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April 30A live audience of Grants Pass community members joined Dave Miller at the Performing Arts Center at Grants Pass High School on April 29 the board president of MINT and Susan Clark the executive director of Mid Rogue Foundation Grants Pass has been at the center of a national conversation about where people who are homeless can stay A lawsuit brought against the city by a group of homeless people had made its way all the way to the U.S the court released a 6-3 decision finding that it is not cruel or unusual punishment to penalize people for living outdoors even if they have nowhere else to go But that ruling was not an end to legal battles about homelessness in Grants Pass or around the country after the city council closed one of its two sanctioned camp sites leading a judge to order another injunction — and the city council to re-open one of those sites Scott Nelson is the board president of MINT Susan Clark is the executive director of Mid Rogue Foundation Indra Nicholas is a city councilor and small business owner Brock Spurgeon is a tile contractor and one of the founders of Park Watch Grants Pass They joined us in front of a live audience to talk about homelessness at the Performing Arts Center at Grants Pass High School on April 29 “Think Out Loud®” broadcasts live at noon every day and rebroadcasts at 8 p.m Tags: Think Out Loud Stand with OPB and protect independent journalism for everyone Listen to the OPB News live stream (opens new window)Streaming Now She’s happiest telling solutions journalism stories and talking to interesting people in the Pacific Northwest who are up to stuff — especially those contributing to a healthy and vibrant civil society. Allison’s past OPB lives included stints as announcer, web producer, local magazine host and managing editor. Before OPB, she served as executive director of community radio station KFCF in Fresno, California, anchored “All Things Considered” at Cap Radio in Sacramento, and taught English as a second language. Allison holds a degree in speech communication from California State University, Fresno, and a masters in journalism and communication from the University of Oregon. GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Grants Pass Police Arrest Male for Assault with a Vehicle Around 1:20 Tuesday afternoon, numerous 9-1-1 calls were received by the Grants Pass 9-1-1 Center regarding a car hitting a female in the parking lot of Albertson’s on Allen Creek Road. The Grants Pass Police Department expedited its response to the scene with Oregon State Police, Grants Pass Fire & Rescue, and American Medical Response. The female was rushed to Three Rivers Medical Center in serious but stable condition. Upon officers' arrival, the driver, later identified as Derek Daniels, 38, was detained as a criminal investigation was initiated. In addition to striking and injuring the female, Daniels also hit two parked cars. The Grants Pass Major Crimes Team and accident reconstruction team are actively investigating the crash and suspected assault. Daniels was arrested for Assault in the second degree, Reckless Driving, and Unlawful Use of a Weapon. He was lodged at the Josephine County Jail. 2025 12:05 a.m.If two proposed sites are approved all four of the city’s homeless campsites will be within two blocks of each other downtown.One of the proposed new homeless campsites: a parking lot adjacent to the current 6th Street site Grants Pass is in the middle of a lawsuit that claims the city’s treatment of homeless people violates Oregon state law A judge recently issued a court order in the case saying Grants Pass has to increase its designated camping sites to the same capacity it offered before the city closed a site in January city councilors met at a Tuesday workshop to discuss potential locations Tents set up at a homeless campsite near Grants Pass City Hall on March 25 Some proposed spreading the sites throughout the city including City Manager Aaron Cubic and Police Chief Warren Hensman “We think it’s important to separate those sites and have separation between those sites and not have multiple sites in one location,” Cubic said “My main concern is the amount of people in one location,” Chief Hensman said “If we expand the footprint and put more people into one condensed location folks do not have far to go to be upset with one another.” Councilor Rob Pell said he’d rather keep the new locations near where the city already has two campsites on 6th and 7th Streets “It’ll have the least amount of negative impact,” he said “We already have negative impacts to the neighborhood rather than doing that same exact dance in a new neighborhood.” both parking lots adjacent to the current campsite on 6th Street One is used for city hall employee parking Cubic said the other is used by the addiction treatment center OnTrack “We have to provide access to that building until they’re totally out,” he said that site would take longer to be ready for people to move in The two proposed sites will be officially voted on by the City Council at a meeting on April 16 Grants Pass is trying to create capacity for 150 tents — the amount Judge Sarah McGlaughlin estimated was previously available Cubic said the city’s two existing campsites currently offer 99 spots The proposed sites would add space for another 74 tents the city must also ensure all sites “provide accessible routes and surfaces” for people with disabilities Jane Vaughan is a reporter with Jefferson Public Radio This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page Tags: Homeless, Homelessness, Housing, Grants Pass Stand with OPB and protect independent journalism for everyone. 2025 1:59 a.m.Months after its Supreme Court win Grants Pass faces a new lawsuit claiming its homeless policies violate state law and discriminate against people with disabilitiesFILE - Grants Pass the city of Grants Pass faces a new lawsuit over its homelessness policies emergency lawsuit in Josephine County Circuit Court Jan requesting a temporary injunction against the city of Grants Pass over its time place and manner restrictions on homeless residents filed a joint complaint on behalf of five individuals who live with disabilities in Grants Pass The lawsuit asked the court to issue an immediate temporary restraining order to stop the city’s closing of J Street — one of two designated campsites — with the other smaller site at 7th Street limited to only overnight availability Homeless Grants Pass residents face the threat of citations and 30-day exclusions from the camp under city ordinances if they cannot comply However, an Oregon state law, ORS 195.530 — commonly referred to as HB 3115 — requires local regulation of homelessness to be “objectively reasonable” and consider the totality of the circumstances including “the impact of the law on persons experiencing homelessness.” The Supreme Court noted the state law in its decision The complaint said Grants Pass’ ordinances violate Oregon’s ORS 195.530 and ORS 659A.142 which says a place of public accommodation may not discriminate against a person with a disability The state law is intended to align with federal law under the Americans with Disabilities Act “The city’s actions are also unreasonable and in violation of nondiscrimination law as they unfairly target and fail to accommodate people with disabilities,” the complaint said said Grants Pass left so few places where people could legally exist that it clearly violated the state law “This seemed like the epitome of something that was objectively unreasonable within the meaning of Oregon State law,” Stenson said “It’s physically impossible to put everybody who is homeless in this tiny piece of land.” Read more of this story in Street Roots This republished story is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit