Bend city councilors applaud early sign of progress on homeless front; annual count indicates reduction
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Bend city councilors got one last visitor-section round of criticism and quite the online survey result last Wednesday evening before a unanimous, final roll-call vote - without comment - to adopt a much-debated transportation utility fee. But an early, promising sign of a positive impact on the homelessness crisis brought an upbeat end to the relatively short meeting.
The preliminary report from the Homeless Leadership Coalition's Point in Time Count shows a reduction in Bend and Redmond, but more homeless in smaller cities and rural areas, for an overall increase to 1,811 homeless in January's survey.
The report was given at an HLC meeting last week, viewable here on YouTube:
As for last week's council meeting, several more visitors appeared to speak against the transportation fee after just two testified at the last meeting's public hearing, before the council voted unanimously to hold the first reading.
A 50-year Bend resident said, “I don’t quite understand being able to put a fee that isn’t voted on by any of us – a fee that is actually a tax – how you have the authority to put that on the utility bill.”
The next speaker rolled to the mic in a wheelchair said his internet poll found 93% of those responding didn’t want the fee: “They say enough is enough.” He said the opposition cut across party lines: “It’s bringing us all together, you might say.”
Another speaker said, “The timing of this fee is horrible. The economy is just starting to recover from the effects of the pandemic,” and with prices for “basic needs” ever increasing, it’s “really going to hurt the economy.”
Here’s the city’s news release on the fee approval, sent out after the vote:
City of Bend Adopts Transportation Fee
The Bend City Council adopted the Transportation Fee on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at their regular City Council meeting.
A Transportation Fee is a recurring fee collected from residents and businesses because of their impact to the transportation system in City limits. The fee provides a stable source of revenue to support our transportation system, allowing for safe and efficient movement of people, goods, and services.
The Transportation Fee is collected through the customer’s regular utility bill. The fee is a charge, like a monthly sewer charge, to ensure users of the road system share the costs of maintenance needed to keep the street system operating at an adequate level.
The City maintains a growing transportation system that includes 900 lane miles (an 11% increase since 2008), 516 sidewalk miles, and, in recent years, an expanding network of striped, separated, and buffered bike lanes (111 miles and counting). Limited funding, a growing transportation system, and cost escalation have resulted in an increasing backlog of maintenance needs. The City can no longer rely on declining and discretionary funds to maintain its transportation network.
Maintaining our transportation system is crucial to protecting the City's investments. Some benefits of the Transportation Fee include:
- Protected assets: Protecting the investment we've made in our transportation system by keeping good roads good through cost-effective preventative maintenance.
- Better service: More frequent sweeping, plowing, and striping on priority routes, including streets, bike lanes, roundabouts, bridges, and key cycling routes.
- Increased safety: An increase in buffered bike lanes, sidewalks, ADA ramps, multi-use paths, and safer intersections and crossings.
- Improved quality: Fewer potholes and smoother pavement.
The fee will be phased in and will start appearing on utility bills after July 1, 2024. Phase 1 will have a revenue target of $5 million in fiscal year 2024-2025. Single-unit utility bill accounts will pay $5.60/month the first year. Multi-unit attached housing (like an apartment) accounts will pay $4.15/month (per unit) and households that qualify for Utility Billing Assistance $2.80/month in the first year.
To learn more about the Transportation Fee, visit bendoregon.gov/transportation-fee.
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But other speakers during the visitor section focused on other issues, including continued concern about planned system development charge increases, especially concerning to medical facilities.
Several visitors who spoke were from First Presbyterian Church, expressing frustration by the city's decision not to accept their bid for adjoining property on SE Ninth Street -- two years ago the focus of controversy for a proposed, then abandoned proposal for a homeless camp. They hope to combine that land with vacant church property to build 100 units of affordable housing.
Mayor Melanie Kebler gave a prepared statement before they spoke:
"Council elected to surplus the property on SE 9th Street for general housing uses, not limited to affordable housing, and therefore the AHAC (Affordable Housing Advisory Committee) process isn’t applicable to this RFP. The real estate director was given direction to offer the property for sale through a competitive bid/request for proposal (RFP) process, as is typical for such surplus properties. After careful review of the proposals, Council has elected to not proceed with any of the submitted proposals at this time."
Toward the end of the meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Megan Perkins shared some preliminary numbers from this year's Homeless Leadership Coalition Point in Time homeless count, the federally required annual effort that takes place for a week in January.
While the region’s overall houseless count still rose about 10 percent, to 1,811, Bend’s count actually declined by about 5 percent, from 1,012 last year to 959 this time. (Redmond’s count also fell, while other areas saw increases.)
“I think this is a really, really big deal,” Perkins said, and thanks were offered to city staff who focus on the issues, as well as shelter partners and others involved organizations. She noted the city also created 112 more shelter beds last year between the Franklin Avenue shelter, Central Oregon Villages and Stepping Stone.
The percentage of homeless who are unsheltered also declined, from 73% to 65%, she said, but 43% of the homeless said it was a chronic situation, and financial issues were among the top reasons.
Still, she said, while the numbers are preliminary, it shows the efforts made are “starting to work.”
Mayor Kebler also said she was honestly surprised, as the numbers had risen for over a decade, to see the area “bending the curve.”
City Manager Eric King also credited the partnerships with places like Shepherd’s House and Central Oregon Villages – noting that the city didn’t just put out requests for proposals and hand off the work but created partnerships, helping with grant administration, while showing nimbleness and creativity.
King’s next report item asked residents, especially pedestrians and cyclists, for patience about road cleanup after the late-season snow and ice storms. He said the city put out three times the amount of sand and gravel as it has in a typical year, when breaks between storms usually allow for more in-between cleaning work. “Every moment we can, we have someone on a sweeper.”
And circling back to the transportation fee, the plan for Phase 2, the second year, is to “bring on additional utility crews – boots on the ground.”
