All agree: no easy fix for homeless issue

Local governments faced with an increasing homeless population are grappling with ways to address the issue.

Earlier this week, the city of Clarkston pulled the plug on its lease of a small park along Riverview Boulevard, across the street from Taco Time. Liability and safety issues prompted the council’s unanimous consensus, after dealing with drug paraphernalia, fecal matter and property destruction became a more common occurrence.

“The garbage down there used to fill about one or two 50-gallon cans over a weekend,” said Kevin Poole, public works director. “Now it’s like four to six cans, and instead of paper cups and sandwich wrappers, it’s human excrement, needles, cardboard and broken bottles.”

Mayor Monika Lawrence said the city has been receiving more phone calls, emails and postings on its webpage because residents are concerned when they see homeless people camped in the park.

“Some people are not comfortable using our parks,” Lawrence said.

When the lease expires in a few months, Gateway Park will go back under the umbrella of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Clarkston began leasing the small piece of federal property in 1997 in an effort to ensure the entrance to the city was attractive and well-maintained. When it became a hangout for homeless folks, city crews noticed an increased amount of broken sprinkler heads, hazardous debris and other issues at the park.

One of the last straws was when they discovered a long power cord hooked to a nearby pole used to operate the sprinkler system. Homeless campers were stealing electricity to watch TV and charge cellphones, Poole said.

Law enforcement’s options for dealing with the homeless population and panhandlers are limited, Clarkston Police Chief Joel Hastings said.

According to a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, homeless persons cannot be punished for sleeping outside on public property when no other options are available. Because there’s no shelter in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley, police cannot remove homeless people from parks, the chief said.

“The intent of a park is to have an aesthetically pleasing green space,” Hastings said. “Our goal is to enforce laws in an attempt to keep a safe environment for everyone. Homelessness is not a crime. It’s a community issue. You can’t arrest your way out of the homeless situation.”

A few campers frequent Gateway Park daily, and their shopping carts, sleeping bags and other camping items are typically piled near picnic tables under the shade trees. Clarkston police monitor the area for illegal activity on a regular basis.

“We’re down there enforcing the laws every day,” Hastings said. “At the same time, arresting these people isn’t going to solve homelessness.”

Drinking, drugs and fights are the most common complaints, police said, along with residents calling with concerns.

One of the most egregious crimes was reported a few years ago, when a high school cross country runner was accosted near the park during a race. A homeless man was arrested in that case, and crews trimmed back bushes where he had been living undercover along the trail. Most of the crimes, however, fall into the misdemeanor category.

Poole said the majority of homeless people he’s talked to are facing similar issues, such as mental illness and substance abuse, but the city doesn’t have a quick and easy remedy to help them. The problem isn’t going away, and widespread solutions are needed, he said.

“For the most part, these people are coping and trying to get by and dealing with their demons,” Poole said. “It’s stuff that we as a city haven’t budgeted for, and really, we don’t have the financial resources or trained personnel to deal with it. There’s no easy answer.”

The number of homeless people arriving in the valley seems to be on the upswing, Poole said, and the vast majority are coming from the west side of the state.

“We’re getting a whole lot of new faces,” Poole said, “and it’s not because they’re responding to tourism brochures. Bigger communities are sending us their problems. Some are offered the choice between a bus ticket to Lewiston or Spokane, or jail.”

Poole said a statewide, regional effort is needed to address what’s driving homelessness. Until a comprehensive plan is on the table, communities don’t have a lot of options. “This problem is a lot bigger than the city of Clarkston,” he said.

Other eastern Washington cities, such as Walla Walla and Moses Lake, are providing temporary sleeping shelters as a solution to the homeless situation, Hastings said.

“It seems like they’ve had some success with those,” he said. “They serve people who need a place to get off the street.”

The mayor said a homeless shelter would help to some degree, but it takes time, effort, staff and money to put one into place. Union Gospel Mission, based in Spokane, has discussed establishing a shelter in the valley, and a group is trying to create a warming shelter for the colder months, Lawrence said.

“Sheltering the homeless is only the first step,” she said. “There are many different reasons why people become homeless in the first place. Homelessness cannot be fixed with any one solution. Public perception of the homeless needs to change before we can make real progress in solving the homeless problem.”

Many communities are dealing with similar issues. In neighboring Whitman County, the commissioners recently adopted an ordinance that bans camping on right of way property along a 27-mile stretch of the Snake River, including the Port of Wilma area, west of Red Wolf Crossing.

The law was prompted by complaints about people living in RVs and trailers parked along State Route 193 and Wawawai Road for long periods of time. Officials listened to concerns from the county health department and the Whitman County Fire District No. 14 before making the decision earlier this month.

Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers said deputies have been contacting the campers, and overall, the response is going well.

“We have had compliance by most, and we will probably have to tow a couple other rigs because no one seems to be around or wants to talk to my deputies,” Myers said Thursday in an email to the Lewiston Tribune.

“Generally, we will always give people a warning and try to work with them before we take any sort of enforcement action. This just gives us something to work with, some legal backing, if they don’t want to comply.”

Sandaine may be contacted at kerris@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2264. Follow her on Twitter @newsfromkerri.