Albany’s “Marvin’s Garden” homeless encampment as seen from across Jackson Street on Nov. 4, 2023.
Albany’s officially sanctioned homeless encampment has been open since July 1, and the city council Monday received a report on the place.
It was an oral, informal status report delivered by Police Chief Marcia Harnden and Fire Chief Shane Wooton. What it showed, among other things, is the bitter irony of the council’s decision early on to name the place “Marvin’s Garden.”
A garden is about the farthest thing from what this encampment actually is.
About the best that can be said, judging by what the council was told, is that no one has died in Marvin’s Garden, even during the recent cold snap with sub-freezing nights. There have been fewer than five medical calls and no “death calls,” Wooton said.
According to Harnden, existence of the two-site camp (one for people with vehicles, the other for people with tents or tarps) has allowed police to enforce Albany’s ban on illegal camping on public property. But if you wander around Albany’s less tony sections, you’ll see such camping still goes on.
The police have responded to the 15-spot tent site 88 times, and 56 times to the lot for a handful of vehicles, Harnden said, though most of the calls were initiated by the police to check on things.
For safety reasons, people at the sites are not allowed to have fires or barbecues. There is no power supply, so no electric heat either. Harnden said organizations like CHANCE and others have supplied blankets to keep people from freezing.
One complicating factor, in Harnden’s phrase, is a problem with rotting food because well meaning organizations have been supplying an abundance of foodstuffs to the camp. Don’t do that, she said. Contribute to food banks instead.
Another problem is too much trash because apparently, garbage from outside the camp has been dropped there too.
How about the cost?
Harnden said the city spends $401 a month on portable toilets and another $457 a month on garbage pickup at the camp. Also, the city has just spent $13,000 on camera equipment to monitor the place, and this will entail a monthly charge as well.
Mayor Alex Johnson II wondered if people were living at the camp for too long, not allowing others to get in. Harden said that it’s a “minimally safe” place and there’s no time limit.
Clearly, the camping sites Albany and other Oregon cities have established this year are not the solution. But until we figure out how to reverse the social collapse that underlies what we now call homelessness, that’s all that small local governments can do. (hh)
Not at “Marvin’s:” Someone sleeps on the sidewalk of S.E. Bradley Street on Nov. 26.
Yes, Hasso, it is a “social collapse,” as you termed it. In the Great Depression that started in 1929, there were shanty towns (that is what they were called then) all over the U.S. That’s the state of affairs we are in again, and we don’t have an FDR to start a Works Progress Association (WPA) or CCC, which was Civilian Conservation Corp., I think, to get us out of it I don’t see an end to this. Capitalism (the extreme brand that is only in the U.S.) has never given a damn about the people at the bottom of the totem pole, and that is not going to change, and our way of life has come home to roost.
The info below was taken from two recent articles by OPB:
According to 2022 U.S. Census data, Oregon has the nation’s highest rate of chronic homelessness (more than a year).
According to census data, Oregon has the fourth largest homeless population per capita in the country and it’s growing at an above-average pace.
According to a 2022 homelessness report to Congress, Oregon has the nation’s highest percentage of homeless families that are living completely unsheltered.
The OPB author concludes that a lack of affordable housing is the primary cause. It’s just too expensive to own or rent in Oregon. It could take decades to solve.
But spending lots of public money and government dictates in the private housing market will do little if addiction recovery and mental health care are forced to sit in the back seat.
Given a finite amount of taxpayer dollars and an endless list of “needs”, it boils down to trusting that multiple layers of government, each with their own priorities and political motivations, know what they’re doing.
Government can’t solve all societal ills. But it’s looking like government itself is the No. 1 problem.
What that place needs is a proper “roof” over it! Lets see our mayor & a few council members spend a few days there & I mean all day-n-night just to really get a feeling. CARA has a wad of $$ so spend some of it to keep the place dry. Maybe an engineering firm would design a proper “A” frame cover. And maybe a local contractor would put it up. Damn City, ya put out a “Welcome” mat so make it a proper one. Otherwise mov’em to City hall at night!
5 medical calls ??? What??!!! You have some incorrect data chief. .What for the week? Medical has been there multiple times on either side tents and vehicles since conception…just last night as a matter of fact…so yes, nobody has died but there have been fights ,assaults, thefts, and over d that have fortunately not been fatal so far. I just handed out 6 narcans to an individual staying in a tent with his pregnant wife who is addicted ro fentanyl….CHANCE, COATS and even some private citizens have done an amazing job with food,; blankets, amd hygiene kits but no one has transitioned to stable housing and maybe 2 have even made it to t2
Many thanks for the update.
