One of the proposed new homeless campsites: a parking lot adjacent to the current 6th Street site, shown on March 25, 2025.
Jane Vaughan / Jefferson Public Radio
Grants Pass is in the middle of a lawsuit that claims the city’s treatment of homeless people violates Oregon state law.
A judge recently issued a court order in the case saying Grants Pass has to increase its designated camping sites to the same capacity it offered before the city closed a site in January.
As a result, city councilors met at a Tuesday workshop to discuss potential locations.
Tents set up at a homeless campsite near Grants Pass City Hall on March 25, 2025.
Jane Vaughan / JPR
Some proposed spreading the sites throughout the city, including City Manager Aaron Cubic and Police Chief Warren Hensman.
“We think it’s important to separate those sites and have separation between those sites and not have multiple sites in one location,” Cubic said.
“My main concern is the amount of people in one location,” Chief Hensman said, referencing behavioral issues and crime. “If we expand the footprint and put more people into one condensed location, even if there’s a gap with fencing, folks do not have far to go to be upset with one another.”
However, Councilor Rob Pell said he’d rather keep the new locations near where the city already has two campsites on 6th and 7th Streets.
“It’ll have the least amount of negative impact,” he said. “We already have negative impacts to the neighborhood, rather than doing that same exact dance in a new neighborhood.”
Eventually, councilors voted 6-1, with one councilor absent, in favor of two new proposed sites, both parking lots adjacent to the current campsite on 6th Street.
One is used for city hall employee parking.
Cubic said the other is used by the addiction treatment center OnTrack, which is relocating.
“We have to provide access to that building until they’re totally out,” he said. As a result, that site would take longer to be ready for people to move in.
The two proposed sites will be officially voted on by the City Council at a meeting on April 16.
Grants Pass is trying to create capacity for 150 tents — the amount Judge Sarah McGlaughlin estimated was previously available.
Cubic said the city’s two existing campsites currently offer 99 spots. The proposed sites would add space for another 74 tents.
To get the court order repealed, the city must also ensure all sites “provide accessible routes and surfaces” for people with disabilities.
Jane Vaughan is a reporter with Jefferson Public Radio. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.
