BEND, OR -- After hearing from dozens of people concerned about code changes for Bend shelters, City Council asked staff to draft amendments for them to consider later this week.

A number of complaints were due to an allowance for shelters to use an on-call manager. That is no longer under consideration, "They're removing 'on-call' and requiring on-site management," says Pauline Hardie, a Senior Planner for the city. That means a shelter open 24 hours must have a manager on site at all times, "But they’re also going to allow that on-site management to be provided by a shelter resident that’s designated by the shelter provider."

Hardie tells KBND News using an RV as a temporary shelter in a private residential driveway is also out of the proposed changes, "Based on a lot of public comments, the Council is recommending to remove hardship shelters from the proposed code amendment. And possibly looking at a later date at how else to accommodate people who are going through hardships, on people’s properties." She says the existing "medical hardship" code remains in place, which allows a temporary dwelling on private property for specific, documented medical cases. 

And, Council asked for a revision to require shelters communicate not only with adjacent neighbors but also with neighborhood associations, "Every shelter probably does it different, so we didn’t codify how it has to happen. We’ll leave that to the shelters and how they typically do their outreach to the adjacent neighbors and to, now, the Neighborhood Association land use chairs," says Hardie.

Council will discuss and vote on the changes at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.