Councilors approved a $45,300 agreement with Central Oregon Villages for Phase 1 of temporary Outdoor Shelters operations. Central Oregon Villages is proposing a high barrier shelter program requiring sobriety, with temporary Pallet shelters at 62010 SE 27th Street.
Here are Megan Perkins’ updates — post date: June 1, 2022, 9:09pm.
Bend City Council Houselessness Update June 1, 2022
Because of the broad community interest in housing and houselessness, the City Council added a standing agenda item to Council business meetings to provide regular updates on City Council’s work on addressing houselessness.
Megan Perkins’ 7pm Update —Agenda Item #3, Good of the Order:
Today, we are reaching another milestone in our efforts to provide temporary outdoor shelter to our unhoused community members in Bend. We will be voting later in today’s meeting to approve a contract for Phase 1 of temporary Outdoor Shelters operations. I’d like to talk about what that means and I urge anybody who is calling in or doing public comment tonight about this topic to listen so you can understand what we are and aren’t potentially approving this evening.
There are two phases for this contract to create an outdoor shelter. Phase 1 includes community outreach and engagement. It is also when a site for the outdoor shelter will be secured and when the operator will refine the outdoor shelter design and operating procedures with community input. Phase 2 of a contract would be when the proposed outdoor shelter is developed and begins operations. Today, we are only considering approving a Phase 1 contract.
The contract we are considering is with Central Oregon Villages. You may remember that they submitted two proposals to the City earlier this year to operate temporary outdoor shelters. One of the proposals seemed more feasible than the other and the City has been doing its due diligence to review that proposal in-depth and ask lots of questions. Now we’re at a point where we have the information we need to decide if we want to move forward with a Phase 1 contract with Central Oregon Villages.
Approving the Phase 1 contract would mean that Central Oregon Villages will move forward with community outreach and engagement for the proposed outdoor shelter site. They will secure the outdoor shelter site and refine the design and operating procedures and host community meetings to explain their plan for operations and get community input.
This phase will also include drafting a Good Neighbor Agreement. We get a lot of questions about Good Neighbor Agreements and their purpose, so I want to share more information about them.
First and foremost, Good Neighbor Agreements are not an enforcement mechanism. They are a communication tool for all parties — those living at the shelter, the shelter operator, neighbors and businesses. The purpose of this agreement is to identify ways for community stakeholders to work together to address potential impacts of the shelter and to formalize the goodwill and positive working relationships between stakeholders for the benefit of all neighbors. These agreements are not enforcement documents to regulate whether or not a permitted shelter is able to operate.
In addition to a Good Neighbor Agreement, there will be a code of conduct between the residents of the shelter and the operator that outlines the rules and guidelines residents agree to follow in order to live at the shelter.
During Phase 1 Central Oregon Villages will apply to the City for approval of the shelter under House Bill 2006. This is an important point about this proposed outdoor shelter. House Bill 2006 is a state bill that is responding to the current statewide housing crisis. It authorizes cities to allow emergency shelters if certain conditions are met. The law has been extended through July 1, 2023.
Approving a proposal under House Bill 2006 is a different process with different criteria than the shelter code updates City Council approved at our last meeting. HB 2006 does not follow a typical land use application process, and no hearing or notice is required on that type of application. However, because we anticipated that there would be outdoor shelters seeking approval under HB 2006, we added these important public engagement requirements and good neighbor agreements into the request for proposal for organizations seeking to operate an outdoor shelter in Bend.
I look forward to hearing more details about the proposed outdoor shelter site, its location, what types of shelters are proposed and the plan for community outreach as part of our presentation for that agenda item later on in our meeting.
~Councilor Megan Perkins
9:30pm Update — Agenda Item #9:
Councilors approved a $45,300 agreement with Central Oregon Villages for Phase 1 of temporary Outdoor Shelters operations. Central Oregon Villages is proposing a high barrier shelter program requiring sobriety, with temporary Pallet shelters at 62010 SE 27th Street.
The Phase 1 scope of work includes community outreach, developing a Good Neighbor Agreement, finalizing the lease for the site and refining the shelter program, including barriers to entry and a guest code of conduct. This scope of work does not fund or authorize operation of a shelter. If Phase 1 work is completed and the House Bill 2006 application is approved, an amendment will be presented for Council’s consideration for Phase 2, shelter operations. Specifics of the shelter design and program operations will be refined by Central Oregon Villages throughout Phase 1.
More details about where the funding comes from, and an overview of the scope of work and the proposal is in this issue summary Here is the presentation that presentation Council received.
