something similar, as that approach was more <br />cost - effective than allowing homeless individuals to end up in the emergency room. <br />MINUTES — Eugene City Council June 13, 2011 Page 3 <br />Work Session <br />