By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
YACHATS – Getting an ordinance on the books to addresses homeless camping in Yachats moved forward Thursday with a request by the city council that staff pen a rough draft highlighting where camping will not be allowed.
Yachats is the only city in Lincoln County without a public camping ordinance, which results in no enforcement options which in turn leads to nothing standing in the way of people pitching tents wherever they please on public property.
Mayor Craig Berdie opened the discussion at Thursday’s council work session by using the example of people camping on the grounds of the Little Log Church Museum. He said they have damaged the property, tapped into city water and have an aggressive dog that has kept city staff at bay.
The city spoke with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office but found that without an ordinance there’s little that can be done.
“From discussions with the sheriff …if we have an ordinance then we can cite them with violation of that ordinance … and ‘trespass’ them to Newport for violation of our ordinance,” Berdie said.
But without an ordinance, and even after neighbors voiced concerns about those campers, there are no options – which is a problem, Berdie added.
“Worst case scenario would be we could have 20 tents out in the green space out there and we could do nothing to stop it,” Berdie said. “So that’s my motivation for getting moving forward with this.”
The council and city staff will be mirroring camping ordinances put in place by other Lincoln County towns such as Waldport and Siletz. Their ordinances highlight where camping is not allowed but do not specify where it is allowed with the exception of private property, under certain conditions.
An Oregon law that went into affect July 1 requires cities and counties to allow people to sleep and rest on public property — with restrictions — when no shelter beds are accessible.
The decision not to include in the potential ordinance where in the city people are allowed to camp, which is not required by Oregon law, is based on what other local cities have done and on the advice of Yachats’ legal counsel, Berdie explained. But in order to keep enforcement of the ordinance from turning into a game of whack-a-mole, councilors said after the work session that whomever is tasked with enforcement could tell campers where they can go.
Interim city manager Rick Sant, whose duty it is to instruct city staff on drafting an ordinance and administering it, addressed the unique issues Yachats faces.
“We have a lot of challenges here,” Sant said. “We don’t have a lot of public property to begin with. We don’t have enforcement people. We don’t have a police officer. And so trying to enforce anything is going to be a challenge. So basically, I think what we should do is start with the simplest possible ordinance and see how it works.”
The public works department is currently understaffed and needs to hire a couple of people, but enforcement duty would likely fall to one of those new hires, said Sant who added that the hope is the local “houseless,” who are a core group of 10 or fewer people, will learn which places are okay to camp.
“It’s not like we have new people constantly coming through so I’m just hoping with time we can settle into a groove with everyone and they will be like ‘Yeah okay, we get it.’ But trying to combine compassion with concern for city property and private citizens, it’s tough and I don’t have any easy solutions.”
With that compassion in mind, councilors not only pushed to get an ordinance in place but they have also been in communication with the Yachats Community Presbyterian Church, which opened Don’s Place – a cold weather emergency shelter for the unhoused last February – about forming some sort of partnership.
Don’s Place
Don’s Place has five pods equipped with two bunks, heat and electrical outlets that sit on the west side of the church. They are currently open Nov. 1 through March 31 when temperatures drop below 35 degrees, or on rainy nights when the temperature is 40 degrees and colder. It also offers spaces for car campers.
The shelter, which is run by volunteers, would like to hire a few paid staff to help with operations, especially during the graveyard shift which has proven a particularly tough time for volunteers. The church is currently working to get on-site laundry facilities (now done at volunteer’s homes or laundromats) as well as an indoor bathroom and shower. It currently offers porta potties.
Pastor Bob Barrett and church secretary Barbara Loza-Muriera, who helps lead shelter operations, gave a presentation about their efforts prior to council’s camping ordinance discussion. While working out some sort of partnership was left for future discussions, councilors did say they would consider a waiver of water and sewer fees to help the shelter.
The city gave Don’s Place $75,000 a year ago to help get it up and running. It also received a $20,000 grant from the county and a Yachats’ resident donated $15,000. The county also kicked in $8,000 toward laundry facilities. Small donations have trickled in since, as well as an anonymous $10,000 donation. Most recently, the shelter received $60,000 from the state as part of the rapid-rehousing assistance program.
While that may sound like a lot of money, the bulk goes toward supporting infrastructure — bathrooms $60,000; fencing $30,000 and laundry another $10,000. Then there are utilities, water and cleaning and laundry supplies, Barrett said.
From separate funds, the church operates a free food pantry, which has seen record numbers of users recently, Barrett said. It served 367 people last month with about 500 meals. That included not only unhoused people, but also elderly on fixed incomes and the working poor.
“We are seeing a lot more young families with kids,” Loza-Muriera told the YachatsNews.
Homeless numbers
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report there are roughly 582,642 homeless in the United States. Other numbers include:
- Oregon has the fourth highest rate of homeless per capita across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with about 42.35 homeless out of every 10,000 people. By that measure Washington D.C. has the most at 65.64 per 10,000, followed by California at 43.95 and then Vermont at 42.96.
- Oregon had a 22.5 percent increase in homeless (3,304 people) between 2020-2022, the fourth highest per capita in the nation.
- Oregon also sits fourth in the nation for highest percentage of people experiencing homelessness who are unsheltered. It is estimated there are 17,595 homeless in Oregon and of those 11,088 are unsheltered.
- In a two-part series on homelessness published last spring, YachatsNews estimated there are as many as 1,500 homeless people – including hundreds of students in unstable housing — in Lincoln County, population 50,000.
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
Yachats can afford to have Sheriff here like they do in Waldport, and as a resident who has paid plenty to the local fire station’s numerous tax levies, I would support paying extra in taxes to have Sheriff enforcement of trespass, loitering, vagrancy, and drug use/ intoxication issues that are part of having drifters in our town. With addicts comes dealing and stealing. They can also get services in either Newport, or Florence that we can’t provide here. We need regulation on this issue or it will get out of control.
I absolutely agree with Yvonne. We need to have law enforcement in this town. That would be a tax worth paying.