The city of Vancouver has banned camping within 1,500 feet of the bridge shelter, which is scheduled to open later this year in the Vancouver Mall neighborhood.
The bridge shelter, which is expected to be renamed at a later date, is intended to be used as a “bridge” or a "transition" for people to go from homeless to housed. The shelter will have a variety of professional services, including help for those seeking drug rehabilitation, employment resources, health care, and more.
The city has already banned camping and outside habitation within 1,000 feet of its four Safe Stay communities. Those communities also have resources available to help the homeless.
On Monday, members of the Vancouver City Council voted unanimously to ban camping within 1,500 feet of the bridge shelter, or about .284 miles away from the site at 5313 NE 94th Ave. Because the bridge shelter will house more people than a Safe Stay community, city staff asked for a larger area for the ban.
The city knows that such centers attract the homeless.
“There are people who attempt to be close to a place that services them,” said Jamie Spinelli, manager of the city’s Homeless Assistance and Resource team (HART).
The city wants to encourage those living on the streets to apply for the bridge shelter or any open spaces in the Safe Stay communities. The new bridge shelter is expected to have around 120 beds.
While clearly there are those who do want help, who do want to get off the streets, Clark County Today has talked to many homeless people through the years who have no intention of going into the system. They have told us that they do not want to follow the rules. They are free to use drugs, for example, when camping on the streets.
When camping was allowed along the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail near NE Andresen Road, several people living in tents told Clark County Today they would never use a shelter.
Still, many of those people do use resources at the facilities and want to live nearby. So the city on Monday banned that practice within that quarter-mile or so vicinity of the bridge shelter.
Apparently the city has no problem with the homeless camping in other locations throughout the city.
Clark County Today took a drive around downtown Vancouver on Tuesday, on 8th Street, then north on Jefferson Street, then west on 13th Street near the Share House. Visual evidence shows that the neighborhood has fallen.
Garbage. Needles. Open drug use. A person vomiting on the sidewalk. Dozens of tents blocked sidewalks, while others blocked bicycle lanes. A mobile methadone clinic is set up, and food donations are delivered daily.
A 15-minute walk — less than a mile — is all it takes to go from City Hall to the Share House. One must wonder if any city councilor has made that walk recently?