opb.org/partnerships Tags: Southern Oregon, Homelessness, Grants Pass, News The legality of Grants Pass’ homelessness policies is once again under fire A judge halted enforcement of the city’s latest rules on March 28 while a lawsuit to toss them permanently moves forward Josephine County Circuit Court Judge Sarah McGlaughlin issued a preliminary injunction that bars Grants Pass from enforcing two ordinances regulating homelessness in local parks until it increases the capacity of its designated sites to sufficiently accommodate homeless residents The city must also ensure all existing sites provide access for people with disabilities Judge McGlaughlin ruled that with the exception of two parks — Riverside Park and Reinhardt Volunteer Park — the city cannot cite or otherwise prosecute any person for camping on public property nor can the city sweep residents from public spaces The ruling cited an Oregon state law regulating how cities can approach homelessness and essentially extends a temporary restraining order that has been in place since Feb “There can be no doubt that the legislature specifically required cities to consider the needs of the homeless population when crafting laws that regulate sitting, lying, sleeping or keeping warm and airy outdoors on public property,” McGlaughlin wrote in a ruling issued March 28. The ruling comes as the city wrestles with its approach to homelessness after multiple courts stopped the city from arresting and fining homeless residents when they have no other place to live. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke and a panel of judges for the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against that policy before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the decision on June 28, 2024 Oregon law still prohibits cities from penalizing homeless residents when the number of shelter beds are insufficient And while the City Council grapples with its lack of affordable housing and low-barrier shelter some are looking to a Trump-aligned consultant who has blamed the increase in homelessness on the shift to a “housing first” approach to addressing it Council members discovered the advocate at the 2025 Patriot Conference held in Grants Pass in March where he offered a slew of anti-homeless and anti-immigrant tropes Advocates with Disability Rights Oregon, or DRO, say they repeatedly tried to help the city align its practices with state law. But those efforts failed. On Jan. 30, the organization, along with Oregon Law Center, sued the city on behalf of five homeless residents who live with disabilities in Grants Pass Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued the city’s ordinances violate two Oregon state laws including one commonly referred to as House Bill 3115 — which requires local regulation of homelessness to be “objectively reasonable.” The DRO complaint added that the city’s ordinances violate another state law that prohibits public accommodations from discriminating against people with disabilities That law is intended to align with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act Shortly after Judge McGlaughlin issued the March 28 ruling told Street Roots the ruling gives some relief to homeless residents living in Grants Pass “We're not going to see people arrested or cited or kicked out of their campsites just for camping in public,” Stenson said Stenson said he is encouraged by McGlaughlin’s decision since part of the criteria for a preliminary injunction is that the party requesting it is likely to prevail “That's definitely a good feeling when you have a case like this,” Stenson said “The trial court is agreeing that you're likely to prevail,” Stenson said Grants Pass Mayor Clint Scherf did not immediately respond to Street Roots’ request for comment While the Supreme Court overruled the 9th Circuit decision in Grants Pass v Oregon state law still requires cities regulating homelessness to consider the totality of the circumstances including “the impact of the law on persons experiencing homelessness.” The Oregon Legislature passed the state law in 2021 to enshrine a 9th Circuit decision in another earlier case — Martin v and some cities have argued it hamstrings them from solving their homelessness crisis The city faced legal vulnerabilities in part due to the City Council’s vote to close a larger designated resting site at J Street the day the new city councilors took office on Jan despite warnings from the city attorney that it may risk a lawsuit Closing the site left homeless residents with just one option for a place to stay temporarily “It's hard to resist the conclusion that a lot of this was just a political performance,” Stenson said the lawsuit appeared to motivate the city to modestly upgrade conditions at its two designated sites particularly for homeless residents with disabilities Grants Pass recently installed compacted granite on a site across the street from City Hall and unanimously voted March 17 to do the same to a site one block away on 7th Street Homeless residents can stay at the sites 24 hours per day the granite is meant to satisfy some of the requirements under the ADA Some city councilors proposed creating a separate site for homeless residents with disabilities citing the need to align with the state’s objectively reasonable standard said the city is considering adding ADA-compliant access within its two designated sites but did not recommend creating a separate site despite city councilors' proposals “We’re not recommending that the city establish ADA campsites and resting sites,” Cubic said “We need to provide opportunity for ADA usage.” a group of city councilors and the mayor ran as a slate — with homelessness front and center in the campaign making a voting majority seeking to criminalize homelessness despite the state law and often repeating President Donald Trump’s rhetoric the same officials acknowledged they were unsure of what to do about homelessness They floated the idea of hiring Robert Marbut President Donald Trump’s former director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness City Councilor Indra Nicholas proposed hiring Marbut to help develop a homelessness plan after multiple city councilors saw him speak at a 2025 Patriot Conference in Grants Pass on March 15 A coalition of city councilors agreed he could be a resource Scherf immediately directed Cubic to contact Marbut to see what services he could offer Trump appointed Marbut as the director of USICH in December 2019 just after President Joe Biden took office He faced significant pushback from homelessness rights advocates like the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Low Income Housing Coalition A report developed by USICH in 2020 called “Expanding the Toolbox” — which has now been deleted from the USICH website — outlined Marbut’s approach shift to housing-first policies in 2013 has not worked Marbut said he hopes “everyone will get interested in the importance of treatment and recovery paired with housing.” “It is clear now after 15 years of housing first that it’s nothing more than vouchers with no supportive services — hence the tripling of homelessness in many parts of the country,” he said More than 745 Josephine County residents currently use Housing Choice the most common type of housing voucher — otherwise known as Section 8 — and nearly 37,200 Oregon residents according to the most recent Housing and Urban Development data Whether those residents need or want treatment and recovery is undeterminable Marbut has advocated instead for what he called a “housing fourth” approach meaning people need to get their personal lives in order before they should obtain housing “Housing first should be considered as one tool in the toolbox but not the only tool in the toolbox,” the USICH report said Marbut offered a slew of anti-homeless and anti-immigrant