Eugene removes tents from condoned camping site at 13th Avenue, Chambers Street amid cleanup efforts
Bethany Short has lived in the city of Eugene's condoned camping site on 13th Avenue and Chambers Street since early spring.
When she returned from a job Friday afternoon, she said, her tent was gone — along with all of her possessions.
While removing tents was a possibility of the city's cleanup efforts at the site, it wasn't the intent, said Kelly McIver, a spokesperson for the city’s homelessness response. Staff are focused on cleaning up trash and keeping spaces within the site to a defined area, he said.
The site at 13th and Chambers, along with Washington Jefferson Park, is a sanctioned urban camping site where people can stay while the city works to set up Safe Sleep sites — areas for people with nowhere else to legally sleep in their vehicle, a tent or a Conestoga hut or other provided structure.
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Safe Sleep spots and the urban camping sites give people a stable place to stay as the coronavirus pandemic exacerbates the city's ongoing homelessness crisis.
To stay at the sites, though, people must comply with city rules. If they don't, staff may ask them to leave.
Short said she was "really upset and distraught" to find all her clothes, food, tarps and the place she lives gone. It can take time to find the supplies needed to survive outside this time of year.
City asking campers to keep to size limit
City of Eugene staff are working on cleanup around condoned sites and making sure tents stay within a 12-by-12-foot size limit, McIver said Friday evening. He added some sites have grown “much larger” than that.
Campers at both temporary camps have received information about criteria, McIver said, including the expectation to manage debris and stay within the designated spaces.
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Site monitors "consistently remind campers of the criteria and what they need to do to be in compliance," he said, and they often campers dispose of trash and adjust their spaces.
When someone isn't in compliance, they receive a 72-hour notice allowing them to address any noted issues.
If they don't comply within that time, he said, staff cleans the site and remove "all personal property left during the cleaning," including abandoned tents. The notice informs campers that's possible, he added, and they can remove personal property that would be removed if they don't come into compliance.
Short said she believes her tent was within the size limit and in compliance with the city's rules.
City leaders weren’t necessarily expecting to remove anyone at the site, McIver said.
“There's definitely not any of an intent to reduce … by number of people,” he said.
Site monitors continue to encourage people not to accumulate too much stuff and expand beyond the designated space, he said, but some people “might just need some more time and encouragement.”
If someone repeatedly refuses to comply and it becomes “problematic” and creates tension with other campers, McIver said, the city might ask that person to leave, but that isn’t part of the plan.
Some notice increase in tent removal
The city announced it would begin following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's interim guidance on people experiencing unsheltered homelessness last December.
That guidance recommends tents have at least 12 feet by 12 feet of space per individual. Activists often have pointed out the city's maximum size of tents is the CDC's recommended minimum during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
At least one activist says the city appears to be ramping up enforcement of the size limit.
Trisha Campbell, an activist with Stop the Sweeps, said she's seeing more and more tents removed in both sites where the city is temporarily allowing camping.
"The amount of tents that have been gone, just over the past few weeks, has been shocking," Campbell said.
McIver realizes some people don’t agree with the criteria but said it’s where the city “landed to try and keep things somewhat healthy and safe for people who are staying there and staff who work there and other visitors to parks.” The city-owned site at 13th and Chambers isn't a park, but similar rules apply in Washington Jefferson Park.
McIver added campers know the criteria and the consequences for choosing not to comply.
"The vast majority of campers, with support from site staff, maintain compliance with the criteria," he said.
Some tents may move within the area for reasons other than compliance issues, McIver added. With wet weather setting in, the city also needs to move some sites within the same area to drier spots as laying down bark and other materials to keep the ground dry enough isn’t working in every case, he said.
The work will continue into next week, he said.
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McIver stressed the city is not disbanding the temporarily sanctioned urban camp at the site.
If that were to happen either at 13th and Chambers or Washington Jefferson Park, he said, campers and service providers will have “plenty of advance notice” to give them time to prepare.
“We know that moving is a big deal and especially for that community the uncertainty … can be distressing, so we want to try to make sure that people have plenty of time,” he said.
During a count a few weeks ago, there were 63 people at the site, McIver said.
Contact reporter Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick at Tatiana@registerguard.com or 541-521-7512, and follow her on Twitter @TatianaSophiaPT. Contact city government watchdog Megan Banta at mbanta@registerguard.com. Follow her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Eugene removes campers from condoned site on 13th Avenue
