Deschutes County commissioners vote 2-1 to add six Safe Parking microshelters on spot near Sheriff’s Office
Barney Lerten
(Update: Adding video)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — It wasn’t your typical split as Deschutes County commissioners voted 2-1 Wednesday to lease a small parcel at the county’s Public Safety Campus to Mountain View Community Development for up to six micro-shelters to house the homeless, part of its Safe Parking program.
Commissioners Phil Chang and Patti Adair voted to have county staff draft a lease with with Mountain View Community Development of the quarter-acre parcel at the southeast corner of the campus housing the sheriff’s office and other departments.
But fellow Commissioner and board Chairman Tony DeBone said he would not support the move, questioning the timeline, long-term funding certainty and other aspects of the project. He said Safe Parking sites, to him, involve RVs or trailers and not more permanent structures, though these don’t have plumbing, only electrical hookups.
“I just don’t see this as a residential area – I never have,” DeBone said.
Rick Russell, lead pastor of Mountain View Fellowship and executive director of the development organization, said of the 96-square-foot “pods,” “Everything here is meant to be portable and temporary.”
Chang often, but not always, is on the losing end of 2-1 votes on the board he shares with two more conservative officials.
Adair noted the Safe Parking program’s 35% success rate and said, “We’re going to have to be incredibly careful who stays there.”
Bend Mayor Pro-Tem Megan Perkins urged the board to approve the “valuable addition” to the Safe Parking program that began in Redmond and expanded to Bend.
You can watch the complete discussion from the KTVZ+ livestream above and view the presentation to the board about the plans below.
Microshelters presentation Deschutes County commissionersDownload