tropes which included some Grants Pass city councilors His speech centered on the rise in fentanyl which he directly correlated with homelessness and immigration “I’m so critical of the Biden administration,” Marbut told conference attendees This whole thing has blown up during their time Part of that was that they were slow to respond to all crises — that was just in their DNA They were very slow and never got around to it you can't talk about fentanyl without talking about the border.” it would not be the first time he has consulted for an Oregon city In a presentation to community members in Lebanon Marbut outlined his “Successful and Proven Real World Solutions to Reduce Homelessness,” saying mutual aid efforts enable homelessness and claiming the root cause of homelessness for 90% of homeless residents are their struggles with mental health nor did I say loss of housing,” the presentation slides said “These are symptoms of the process of becoming homeless The current lawsuit is the second legal claim arguing an Oregon city violated the state’s “objectively reasonable” standard. The city of Portland was forced to alter its ordinance banning public sleeping in 2024 after the Oregon Law Center sued the city saying it was impossible for homeless residents to understand where they could legally sleep Multnomah County Circuit Court judge Rima Ghandour dismissed the case after the city passed an amended ordinance May 8 The new rules repealed some aspects of the policy that sparked the lawsuit reduced criminal and civil penalties for sleeping outside and narrowed the focus to those who decline an “offer of reasonable shelter” — Portland’s current approach to regulating homelessness Stenson said there are a number of routes Grants Pass could take now that it must operate under the injunction whether they live with the preliminary injunction and litigate the case out whether they try and ask the appellate courts to take a look at the preliminary injunction,” Stenson said I'd hope that they reassess their policies.” A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the frequency with which homeless residents are required to move © 2024 Street Roots. All rights reserved.  | To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org or call 503-228-5657 Our new Burnside St Headquarters is almost complete! Help us cross the finish line and fund remaining key items we need to complete our new home by viewing our Dream Office Wishlist at streetroots.org/wishlist 2025 12:13 a.m.All four of the city’s homeless campsites will be within two blocks of each other.One of the new homeless campsites The Grants Pass City Council approved two more homeless campsites on Wednesday night in an effort to get a court order lifted The court ordered Grants Pass to increase its designated campsites to the same capacity it offered before the city closed a location in January The order is part of a lawsuit claiming the city’s treatment of homeless people violates Oregon state law Councilors previously considered a variety of locations The police chief recommended that all four sites not be near each other councilors voted 6-2 to approve the new sites which are both parking lots adjacent to a current campsite Councilor Indra Nicholas voted against the new sites and said she’d rather split up the sites evenly among the four wards just to make it fair for everyone in our community,” she said “So I don’t think it’s right to just put them all in one.” Related: Grants Pass choosing new homeless campsites to comply with court order Some neighbors expressed concerns about drug use and crime at the sites Kate Huckert said she lives and works across the street from the campsites and said she’s seen drug deals and violent outbursts “Now I have 150 proposed unstable people that are going to be feet from my bedroom and my child’s bedroom and my clients,” she said Councilors assured residents the situation would be temporary “This isn’t fair all the way around,” said Councilor Kathleen Krohn It isn’t fair that we’re being targeted here for this huge problem Grants Pass only recently got out from under another court injunction It was part of a different lawsuit over Grants Pass’ treatment of homeless people Related: With new leadership at the helm, Grants Pass drastically changes the city’s approach to homelessness trash service and fencing at both of the new sites City hall employees currently use one site for parking It will transition to a resting site on April 23 The other is used by the addiction treatment center OnTrack “We have to provide access to that building until they’re totally out,” Cubic said at a previous meeting that site will take longer to be ready for people to move in the order stipulates that the city cannot enforce its public camping laws except at Riverside Park and Reinhardt Volunteer Park Tags: Grants Pass, Homelessness filed in January by Disability Rights Oregon and five homeless plaintiffs alleges Grants Pass’s treatment of homeless people violates state law Judge Sarah McGlaughlin issued an injunction preventing the city from enforcing its public camping laws until it has fulfilled two conditions Grants Pass has to increase its designated camping sites to the same capacity it previously offered before the city closed an approximately 1.2-acre site in January the city must ensure all resting sites “provide accessible routes and surfaces” for people with disabilities These restrictions don’t apply to either Riverside Park or Reinhardt Volunteer Park “The court finds the Plaintiff’s proposed preliminary injunction order is too broad,” Judge McGlaughlin wrote in her Friday order “A blanket ban on enforcement of the GPMC [Grants Pass Municipal Code] Camping Regulations causes unnecessary harm to the City and the public’s interest in regulating camping on public property.” The city currently has two sites for homeless people to rest near the police station and City Hall It was part of a different lawsuit over Grants Pass’s treatment of homeless people A big question in the current lawsuit is whether the city’s public camping ordinances are “objectively reasonable,” as required by Oregon’s House Bill 3115. But that term isn’t clearly defined. “What is objectively reasonable as to time, place, and manner is not easily discernible,” McGlaughlin wrote in her order. “Rather it is a continuum of possibilities that balance the various interests of the community (including members who are homeless), and its resources. This court will not insert itself into the middle of that continuum.” Attorneys for both sides made their cases on Tuesday afternoon during two hours of testimony. “The spacing that’s required between tents means that it is literally impossible for all of those people to fit into two quarter-acre sites,” Tom Stenson, deputy legal director at Disability Rights Oregon, said. “It is a violation not only of Oregon state law but of the law of physics and the laws of geometry.” Aaron Hisel, the attorney representing Grants Pass in this case, argued the case should head to a trial. “We should just proceed with litigation, both sides get their evidence, and come have a trial, and see what a jury says about whether or not it’s objectively reasonable or not. Imperfection does not make it objectively unreasonable,” he said. On Friday, Stenson said the judge’s decision was a victory for the plaintiffs. “I believed in our claims all along, but this is a new area of the law, so I was excited,” he said. “Even though I thought our arguments were sound, I thought the law was on our side, but when something is a new area of law, there’s always a little anxiety about it.” Hisel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday afternoon. