BEND, OR -- Deschutes County has limited federal funds left to use for development of temporary shelter sites. Deputy County Administrator Eric Kropp told Commissioners this week there was a glaring omission in a batch of recent applications, "The 45 acres of county-owned land southeast of Redmond that would be part of the DSL land swap, there were no proposals directly related to the 45 acres."

Commissioners still want to work with the city of Redmond to develop that location into a homeless services site, so campers moved from the parcel involved in the state land swap have a place to go. What form that site takes is still up in the air - RV parking, a managed camp or a village of tiny homes. Commissioner Phil Chang says tiny home projects have benefits, but they’re expensive on a per-unit basis, "If we’re going to come up with some options for large numbers of people, we need to do the thing that’s more cost-effective per space, essentially. And that is to develop a managed camp."

They also discussed funding other projects with the remaining ARPA funds, including addressing camping on county-owned land on the north end of Juniper Ridge, north of Bend. Service providers may have a plan, "Like, maybe something small on - originally they said 10 acres; now they’ve determined five acres. They went out there the other day and they just thought they could do something small in order to start helping those people and actually moving in a positive way," says Commissioner Patti Adair, "They found a spot that they thought could be a positive location, in order to seriously make a difference and help those people."

Another proposal requesting funding would put a tiny home village on South Highway 97 in Bend, next to a Les Schwab store. That idea drew opposition from Commissioners Tony DeBone and Adair. "I mean, it’s the gateway to Bend," said Adair, "I feel like a tiny home village when you drive into Bend, is that really what you want to see?"

Commissioner Chang wants the county to focus efforts on the two county-owned parcels he sees as top priorities, "If these $1.8 million of ARPA are all that we have left at the county to do something significant or strategic, then those two needs - clearing out the 137 acres in Redmond, taking our 50 acres at North Juniper Ridge out of this in-between state - those, to me, seem like the things we absolutely need to be addressing."

No decisions were made Monday and Commissioners agreed to continue talking with providers about options.