Deschutes County commissioners discuss homeless, other issues with Redmond city councilors

(Update: Adding video, comments by county officials,)

June town hall planned on homelessness issues

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Deschutes County commissioners and Redmond city councilors discussed several Redmond-area projects during their joint meeting Tuesday evening, but as with so many meetings of late, the issue of homelessness was a prime focus.

The two bodies got updates on the Skyline Village affordable housing project, a North County Campus, including a Stabilization Center, and the end date for the downtown district's urban renewal plan.

As they did with Sisters city councilors last week, county officials gave an update on legislation awaiting the governor's signature. House Bill 4123 . The county and Bend, La Pine, Redmond and Sisters were selected to be one of eight pilot projects around the state, each getting $1 million to work on better county-city coordination on the difficult issues of homelessness.

County Administrator Nick Lelack said they're scheduling a joint meeting with the Bend City Council on April 8.

"It is important to invite the city managers, and one councilor from each city to that meeting, since we're all going to be working on this really important project together, Lelack said.

There also was an update on Oasis Village, a project to house members of the Redmond area's homeless community in small homes, similar to the Central Oregon Veterans Village that opened in Bend last Veterans Day and recently had its first program graduate. The organization is hoping to have its first residents this fall.

Deputy County Administrator Erik Kropp said a Medford nonprofit, Rogue Retreat, was hired to provide technical assistance for the Oasis Village project, which has received about $1 million in funds from the county, state and Central Oregon Health Council.

The project will be located on two acres of a 10-acre county-owned site, with fundraising underway for individual shelter units and Rogue Village helping the organization to make it sustainable for the long term.

Lelack said plans are underway for a June town hall meeting involving all the local governments.

County Cmmissioner Phil Chang said a big part of that town hall will be to first discuss who the area's homeless really are.

Chang said the debates over how homelessness issues are dealt with stem in part from "differing public perceptions of whom the homeless are."

"So for example, people who believe that all of the … people experiencing homelessness in Deschutes County aren't from here, have substance use disorder and don't want to work are going to have certain kind of policy ideas about how to address homelessness," he said. "But I can tell you that statistically, the typical person experiencing homelessness in Deschutes County is none of those things."

Mayor George Endicott expressed support for the new, coordinated effort and the upcoming town hall on the homeless issue.