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington. the recently-sworn in councilors clawed back a key grant sharply reduced official camping opportunities for homeless people and pulled the plug on several advisory committees Tuesday’s City Council special meeting was the first conducted by Grants Pass’s new leadership elected in November and sworn in on Monday It includes new mayor Clint Scherf as well as four new councilors who were all backed by the county’s Republican Party and ran on a platform of public safety A campsite designated by the city of Grants Pass for homeless people The council made several big decisions that will change how the city addresses its homelessness crisis the council revoked a grant agreement with the local nonprofit Mobile Integrative Navigation Team to purchase land to create a low-barrier homeless shelter Councilors also instituted major changes to the two city-owned campsites designated for homeless residents These major decisions come after the city won a U.S The court sided with the city after a years-long legal battle But Grants Pass still has to comply with a state law that says rules regulating where homeless people can camp must be “objectively reasonable” although that term isn’t specifically defined Tuesday’s meeting also featured repeated outbursts from the audience and one resident was escorted out of council chambers by police after trying to use his public comment period to read Green Eggs and Ham The funding for MINT was just approved in December It would have provided $660,000 to the nonprofit to purchase two parcels of land an outdoor urban campground and a navigation center with services The council’s concern centered on the state of the buildings An inspection report found that one of the buildings contains asbestos The other building requires additional maintenance and has a leaking roof “Nothing must be done with the electrical system until a trusted electrician has checked every aspect of this system The power has been cut and for good reason,” the report reads 27 of the 30 residents who spoke during public comment on Tuesday were against revoking the grant agreement but it’s way better than we ever were,” Julie Thomas president of the homeless services organization PATH “Please look at the big picture and don’t get caught up in that this is not perfect today.” Councilor Dwayne Yunker speaks at the City Council meeting on Tuesday Screengrab From The City Of Grants Pass's YouTube Page / JPR “It doesn’t matter how bad you want a shelter That is the problem here,” Councilor Dwayne Yunker said concerned about the quality of the buildings this is not right.’ The people put me in office to say ‘Hey Yunker resigned from the City Council after Tuesday night’s meeting He was appointed to serve as District 3 state representative in December 2023 MINT CEO Cassy Leach said in a text Wednesday that they’re working on extending their lease on the property and exploring other options Councilors then voted 5-2 to close one of the city’s homeless campsites and to restrict the hours of the other They did so against the advice of Interim City Attorney Mark Bartholomew who had to leave the meeting early for a prior engagement “I would not be comfortable with any changes made tonight And that’s just strictly from a risk management perspective,” he said The campsite at the future Water Treatment Plant site at 755 SE J St The campsite next to the police station at 712 NE 7th St Councilors voted for these changes to take effect after 72 hours The city opened the two campsites in late August as a way of complying with state law that says rules regulating where homeless people can camp must be “objectively reasonable.” But the campsites have received a lot of criticism Some have even called them “concentration camps,” and there are concerns about fire hazards and mud The city did not provide shade or potable water and Disability Rights Oregon has claimed the campsites violate federal and state law many residents pointed out that the sites were an option — for some since the city has no low-barrier shelters but it’s a space,” one woman said during public comment A catastrophe by any imagination that was even worse than was forecast when it was put together last August,” Dr They aren’t there because of the weather being good They’re there because they have nowhere else to go It is not just drug use and mental illness Poverty should not be a crime in this community.” City councilors did not offer any alternatives Tuesday night for where homeless residents can camp instead “It is unconscionable to me to allow people to live there like that,” new city councilor Indra Nicholas said wherever they go is better than where they are now.” councilors voted to suspend the renovation project for the Caveman Pool The city had planned to spend $6.5 million on the project but some councilors Tuesday night were concerned about the high price tag and would rather spend that money on public safety “It feels kinda like maybe we’re getting a lot done,” Brad Converse said during public comment on the pool “My concern is that it is really easy to kill something it is going to be very difficult to claw it back.” Councilors also voted to sunset three advisory committees: the Collaborative Economic Development Committee the Housing Advisory Committee and the Sustainability and Energy Action Committee And that kinda irritated me because that’s not what the Housing Advisory Committee was supposed to be about,” Councilor Yunker said “I have a problem with the influence of some of the people on the committees because they’re influencing the way they want things Councilors also received some pushback over the timing of Tuesday’s meeting New leadership was sworn in on Monday at 11:45 a.m. and the special meeting was scheduled for Tuesday at 3 p.m Councilor Rob Pell said that while technically this followed the law regarding 24 hours notice many residents receive meeting information from The Daily Courier so residents were effectively given only three hours notice of the meeting “There’s nothing on this agenda that had to be acted on in three hours this is a horrible precedent for a first meeting for a new council.” the meeting had so many attendees that Council Chambers reached capacity Tuesday’s meeting demonstrated an assertive attitude from the Council’s new conservative majority and indicated that additional major changes might be coming in the future This republished story is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs Tags: Homelessness, Grants Pass, Housing dragged tarps and carried piles on their backs heaping their belongings just outside the fence to get their possessions off the city-owned site The newly-elected city council decided earlier this month to close this campsite who had been living at the now-closed camp site since it opened last summer in Grants Pass keeps watch over her and some neighbors' belongings piled up outside the fenced area Rachel Beeman had been living at the site since it first opened last summer She was keeping watch over her belongings and other people’s belongings but said she wasn’t able to get everything out but I just got the important stuff,” she said “I thought helping everybody else get their important stuff out was worth more than trying to get all the little stuff She said she’s already been arrested three times for camping in city parks and she doesn’t know where she’s going to go next “We wouldn’t be out here like this if we had somewhere to move,” she said Police Chief Warren Hensman said residents were given ample notice to leave “The equipment you see is equipment that can support the cleanup protect my officers from biohazard and specific wastes and also getting hurt,” he said Hensman said his officers were working to determine what was waste and what was personal property which the law requires must be stored for 30 days so owners can reclaim it next to the police station at 712 NE 7th St. which was closed on Tuesday and is now only open