BEND, OR -- Bend’s unsanctioned camping code continues to take shape. City Council spent two hours discussing the latest draft in a Thursday afternoon work session.

Council and city staff agree the goal is voluntary compliance; providing resources so campers aren’t living on the streets. When pushed on how the new code would be enforced without causing more harm to a vulnerable population, City Manager Eric King said the city is doing what it can, "We need to grow our outreach services and that’s happening. So that is why it has to be - this isn’t just a code; it’s a living, breathing, with a multidisciplinary team, with us all talking together so that we’re balancing safety and individual needs. It’s a complex thing, so it has to be a complex system that responds."

Much of Thursday's discussion was spent talking about how long someone can camp in the right-of-way before they are in violation. The current draft provides 24 hours. But Mayor Gena Goodman-Campbell pushed for campers to have more time, saying many suffer trauma and mental illness, and moving every day would be a hardship. "We’re outside of the box here, in terms of what other cities have done," she told Council, "And I understand what this means in practice, is that then you end up with people camping in the same place for longer. But, I feel we’re still accomplishing that goal of moving from an unmanaged situation to a managed situation with guardrails. I’m just talking about a longer time guardrail." City staff note the reality of the timeline would be longer due to requirements to provide 72-hours notice of camp removal.

Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz says camps that are allowed to remain for longer lengths of time often grow and conditions deteriorate. "There have been a lot of community members who aren’t part of the camps that have been harmed by people in the camps," he said, "There has been harm on many different angles. So, I think the balance; the difficult job for all of you: can we find a middle ground where the goal is harm reduction for everybody as much as we can, knowing that it’s never going to be 100% correct. "

Council will talk more about the draft code on November second.