At a special meeting Monday night, the Eugene City Council voted 7 to 1 to expand temporary homeless camping options at sites along Highway 99.
The Council approved adding 80 additional spaces to the current Dusk-to-Dawn programOpens a New Window. operated by St. Vincent DePaul under large, heated tents along the highway. A Dusk to Dawn site provides unhoused people with a safe place to sleep and keep their belongings at night. The expansion increases capacity to almost 200 camp spaces.
The Council also authorized the non-profit to pilot a “micro-Dawn-to-Dawn” program at a second location for up to 20 people in their own tents.
Laura Hammond is with the City of Eugene.
“Well, this is certainly a means of providing some emergency shelter over the winter months,” Hammond told KLCC. “We know that the council and the county are gonna get back together in January to look at recommendations that they are going to be receiving for a long term or a longer term or longer term solution.”
Homeless campers at the county-owned gravel lot known as Camp 99 will soon be asked to move to one of the nearby sites.
The council approved $150,000 for St. Vinney’s to manage the camps.
Copyright 2018 KLCC
