Cannon Beach city councilors recently updated a long-standing ordinance about where people can camp outdoors to address more than early morning surfers, or travelers passing through. The city has seen a small number of people who are homeless passing through over the years, and the new ordinance restricts where they can camp. Police Chief Jason Schermerhorn tells us about how he deals with people experiencing homelessness in Cannon Beach.
Note: The following transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB, I’m Dave Miller. We start today with Cannon Beach’s evolving approach to homelessness. The city council there recently updated a longstanding ordinance about where people can camp outdoors. Jason Schermerhorn is the police chief. He joins us to talk about homelessness, camping, and Cannon Beach. Chief Schermerhorn, welcome to Think Out Loud.
Jason Schermerhorn: Thank you very much.
Miller: Thanks for joining us. How big an issue is homelessness in Cannon Beach?
Schermerhorn: You know, it’s not too big of an issue. We just don’t have the resources here for people to be down in this area. But we do deal with some overnight campers, and I think that those blend together sometimes.
Miller: What do you mean by that?
Schermerhorn: Well, we’ll get people there down to surf the following day, and so they’ll want to sleep in their cars in different areas instead of paying for a hotel. That’s something we deal with more often than our homeless issue, as when we have homeless people come through town or in town, we try to accommodate them by giving them a ride to one of our local county shelters in the area.
Miller: Has it always been clear, or is it clear now who is there because they don’t want to spend money on a motel or hotel, and they want to surf the next morning? Can you always distinguish those people from people who are sleeping in their car, say, because they have nowhere else to go?
Schermerhorn: For the most part people will advise us “hey, I’ve got nowhere else to go,” or they’ll tell us “we’re just here for the night, we’re gonna be surfing in the morning.” They dictate and explain to us what their intentions are. And those that are staying in their cars, a lot of times, is more obvious because they have all their belongings in the car.
Miller: So if this isn’t a huge deal on any given day, what led the city council to change the rules governing where people can camp?
Schermerhorn: I think part of it was that ours was so restrictive. We didn’t allow any overnight camping, whether it was homeless or somebody coming through. And so we wanted to offer some options for people. But also, it’s certainly something we do deal with a few times a week, somebody that will be passing through. And having a way to give them some options is important.
Miller: So how much have the rules changed?
Schermerhorn: Well, we do now have spaces that are available, or at least open for people to camp. It’s clearly outlined, [rather] than just saying no camping in Cannon Beach.
Miller: Although when I looked at the rules, it does seem like a pretty broad prohibition still. In addition to not being able to be too close to someone’s residence, camping is prohibited in any public park street, bridge, alley, trail, path, planter strip, median, parking space, or sidewalk, unless there’s still three feet of passable space in that sidewalk, say, after somebody has put up a tent, and most sidewalks I assume aren’t that wide. So where can people legally camp now?
Schermerhorn: A lot of that followed state law. You can’t block vehicular traffic or pedestrian traffic. So a lot of that is just after state law, and where people can and can’t be. But there are areas in some of our parking areas that aren’t actual parking spaces. We do have grassy areas, in between as well as along the trails. There are areas that people can set up and/or sleep there, or set up a tent there.
Miller: So if somebody were, say, on a sidewalk, and one of your officers came by to them and said “you can’t be here,” would the officers say, “but you can go to this place. Based on our new rules, this place over there is a place where we’re not going to bother you”?
Schermerhorn: Yes, absolutely. That’s our first goal is education and to work with people. It’s certainly not something that we work to harass people or to make their day worse. We’re trying to work with them. And so yeah, we, in the past and present, do give people rides to areas that are available. And it’s something that we run into with people that are driving and need to pull over to get rest. We don’t want them out on the road. So we do have areas that they can get their rest and then get back on the road.
Miller: Am I right that there are no shelter beds in Cannon Beach?
Schermerhorn: That is correct.
Miller: So where are the closest ones?
Schermerhorn: Well, we used to have one in Seaside. That has closed. Now we’ll take them up to Astoria. There’s a Helping Hands up there, and there’s also warming centers when necessary. And the mission as well.
Miller: How often do you end up actually taking people to one of those sites?
Schermerhorn: I would say maybe twice a year.
Miller: Oh, so very seldom.
Schermerhorn: Yeah.
Miller: So where do people go then? If that is so rare, what does happen on average?
Schermerhorn: Usually their destination isn’t Cannon Beach. They’ll get dropped off here, or get off the bus here and realize that there’s just not resources for them. So they’ll move. They’re usually headed in a different direction anyway and just stopping through.
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