Ashland extends homeless camping hours to ease pressure on Garfield Park

The area behind the Ashland police station known as the “night lawn” will no longer be limited to overnight use.

At a Tuesday meeting, the city council voted to allow homeless people to set up camp on the lawn — which opened in 2023 — from 3 p.m. until 10 a.m., expanding current hours of 7 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.

Campers will also be allowed to stay on-site all day on weekends and federal holidays. The new rules take effect Monday, April 13.

Ashland resident Avram Sacks spoke in favor of the change.

“It would really help people to stay on the night lawn on weekends," he said. “It’s very exhausting to take everything down every day, seven days a week. Even God got to rest on the seventh day.”

The change is a short-term step as the city tries to address resident complaints about behavior in nearby Garfield Park while working toward a long-term plan.

City Manager Sabrina Cotta said the city is seeing more reports of violence, drug use and threats in Garfield Park during the day, tied to people staying at the night lawn.

In response, the city is focusing police enforcement on the park, including using unmarked vehicles and launching a police e-bike team.

“The issues currently occurring at Garfield Park are likely to continue over the long run due to the proximity of the dusk-to-dawn lawn, the continued shortage of housing and mental health services statewide and a lack of spaces for individuals experiencing homelessness to go during the day,” according to meeting documents.

Possible solutions include changing the location of the night lawn, investing in homeless services and expanding no-smoking zones, the documents state.

“In 40 years of living in Ashland, I’m deeply frustrated that we can’t seem to come together to have a stable, cogent, cohesive plan to address a dynamic and evolving situation,” said Paul Bingham, who has lived next to Garfield Park for a decade.

The aim is for the extended hours to encourage people to remain at the night lawn rather than spend time in the park.

Meanwhile, the city is also considering its long-term plans for the building at 2200 Ashland St., which recently served as a winter and severe-weather shelter.

The city has used the building as a homeless shelter off and on since buying it in 2023.

The 32-bed shelter was run for months by the nonprofit Opportunities for Housing, Resources and Assistance, or OHRA. When that ended at the beginning of April, 25 of the 32 guests were transitioned to the OHRA Shelter, a 72-bed former hotel down the road.

OHRA Executive Director Dan Cano said requiring people to leave during the day presented a challenge.

“There’s nothing for them to do,” he said. “It was interesting also seeing how many folks wanted jobs and wanted to be productive. Some of them were asking me, ‘Can we just stay on the property and help clean?’”

OHRA’s next goal, Cano said, is developing a workforce program.

“A lot of the substance use is just because there’s nothing else to do,” he said, estimating that 75% of people in the shelter were employable.

Ashland plans to issue a request for proposals to operate the building as a severe weather shelter.

The 2200 Ashland Street Facility Plan Ad Hoc Committee also hosted a community open house on Wednesday to discuss long-term uses for the building.

A special city council meeting will be scheduled next week to continue the discussion about the night lawn and to hear one councilor’s proposal for a series of meetings to address homeless camping.

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.