Bend city councilor discusses homeless issues with concerned residents at Drake Park gathering

Afterward, citizen says: 'There’s areas that we disagree, there’s a few that we do agree on, and I think it was a really useful meeting.'

BEND, Ore (KTVZ) -- “The more shelters we have, the less people on the streets, the less crime that we have on our streets,” City Councilor Megan Perkins told dozens of concerned Bend residents at an informal forum Sunday morning at Drake Park.

With the ongoing controversy of where to develop homeless shelters and how to manage them, an informal forum involving Bend residents and city councilor Megan Perkins took place at Drake Park Sunday at 11AM.

More than 80 people showed up to share their concerns and seek answers at the event, initiated on Nextdoor.com to prompt deeper discussion and shed some clarity around Bend's homeless problem.

Todd Kane, moderator of the event, told Perkins, “I’d love to be able to draw a straight line between these efforts and when these people will be off the streets."

Frustrated with the homeless camps popping up around Bend and with months of discussion about managed camps in neighborhoods and near homes, several people expressed a desire for greater action from the city council.

“Our process is providing more shelter space in our community," Perkins said. "And just like some people like to live in apartments, some people like to live in single-family houses, some people like to live in duplexes. Not every houseless person fits in the same kind of housing type. So the idea is to build the variety of shelter types as we can, to fit our houseless community.

Perkins said these efforts will help put a dent in the growing houseless issue.

“We have, in Central Oregon, one of the largest unsheltered communities in the country (per capita)," she pointed out.

The issue of safety was brought to the table when discussing the development of shelters in residential areas.

Lisa Baker said, “If they only have to walk out of the gate to use drugs, that’s putting them in our school yards, that’s putting them in our backyards, that’s putting them in our parking lots."

Kane brought up the role of law enforcement and suggested a database for police to access, so they can keep track of available shelter beds.

“I’m talking about the RV that parked in one of these people’s neighborhoods that is dumping black sewage on the ground," Kane said. "Is that officer aware of actual beds available? And is he able to say to that gentleman, 'We have an actual bed available, do you want it? If the answer is no, you must leave!'"

Many attendees thought the forum was much-needed and hope to have more engagement with the council (though councilors have heard from dozens of residents in the visitors section of recent virtual council meetings).

Bill Gregoricus said, “I admire the city councilor for showing up today. And I only wish that she had at least two other city councilors, one of which should have been the mayor to stand here and support her. Having face-to-face dialogue gives a city councilor a chance to feel, as well as hear what the concerns are about any issue, but especially this homeless issue, which is creating a divide in this city.” 

Lisa McCarthy said, “I think she’s heard us loud and clear, in things that we do not want. And one of course, is (proposed) code changes to support low-barrier homeless shelters in our residential areas."

Baker said, “I did get an answer, saying she doesn’t support a (controversial proposed) camp at Ninth Street, which I was glad to hear. There’s areas that we disagree, there’s a few that we do agree on, and I think it was a really useful meeting,"