Grant’s Pass & Sanctioned Homeless Encampments

Has Grant’s Pass, Oregon found a pragmatic solution to their homelessness challenge?

Almost exactly one year ago Grant’s Pass convinced the Supreme Court to reverse the 9th Circuit and give them the authority to manage the situation how they thought most appropriate to their community. Over the Independence Day holiday we took a road trip to see what they had done. Their solution has been to allow the homeless to camp in sanctioned encampments along the downtown highway 99 corridor.

Is It Working?

That depends on who you ask:

Park patrons and the general public?

We went to several local parks and none other than Kesterson Park (on the Hwy 99 corridor) appeared to have any encampments. We weren’t comprehensive, but the waterfront and all the parks we visited were very clean and free of tents.
Some of the locals expressed sympathy for the mediocre living conditions but everyone that we spoke with were really happy that their favorite parks were now safet to walk through at any time of the day or night.

Police & City Managers

We need to make some calls, but one of the largest sanctioned homeless encampments was in the lot adjacent to the police station. So their response time to any conflicts are either next door or within a few blocks.

Local shop owners

A bit unexpected was that when we were in the downtown mid-day how few obviously homeless folks were wandering around the storefronts and how many apparently were still in the sanctioned areas. So the influence of these efforts on shop owners seems to be generally positive.

The Homeless

The approved areas were sanitary, but not particularly inviting. The fencing and screening combined with the dirt-gravel where the tents were (excluding Kesterson Park) gave a very refugee camp or almost outdoor prison feel. Yes, there were basic resources available and it would have been easy for service providers to bring food, but the entire scene was very bleak.

What do we think?

That Grant’s Pass is using a very imperfect solution to address an incredibly complex problem with limited resources.

The Challenge: How do you measure the effectiveness of a homelessness program?

✅ Cleaner parks & happy park patrons

✅ Homeless access to essential resources such as toilets, fresh water, trash pickup, security

❓ Chronic homeless moved to transitional or permanent housing

❓ Reduction in number of chronic homeless count : raw total, per $1000 spent, % approached, etc.

❓ Some kind of misery index: survey the homeless, survey the public or local store owners

❓ Reduction in Point In Time (PIT) count totals

❓ Reduction in Crime reports

A reasonable idea that is poorly executed?

It Seems Intentionally Hostile: That the leaders of Grant’s Pass are using the Supreme Court decision as justification to punish the homeless would be a reasonable argument.

If fencing is required to protect the homeless, why is it not used surrounding Kesterson Park?
If fencing is required to protect the homeless, why use construction fencing if not to give the feeling of a prison?
Where was the storage for personal items?
Why dirt lots instead of asphalt or some clean surface? Again Kesterson Park excluded, it was grass.
Why open a sanctioned homeless encampment immediately adjacent the police station?

Opinion: The cruelty of the sanctioned homeless encampments is by design. It would cost little to nothing to improve the encampments significantly. They are also located right in the heart of town which gives the distinct impression that they are using them as a way to put their solution and the homeless “on display” for the world to see. While the approach can be argued to be a practical or sensible way to cheaply provide some measure of safety, access to sanitation and essential services, the way that Grant’s Pass has executed their program appears to be intentionally cruel as some form of deterrent.

Explore how defensive architecture shapes urban life through policy, design choices, and public perception.

The Costs and Harms of Homelessness – A learning brief that examines the multidimensional nature of the costs associated with homelessness.
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Tags: Grant's Pass v. Johnson managed encampments sanctioned homeless encampment