in the evening Residents must remove all their belongings from the site during the day According to a post on the Grants Pass Police Department Facebook page the department “has been working with its community partners to ensure the transition was fairly implemented and that those impacted had access to available resources.” “Grants Pass police officers communicated the upcoming changes repeatedly over the past two weeks so that those utilizing the resting sites had ample awareness of the resolution,” the post continues “The officers worked to notify the unhoused community of the new rules so that they were prepared in advance We will continue to work with the houseless population to link them to resources as we always have.” Former residents of a city-sanctioned campsite for homeless people in Grant Pass gather their belongings as they are evicted from the site on Friday The city closed the site as unsightly and unsanitary The campsites have received a lot of criticism They have been called “concentration camps” and a “public health disaster” and there were concerns about fire hazards and mud “It is unconscionable to me to allow people to live there like that,” City Councilor Indra Nicholas said at a meeting in January Related: 100-plus US cities banned homeless camping this year after Grants Pass ruling which upheld Grants Pass’ ban on homeless people camping in public But the city still has to comply with a state law that says rules regulating where homeless people can camp must be “objectively reasonable” there is no sanctioned site for anybody to go seems counterproductive,” said Ruth Dailey “It’s just pretty much the most inopportune time to do this Grants Pass officials say these two campsites were always meant to be temporary is the future site of a new water treatment plant The City Council has not announced any plans for an alternate resting site Tags: Grants Pass, Homelessness, Camping, City Council This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page please perform a WhoIs lookup on kobi5.com and contact the registered owner by Bobby Corser was arrested on Sunday at the Robertson Bridge Boat Landing and charged with second-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon made by Grants Pass police officers and detectives was connected to a homicide that occurred on March 4 when a 57-year-old man was found with significant head trauma on the 1200 block of Rogue River Highway The victim was transported to Three Rivers Medical Center but succumbed to his injuries several weeks later Ross struck Roy Harvey several times in the head with a shovel the case was transferred to the Major Crimes Unit for further investigation but his whereabouts were initially unknown Grants Pass detectives conducted multiple interviews and employed various investigative methods to build their case while actively searching for Ross Ross was arrested without incident and is lodged at the Josephine County Jail Months after a landmark Supreme Court ruling the Oregon city of Grants Pass elected new leaders who immediately moved to reduce campsites available to unhoused residents councilors voted 5-2 to shutter one of only two campsites designated for unhoused residents in Grants Pass; restrict the second much smaller campsite to overnight stays only; and revoke a grant to a local nonprofit organization meant to help it establish the city’s first low-barrier homeless shelter Each of the four new councilors voted in favor of these resolutions who began his term in January 2023 and resigned following the meeting to serve in the state legislature.  Before the council opened the discussion of closing the campsite interim City Attorney Mark Bartholomew cautioned that he was “not comfortable with any changes” made at the meeting because he had not been given time to consider them City Manager Aaron Cubic reiterated this before the council voted suggesting they take additional time to consider “the ramifications.” Their warnings were not heeded by the councilors who had campaigned on a hard-line approach to homelessness The strict approach to policies regarding homelessness resonated with Grants Pass residents who served on Grants Pass City Council from 2020 until she lost her re-election bid to one of the new hardliners last November “the public certainly felt more emboldened to take swift action Whether that was being too aggressive or not really considering the human element of the issue ‘That was fine because we won the Supreme Court case.’” The Grants Pass decision last year overturned earlier rulings by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that required localities to allow people to camp in public if those localities lacked low-barrier shelter beds.  Still, the end of the federal court’s mandate does not mean there is zero legal obligation for localities to provide some shelter. Grants Pass opened the pair of campsites for unhoused residents following the Supreme Court decision, as it sought to return to policing its parks but wanted to remain compliant with House Bill 3115 a state law requiring that Oregon cities be “objectively reasonable” when regulating where people can rest in public spaces.  Oregon’s unhoused population had risen over 13 percent from 2023 to 2024 Based on a point-in-time count from January 2024 that report estimated almost 23,000 people were unhoused across the state While city councilors in Grants Pass denied that the Jan 7 special meeting had been called in haste it soon became apparent that there was no clear plan for how they would close and restrict hours at the respective campsites and provide shelter to those who would be displaced There are an estimated 100 tents at the site that council members voted to close The smaller site only has enough space for about 40 tents and is at capacity.  “Ultimately, if they close the camps, there is no known place for these individuals to go,” said Scott Nelson, board president at Mobile Integrative Navigation Team (MINT) the non-profit organization whose grant was revoked at the Jan MINT is the foremost organization providing services to unhoused residents in Grants Pass including necessities such as bottled water and first-aid at the two campsites.  the closure of the larger campsite and the restriction of hours at the smaller campsite would be delayed until Jan 24 so the city attorney could research whether the changes are legally defensible and allow city staff time to prepare 7 meeting called for the changes to be adopted after just 72 hours did not respond to Bolts’ requests for comment forcing them to shuttle back and forth between the two designated campsites if they had not secured housing was “effectively impossible” for some with disabilities warned that failing to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled people living at the campsites could violate state and federal law including the Americans with Disabilities Act Bartholomew acknowledged DRO’s September letter during a brief phone call to Stenson later that month but Stenson said Bartholomew “wouldn’t discuss anything substantive.” Ogier said earlier attempts to secure enough council votes to implement better solutions such as launching a managed campsite in partnership with local non-profits or allocating grant funding to establish a low-barrier shelter failed multiple times during her term as some councilors waffled The $660,000 grant for MINT was finally approved at a city council meeting in December 2024 after years of discussion. But the change was too little too late. At the Jan. 7 meeting, Yunker motioned to revoke the grant agreement outright citing a building inspection of the MINT site as the reason for blocking the funding.  