GRANTS PASS, Ore. – This week, the city of Grants Pass began enforcing new rules regarding camping in parks, directing those facing homelessness in the city into two designated camping sites.
One is in a small gravel lot across from City Hall, and the other is on J Street at an industrial site slated for a future water treatment plant.
The J Street location is an empty field with dry grass, no shade, and no running water.
To avoid fines, volunteers began helping people move their things out of several parks in Grants Pass to the designated camping sites this past weekend.
One resident said the city’s decision helped get people out of the parks but the campsites are not a long-term solution.
“They just want to like shove us out,” says Ashley Hanson. “Most of the comments that I’ve seen on Facebook they’re like oh just load ’em up on a bus and ship ’em out of town.”
It’s like, we’re human too. Like you could be one paycheck away from being homeless. Everybody can at the blink of an eye. Their landlord can go, oh you’ve got thirty days, get out, there’s a homeless camp right down the road.
The site has two portable toilets, a hand washing station, and a dumpster.
Residents, including at least one family with small children are reliant of volunteers from MINT and St. Vincent’s for necessities like water.
Grants Pass City Council will be discussing and reevaluating allowable time spent at the J Street property as well as other amenities like providing doggy bags and park benches at their meeting tomorrow evening.
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