Tigard to ban overnight camping at the library because of 'risk to children, families'

While Tigard once had one of the least restrictive ordinances of Washington County cities when it came to where homeless individuals could stay overnight, that will change on July 29.

That’s when camping at the Tigard Public Library will be banned due to recent behaviors there — specifically visible drug use. Two other city properties will be effected by a new ordinance as well.

“So some of those behaviors that we've been seeing at the library, we believe pose a significant risk to children and families who are using the library services, and so we’ve recommended several changes, the first being to prohibit camping at the library, effective next Monday,” Kim Ezell, whose job includes shaping the city’s policy and response to homelessness, told the Tigard City Council on Tuesday night, July 23.

The council approved an ordinance that declares an emergency effective July 29, along with a separate ordinance that prohibits camping on any city parking lots or surfaces made of concrete or asphalt. Sleeping overnight in the bark dust area of the Tigard Public Works building in downtown Tigard will be prohibited as well.

The emergency ban also prohibits overnight camping within a shortened 350-feet perimeter of the city hall property line, which is in preparation of implementing the city’s future “safe lot” parking program .

The original ordinance was written with a 500-foot buffer around any service that provides homeless services, such as a safe parking lot, and would have prohibited all camping at the public works building.

That safe lot program, expected to kick off sometime after Labor Day, will allow a limited number of homeless individuals to stay in their cars overnight at the city hall lot.

One location left in the city

Once the prohibitions are in place, the only overnight sleeping location available for those experiencing homelessness will be the back portion of the public works lawn along Hall Boulevard.

“That location is already available for people to camp at,” Tigard Police Chief Jamey McDonald explained to the council on July 23. “We actually have the restroom facility there. There’s a trash facility already there. We’ll plan to bolster that so we have additional trash facilities.”

Tigard officials estimate that nine to 11 people camp at the library on any given night. Both city hall and the public works buildings see much fewer overnight campers, with only a periodic person at those sites who might spend a night or two at those locations before moving on, city officials say.

McDonald said officers will continue to work with the unhoused in a way that shows compassion, dignity and respect. At the same time, he said the original time, place and manner camping times — which allow overnight camping in the now only location from 7 p.m. and 9 a.m. — will remain in effect.

The city has said it will work with Tigard Just Compassion, an organization that operates a day center and provides limited overnight shelter for those who are homeless, in getting the word out about the bans.

In May 2023, Tigard enacted an ordinance addressing the so-called “time, place and manner” law. The ordinance specified where camping in the city was allowed, an action that was in response to Oregon House Bill 3115, which required cities and counties to provide “reasonably objective” places and times where those without homes can bed down for the night.

“We believe that the more visible and smaller camping location at the Public Works building, combined with strict enforcement of the Time, Place, Manner ordinance by the Tigard Police Department, will curb the behaviors we’ve observed at the Library and create a safer environment for our housed and unhoused community members,” Ezell wrote in a follow-up email.

'Not enough shelter available'

During public comments before the council on July 23, Caleb Peterson, a Just Compassion advocate for the homeless, reminded the council of the challenges many those individuals ace as they pack up and move each day.

“Living without a permanent home does not make someone less human, but it undeniably complicates their ability to live a stable life when they have no secure place to store their belongings. Under the time, place, manner, ordinance people must pack up their belongings by 9 a.m., regardless of the weather, which forces them to minimize their possessions to what they can carry throughout the day,” said Peterson.

That, in turn makes it tough to manage their daily lives by making it evident they are homeless, “subjecting them to discrimination and judgment from a majority of public spaces and businesses they utilize,” he said.

“The reality is that there is simply not enough shelter available for everyone who is unhoused,” Peterson said.

Peterson said even promises of additional shelter will fall short if the city continues implementing ordinances without having alternative resources available.

Another speaker, C.J. Reece-Harvey, said providing less space for the homeless will create additional problems.

“I'm one of those people that have really bad social anxiety, where after work all I want to do is come home and go into where I call home — which is my tent — and just stay away from everyone. But with you guys putting everyone and (cramming) everyone in that little lot, it causes more friction that will cause more and more issues throughout the city,” he said.

Before voting on the emergency ordinance, Council President Yi-Kang Hu said he took issue with an individual who recently criticized the city for its current overnight camping regulations, saying Tigard was an embarrassment for having set a liberal camping rule.

“And that just really bugs me because houselessness is not a liberal or conservative issue. It's a human issue. We are dealing with real humans here,” said Hu. He added that when the council agreed to allow homeless people to camp at the library last year, it was a compassionate choice because the library provides services the city’s most vulnerable population can use.

Tigard Mayor Heidi Lueb emphasized that even though she supported the new camping bans because of demonstrated behavior, it doesn’t mean that the overnight camping ban would exclude anyone from using the library during the day.

“The library is one of the … only places you can go that doesn't charge admission to be inside and to have a place and to have clean restrooms and excellent resources, computers, books … wonderful librarians and so it doesn't mean that our houseless community is completely banned from the facilities,” she said.