MINT operates seasonal cooling and warming shelters at a leased property that it had planned to purchase with the now-revoked funds The funds would have also allowed the organization to scale up its services turning the current seasonal shelter location into a navigation center offering addiction counseling “The intent is to put all those resources in one location where we could coordinate our efforts and work with an individual to meet them where they are and meet their needs and help them transition off the streets,” said Nelson MINT will continue offering its current services while it works to secure the support needed to get the navigation center off the ground spoke about preventing unhoused people from accessing public parks “The members of this Parkwatch group think they’re somehow self-deputized to address homelessness and they point guns at people,” said Stenson “This is a policy which has fallen particularly hard on people who have disabilities,” Stenson said a single mother of two who has been unhoused in Grants Pass for almost a year said she and her teenage children are heartbroken at the prospect of being forced out of Grants Pass as officials foreclose options for remaining in the community She has been living at the larger of the two designated campsites with her 14-year-old child who has a condition that causes recurring seizures since being forced to move from a public park last summer With MINT’s help to recover a lost ID card Cameron has been able to work shifts at a local fast food restaurant and her older kid is making plans to attend beauty school.  “My kids have their plans on what they want to do and it sucks because they want to do it here,” says Cameron and they’ve made a lot of friends — if we have to move to a totally different place Bolts is a non-profit newsroom that relies on donations, and it takes resources to produce this work. If you appreciate our value, become a monthly donor or make a contribution. a large display stands in the lawn of the main Josephine County library branch in Grants Pass In one of their first moves as a newly reconfigured board commissioners unanimously decided to terminate the county’s lease with the Grants Pass Library This puts the library’s near future in limbo Two new county commissioners sided with outgoing Commissioner John West to ax the county’s lease with its biggest library The library has been paying only $1 a year to rent the county-owned building in downtown Grants Pass While the county charter states that the county will support and maintain the libraries “The charter doesn’t say that it has to be for free and this has become a burden on the taxpayer and other departments,” he said at a commissioners meeting on Jan West was recalled by voters late last year but won’t leave the office until the election is certified The library sued the county last year when commissioners allowed some residents to opt out of the library district tax “So the library has done it before,” said Jennifer Roberts with the group Grants Pass Friends of the Library ”I know there are people in the community who are already talking about that and thinking about the practicality of that.” Related: Josephine Community Library pursues legal action after residents opt out of tax district Roberts said the provision in the county charter requiring support may supply grounds for a legal challenge. The library district recently purchased land to build a new building The Josephine County Library District is just getting back on its feet after the county defunded and closed the libraries in 2007 A nonprofit group was able to reopen the libraries a few years later And voters approved a new taxing district in 2017 to provide permanent funding for the county’s four libraries “Why do we have to fight so hard for a library in this community for years and years and years,” said Roberts why can’t we have this service that’s basic to living in a community.” Libraries have been under attack across the country, particularly because of fights over book bans. According to the Associated Press the Missouri legislature stripped $4.5 million in public library funding from the budget in 2023 citing a lawsuit attempting to overturn a law banning sexually explicit material in school libraries And locally, in Klamath County, commissioners ordered the library to cancel a library-sponsored social justice book club over concerns it could be perceived as political. That decision received significant pushback from community members West said the goal would be to move the Planning and Community Health departments into the library building which is located next to the county courthouse and administrative building Related: Southern Oregon county allows residents to opt out of paying library tax Library Director Kate Lasky said the decision was abrupt and undermines community trust “Terminating the lease with just 30 days’ notice disregards these contributions and the essential services the library provides to thousands,” Lasky said ”We deserve a fair and respectful process.” Commissioner West floated a rent of around $15,000 a month Roberts said that would be impossible for the library to afford Tags: Josephine County, Grants Pass, Library Supreme Court ruling this June opened the door to criminalizing homelessness and cities have threatened fines and jail time in response at Seattle’s Nakamura Federal Courthouse as the U.S Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Grants Pass v a case that would make it easier for cities to fine or jail people for sleeping in public Supreme Court ruled in favor of Grants Pass upholding the small city’s ability to ban sleeping in public parks on sidewalks or in vehicles and to impose fines and jail time to enforce its law At the time, homelessness advocates in Washington expressed fear that Grants Pass would lead to a domino effect of cities across the state passing new laws banning sleeping outside and making it impossible to exist anywhere as a homeless person without risk of fines and jail time.   modified existing laws or have begun enforcement to criminalize homelessness in the wake of the Grants Pass decision.   several lawsuits are working their way through Washington courts arguing that such laws violate the state constitution.   a group of homeless residents sued the city of Grants Pass arguing that the fines and jail time violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment because there were not enough shelter spaces in town and people experiencing homelessness had no alternative but to sleep in public.   The lead plaintiff, Gloria Johnson, is a retired nurse who was unable to find housing she could afford on Social Security and ended up living in her minivan on the edge of town.   The high court’s decision in Grants Pass overturned a 2018 ruling by the U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Martin v Idaho in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment by enforcing public sleeping bans when no shelter space is available for people experiencing homelessness.   The Grants Pass ruling came down as cities across the region and U.S grapple with record-high numbers of residents experiencing homelessness and an increasing frustration with the slow progress of getting people off the street More restrictive local laws followed soon after.   Out near the Pacific coast, the city of Aberdeen modified its existing ban on public encampments to eliminate the requirement that people be offered shelter before clearing an encampment The City Council also broadened the locations where the ban applies.   In Auburn, the City Council took similar action in September to remove the requirement that people be offered shelter before their encampment is cleared People can now be required to leave public land immediately and be charged with a misdemeanor with a fine up to $1,000 and 90 days in jail.   In Lakewood, the City Council passed a new law this summer banning sleeping or camping in public Police can now remove encampments with 24 hours notice and people face citations or arrest if they don’t comply.   