Bend Planning Commission hears strong objections to proposed shelter code amendments

Greenwood Avenue insurance business is among those who have dealt with homeless impacts

(Update: Comments from Bend business, former Bend mayor, city councilor, citizen testimony)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Bend Planning Commission asked staff questions and heard over an hour of testimony Monday evening from citizens all voicing opposition and raising concerns about proposed development code amendments that would allow more homeless shelters and hardship housing in their neighborhoods.

Though a citizen survey was conducted and months of public meetings by a citizen advisory panel crafting the rules, there was overwhelming backlash from Bend residents about the growing homeless population and city plans for permitting shelters in residential areas, part of the effort to address a City Council goal to allow a variety of shelters to house 500 houseless people.

One of the Bend businesses that has had many troubling encounters with the homeless says the problem is more complicated and just more shelter beds.

Chuck Reponen, an insurance producer for The Robson Insurance Agency, was allegedly assaulted by a homeless man a week ago.

“He used some language like he was going to kill me. He made threatening motions with the sticks, and basically come up and hit my hands with the sticks," Insurance producer for The Robson Insurance Agency, Chuck Reponen said Monday.

The owner of the insurance business on Greenwood Avenue, Scott Robson, deliberates that an important step in solving the homeless issue has more to do addressing mental health issues.

“The experiences we are getting now are mentally ill people," Robson said. "We need to detox these homeless people that are on meth and fentanyl because what we’re seeing here is way different than six months or a year ago when we had vodka Joe hanging underneath the staircase."

He stated the safety of staff and customers is at risk.

“We had another gentleman pushing his cart -- stops right out in front of the door, charges the door, tries to pull it open, and starts yelling at one of our employees," Robson said. "I've had them urinating in the back of the building when my staff pulls up in the morning, pants down, peeing on the building."

In the case of the homeless who allegedly assaulted Reoponen, Robson said when he spoke to police, he learned the man had been arrested several times before.

As far as the need for more shelters to resolve the homeless issue, Reponen is doubtful.

“From one standpoint, shelters are effective, but the people actually have to want to go there and do that," Reponen said.

Jeff Eager is a former Bend mayor and a consultant with the Bend Humanity Coalition. Based on analysis done by the coalition, Eager believes the homeless camps deter from tackling the issue.

“That even when you sweep those camps, as the city did on Emerson Street in the summer, most people don’t go to the shelters,” he said.

Eager said the city needs to stand firm in denying homeless the option of living on the streets and sidewalks, though the city cites state law and a court ruling that says adequate shelter space must be available. Eager's group cited data that there have been more than enough shelter beds much of the past year, a position criticized by City Councilor Megan Perkins.

Although Eager said shelters need to be available, he claimed Bend has become notably lenient in allowing homeless to stay on the streets. With less tolerance, he said some people would either go to the shelters or have to leave town.

Perkins holds that with the growing homeless population, however, more shelters is a necessity and the capacity at shelters have increased.

“People who live and work in Bend can afford housing in Bend” -- that is the housing goal of the Bend City Council. 

However, to make that possible, amending development codes to allow more shelters to house the estimated 500 homeless (temporarily or permanently) individuals in Bend is one of the most controversial areas where the city is directing some of its efforts. 

The current city codes don’t provide a standard for maximum size or duration of a shelter, officials say. Additionally, the Bend Development Code regulations treat shelters as “temporary housing,” which are only allowed in a limited number of zoning districts. 

The Bend Planning Commission held its hearing addressing proposed shelter code changes that will allow for a variety of shelter types and services for the homeless.

The proposal includes three permanent shelter types- --Outdoor, Multi-Room, and Group Shelters, and two temporary shelter types -- a Temporary Shelter and a provision for Hardship Housing, which replaces the existing Medical Hardship Housing.

Housing Director Lynne McConnell and other staff provided an hour-long update on the virtual meeting about the latest data and the details of the proposals, noting that while there are now 280 shelter beds in the area, staffing challenges everyone is facing doesn’t mean that many are available.

After a half-hour of interaction with staff on the proposals, the planning commissioners heard lots specific concerns and questions in testimony Monday evening – such as CC&Rs, which the city doesn’t enforce, as they are between private parties.

The very first speaker said it bluntly: “You need to mail every Bend resident a letter” detailing the proposed changes, in clear English so “you don’t need to be a planning commissioner or attorney to understand it.”

“You are creating a welfare state,” she warned. “Create permanent, low-barrier shelters in residential areas, and it will affect property values forever. … Your outreach to the community was a failure.”

“We demand an impact study by a neutral third party that we approve of, and the results of that study need to be mailed out to every resident” of the city, she said.

Several other speakers urged the city to slow down or pause the process until more residents understand what’s at stake and can get their questions answered.

One said if the state allows a buffer of 1,000 feet between schools and any drug-related business, such a buffer should be allowed between schools and homeless shelters.

“This is abhorrent,” a senior with a paid-off home said. “I will have seven RVs in my neighborhood. Who’s going to protect me?”

Staff later tried to address some of the issues raised. Senior Planner Pauline Hardie noted that a city-permitted short-term rental is prohibited to be in an RV, and must be in a dwelling unit, so it “would definitely go to code enforcement” and the permit could be revoked. There also is current city code addressing illegal dumping in a right of way.

Commission Chair Scott Winters said the goal “is to permit regulated camps, to get (the homeless) out of unregulated camps.” But colleague Hill Goatcher noted the “blurry line” between land-use laws and the enforcement and city regulations.

But the planning commission deals more with land-use rules, such as parking and sewer or septic requirements, and after the hour-plus of frustration, even anger in testimony, spent much time talking about a need for something their system doesn’t really allow – public dialogue and a forum with the city, not just taking public testimony without getting into the back-and-forth that could answer some questions.

One commonly voiced concern was whether the “temporary hardship” RVs in a driveway, for example, could turn into a short- or long-term housing, with rent paid.

The details of the rules for each shelter, staff noted, would come from those who propose the shelters, which would go through their own land-use approval process. But that uncertainty doesn’t help quell the worries of residents about their neighborhood’s safety.

Planning commissioners will return to the issues for more deliberation in a week, to try to help ease some community members’ minds.

The city council is scheduled to review the recommendation and hold its own hearing in coming weeks, with possible adoption by early May, before state "super-siting" rules for shelters under House Bill 2006 sunset on July 1.