Hasso –
Your last paragraph very succinctly sums it up…
My SS check is going up 3% next year. That doesn’t come close to what the City keeps extracting from us for YOUR city service & “franchise fees> Call it a SALES TAX because it is. You choose different semantics so you can field one of your smug replies that have little basis in fact.
For us with minimal income, YOU are pricing us out of our homes! EXACTLY HOW MUCH MONEY have you and your cronies cost us in your STUPID real estate deals? And yet you want to continue giving away OUR PROPERTY to the city council’s pet projects like the Cumberland fiasco. IF they want to move an old church & fixit, let THEM do it on their own. Quit diverting OUR MONEY to YOUR pet projects/contractors/architects/neigborhoods.
Let your pitiful, smug answers begin-
Bill –
I get that some of you folks detest anything having to do with and Urban Renewal Districts. That ship sailed almost a generation ago now – and it is finally nearing completion. You can call the City Services & Franchise fees anything you want. Notwithstanding your “quack-quack” analogy, that does not make them a sales tax. Period.
Again, I invite you to describe how YOUR “Franchise Fees” differ from a Sales Tax in actual substance. Just because YOU call them “Franchise Fees” doesn’t cut it. PERIOD!
I mentioned other issues you failed to address. WHY?
Forget your “urban renewal” garbage and use our money to fix the streets! Enough with the real estate fiascos and pet projects.
Hogwash.
People sleeping outside is not the problem. People breaking the law with impunity is. I don’t get bent out of shape when I see a tent, I get freaking livid when I HEAR CRIME.
I didn’t start my day at a brisk 4:30 am because I live next to a “hotspot”, it was because my new neighbors decided that the city noise ordinance is a joke. Yet again.
Here’s something we all can do that would improve the situation: Expect the Albany Police Department to enforce laws and ordinances. Has anyone tried that yet? Or is that not a “palatable” enough solution?
Why can’t the city buy a building like the old Shop & Kart on Queen and Geary and turn it into some sort of housing. There are plenty of empty buildings in town that are not being used. If the County can buy the building on Water St. where the Old Buzz Saw was because they said the need more room then why can’t the City do the same. I’ve heard that the Eagles build may be going on the block again. Maybe that would be a good spot, but No Not In Our Back Yard.
a roof? what next? walls? windows? heating? A/C? add big screen tv;s? internet??
The Chief said something about how the city pays a lock service to keep restrooms locked at night. Do we know anything else about this? Are the portos locked at night too, or just the concrete ones? Is that why I’ve been hearing people defacating in Periwinkle Stream? Because the toilets are locked up? Do we literally pay somebody to go around town turning a key twice a day but we don’t have anyone to pick up garbage in the park?
Yes Albany parks and rec dept pays someone to lock and reopen the park restrooms everyday, between April and October or is it September every year. Winter months they remain locked 24/7
In Texas they reduced homelessness by 60% with affordable housing. Constructing facilities to “manage them” does not address homeless at it’s root and will not help. Crime is unavoidable in groups of homeless. Addressing poverty and mental illness is beyond shelter abilities. They are a waste of time and funds. Oregon has attracted the homeless due to the lack of accountability of local governments to maintain a safe environment for the residents that live here. The homeless commit crimes with impunity in the areas that do not affect the city manager, council and mayor. That it is why the camp and shelter is the only solution they will ever offer if it is left up to them.
Maybe the city should focus funds more to homeless instead of traffic cameras. Where they plan on placing the new speed cameras isn’t even where people fly! Oregon’s state, county and city municipalities are the reason for skyrocketing housing prices. Excessive regulations, urban growth boundaries and zoning have created a housing scarcity. Developers cannot build a simple affordable house or apartment without writing it off as loss.
Nothing to do with the article But Hasso we worked together at the DH and now you’re the only source for local news now Thanks for keeping us informed as always DP
Just out of curiosity, everything I have read about the Cumberland Church has been paid for from private donations. I remember just a few weeks ago, a request by those who
have worked on the church for donations of paint. By the way, we just drove by there.
I was impressed as how good it looks. Could someone clarify this for me?
The way local governments can “help” the unhoused is to review and regulate the rental housing available in their jurisdictions. Why? Because unless mandated by law no change is made. No toilets, no water, no heat, barely shelter. Hmmmm. Great move. Even two plus person households struggle today to keep what little they have. Elderly, disabled, low income citizens are being ignored and are defenceless as there is no alternative housing available anywhere. Let alone money to make any relocation possible. You can survey, debate, and delay as much as you want and hope the “productive citizens” go on to another hot topic and let you off the hook. The I got mine too bad about yours mentality continues to rule our society. Also the big brother “now we need cameras to monitor ‘them’, reeks of the socialism of 1920 to 1945” (can’t guess look it up people).