Spokane’s public camping ban was on the books months before the Supreme Court ruled on Grants Pass about 75% of Spokane voters approved Proposition 1 which banned public camping within 1,000 feet of schools City leaders dragged their feet on enforcement of the new law, however, citing the legal complications posed by Martin v. Boise. With that hurdle cleared by Grants Pass, the city began enforcement in August.   That same month, the ACLU of Washington, homelessness nonprofit Jewels Helping Hands and homeless residents Donnell Currie and Clifford Moore filed a lawsuit in Spokane Superior Court over the encampment ban.   “The city of Spokane’s unlawful camping law and sit-and-lie law effectively prohibits homelessness from existing within the boundary of the city,” said Jazmyn Clark ACLU-WA’s smart justice policy program director Spokane has effectively criminalized the conduct that is inextricable from the condition of lacking a home.”  The ACLU argues that Washington’s state Constitution is more protective than the U.S The state Constitution bans cruel punishment as opposed to the federal Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment the case would have implications for Washington cities who’ve strengthened their encampment bans.   In Burien, Northwest Justice Project, the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness and homeless residents Elizabeth Hale, Alex Hale and Carlos Paz sued the city over a 2023 ordinance banning encampments on nearly all public property. The suit argues Burien’s ordinance is cruel and unusual and violates individuals’ right to due process The threat of additional lawsuits over encampment bans is enough to give the Washington Cities Insurance Authority pause. The municipal organization provides a liability risk pool for member cities and other government entities. In an interview with the Shelton-Mason County Journal the Authority cautioned city leaders that the Grants Pass ruling on cruel and unusual punishment was narrow and that lawsuits are often very expensive.   Advocates have consistently argued that criminalizing homelessness is costly and counterproductive since it can make it harder for people to secure housing and get off the street Jail time separates clients from case managers Unpaid citations make it harder to rent apartments Arrests and encampment sweeps often result in people losing important documents and IDs along with personal belongings.  “The Supreme Court’s decision is terrible because it neither recognizes the humanity of Americans housed and unhoused nor does it offer any reasonable solutions,” said Alison Eisinger executive director of the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness counties and even states that they can deploy an expensive and fake response … It does not respond to people’s need for housing We rely on donations from readers like you to sustain Cascade PBS's in-depth reporting on issues crticial to the PNW Josh Cohen is the Cascade PBS city reporter. Reach him at josh.cohen@cascadepbs.org or on Twitter at @jcohenwrites. As Republican legislators opt for ballot harvesting, Democrats lean into town halls in predominantly red districts to engage new or reluctant voters. 2025 9:13 p.m.A team with supplies gets ready to walk to Devil's Slide to count homeless people during the PIT Count on January 29 Amber Russo — a homeless services provider with the nonprofit UCAN — walks along the train tracks in Grants Pass pulling a blue wagon filled with supplies like backpacks and tents Along with other employees from UCAN and Adapt Russo is searching for signs of homeless camps scanning the brush along the edge of the tracks and I can see my breath in the morning air “We have — it’s called the unsheltered observation count “There just wouldn’t be anybody there for me to talk to or give supplies to.” They pull out their phones and enter what information they can into an app which contains a list of questions to gather demographic information from homeless residents They log this site as an “unsheltered observation.” Rachel Castellano with Adapt enters information about an unsheltered observation during the Point in Time Count on January 29 Rachel Castellano with Adapt tucks a couple of her business cards into the bags ‘I don’t want to answer your questions,‘” Russo says “That’s why we get so many supplies like this so they’re willing to answer our questions.” This is her seventh year doing the Point in Time Count teams are spread out throughout the county greenways and other spots where homeless people are likely to be we keep walking and find a path through the brush follow it down to a secluded campsite by the river — but a bearded man who looks older than his 39 years Clayton Roberts with UCAN interviews Ledbetter and enters his answers into the app Russo hands him a backpack stuffed with supplies: food “It was nice talking to y’all,” Ledbetter says Related: Grants Pass sued again over ‘objectively unreasonable’ homeless ordinances another area along the train tracks known as Devil’s Slide The group expects to find a lot of homeless people here so they fill their backpacks with supplies: socks We set off down the tracks again and soon come to a camp on a hill there are a lot of signs of life in the area: a mattress the group thinks there might be people in a tent down the hill we have to step off the tracks as a train barrels past Amber Russo logs an unsheltered observation during the Point in Time Count on January 29 Homeless people in Grants Pass might be more spread out today than they would have been a week ago. Five days before the Point in Time Count, the city cleared its largest homeless campsite We drive to the Josephine County fairgrounds It seems lots of homeless residents have taken the bus or gotten a ride to be counted here instead hair cuts and tons of resource groups: social service nonprofits the Department of Human Services and others Related: Grants Pass clears city-owned homeless campsite after decision by new leadership Christine Locke is volunteering to count people Locke says she was formerly homeless herself She jots down answers as she interviews Ron Queary “I’m homeless cuz people sold their home and that took my house away from me,” he says Queary heads to the tables filled with information about services and the packet with his demographic information is filed away Final data for this count isn’t available yet but last year’s count in Josephine County tallied 559 homeless people will be sent to the federal government to track how big our country’s homeless problem is Tags: Grants Pass, Southern Oregon, Homelessness 2024 3:10 p.m.The burst of new laws follows a landmark U.S and reflects public frustration with record-high homelessness Outreach workers Lillian Risser (left) and Sophia Loveland (right) approach a tent encampment in Chicago The organization is working to rehome people living in encampments to more permanent housing In the six months since the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier for cities to crack down on homelessness more than a hundred places around the country have banned people from sleeping outside even if they have nowhere else to go The spike reflects widespread frustration over record-high rates of homelessness along with drug use and mental breakdowns in public spaces But advocates for the unhoused warn that more fines and jail time will only make the problem worse The new laws are in rural, urban and suburban towns and cities – both Republican-led and Democratic – and span every region, including in places not known for homelessness, like West Virginia, New Hampshire and Wyoming. Many of the bans are in California home to about half of the nation’s quarter of a million people who live outside California is home to about half of the nation's quarter of a million people who live outside Gavin Newsom issued an executive order in July directing state agencies on how to remove homeless encampments like this one in Oakland We want to prompt them to come to a better place,” says Tom Patti a San Joaquin County Supervisor in California’s Central Valley He spearheaded an ordinance to make it “uncomfortable” for people to camp outside and requires people living outside to move at least 300 feet every hour Patti says the county’s approach will no longer be reaching out to people for weeks or months Let’s help get you back to home,’” he says Related: How homelessness started, grew and became a statewide crisis in Oregon San Joaquin County’s law also calls for creating safe camping spaces though Patti says that will take time to coordinate with cities Violators of the new ban face a fine of up to $1,000 and six months in jail but Patti says enforcement is discretionary “But we do know that if a person’s trying to build a pallet palace with their blue tarps and tents Critics say camping bans do nothing to fix the problems driving homelessness In 2018, a federal appeals court ruled cities could not punish people for sleeping outside, because it would amount to cruel and unusual punishment if they had nowhere else to go. The Supreme Court declined to take up the case That left nine Western states unable to clear out encampments unless they offered people a place to stay Some larger cities responded by beefing up their supply of shelter beds and investing significant money to build affordable housing By the time a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court took up camping bans this year politicians of both parties were pushing for more flexibility to manage what they considered a public health and safety crisis Related: What led Grants Pass v. Johnson to the US Supreme Court But other cities have been slow to apply their harsher new laws A No Camping sign is posted on the first day of a statute that took effect making it illegal in Florida to sleep on sidewalks on beaches or in other public spaces — one of the country's strictest anti-homelessness laws “Law enforcement in a lot of these communities actually don’t want to be the first line of services for people who are experiencing homelessness,” says Ann Oliva CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness She and other advocates also say saddling someone with fines or an arrest record only makes it harder for them to get housing or find a job treatment programs and shelter beds are in short supply “No community in the country has enough resources to serve everybody who’s experiencing homelessness,” Oliva says Some cities have held firm against the Supreme Court ruling. The most prominent is Los Angeles where Mayor Karen Bass has pushed to move people temporarily into motels and touted success after the number of people living on the streets dropped 10% this year says the list of new camping bans keeps growing And he worries this focus on clearing out encampments will distract from the real problem People pass an encampment of unhoused people in the Skid Row community in Los Angeles on June 28 from camping and sleeping outdoors in public places “It’s time for our elected officials to recognize that half of this country struggles to pay rent and we need to address the affordable housing crisis," he says “That is the only way we’re going to see fewer people sleeping outside.” The struggle to clear out parks and get people into long-term housing Supervisor Patti says San Joaquin County has been adding more affordable housing and shelter space for years and Long Beach has faced some of the steepest rent hikes in the country over the past decade Duncan admits simply forcing unhoused people to move around is not a long-term solution “What tends to happen is that encampment will ultimately return to that location,” he says Related: These are some solutions to homelessness in Oregon But this summer, after the Supreme Court ruling, Long Beach decided to step up enforcement of its longtime camping ban It began by targeting four public parks that had become hard for the general public to use The most challenging one was downtown next to a library “We had a significant number of people living in the park area right next to the restroom in the walkways of the park,” Duncan says many continued to rebuff offers of a shelter bed and services The number of citations for camping or loitering after hours spiked with 265 issued between late June and late October according to the Long Beach Police Department A diversion program can keep those misdemeanors off someone’s record if they’re working with a case manager to find housing and support Duncan says the downtown park is mostly clear although some people still sleep there overnight Dozens of people are now living temporarily in motels but it’s taking longer than expected to get them into permanent housing One of those in a motel is 45-year-old Rasheena McCord Her financial troubles came after she split from an abusive boyfriend and then had her work hours cut but it broke down and there was no public transport to get her to her 5 a.m “And then I ended up not only not having a car anymore She sent her youngest to live with her father and placed two young adult children in the Long Beach Rescue Mission But McCord did not want to go to a shelter herself She says the idea of sharing a room with strangers felt distressing and unsafe So she spent two long years in the downtown park “My belongings were getting stolen,” she says “I would wake up and all my stuff would be gone I got 13 stitches in my face because someone hit me with a bottle she knows people who insist on continuing to live outside and says she understands why you’re out there for so long and it seems like there’s no help McCord thinks it’s “totally wrong” that cities can now ban people from sleeping outside But she’s grateful she was offered temporary housing She’s now taking classes to become a registered nurse and hopes to get a permanent housing voucher before her allotted time in the motel runs out in May Tags: News, Nation, Homelessness, Housing Thueson extended a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit against the city over its treatment of homeless people homeless people in Grants Pass can’t be cited In their request that the restraining order be extended "The City of Grants Pass has requested time to reassess its current policies the City and Plaintiffs agree that the best course of action would be to extend the temporary restraining order to allow that process to proceed." the judge modified the order at the request of both parties writing that camping is prohibited in Riverside Park and Reinhardt Volunteer Park the city can still enforce its code that says sleeping on sidewalks This development is part of a lawsuit filed at the end of January by an Oregon disability rights group and five homeless plaintiffs against the city claiming Grants Pass’s treatment of homeless people violates state law The complaints in the lawsuit date back to the fall when the city had two homeless campsites and required people to move their belongings from one site to another every week The City Council also recently shut down one of the city's homeless campsites and restricted the hours of the other Grants Pass currently has one legal homeless campsite the City Council will consider designating additional locations for camping in an effort to address the lawsuit's critiques Last June, Grants Pass won another case over its treatment of homeless people after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its favor. However, the question in that lawsuit involved the Eighth Amendment. This lawsuit argues instead that the city is violating Oregon's state law HB 3115 which says cities’ public camping regulations have to be “objectively reasonable.” However