Salem City Council votes 5-4 to explore lifting homeless camping ban in some commercial areas

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    SALEM, OR (KPTV) — Salem City Council Monday night voted to consider lifting the tent-camping ban in some commercial areas.

In the contentious 5-4 vote, the council decided it will explore an option to keep the controversial ban in place around downtown Salem, in city parks and in residential areas.

Council expects to take up the topic at its Feb. 10 meeting.

Councilors, in December, enacted a tent camping ban on all public property. City leaders aimed to cleanup unsanitary conditions and appease a business community that complained that the homeless were driving away customers.

But the homeless haven’t left downtown – there’s plenty of remaining campers who cover up with cardboard and tarps in place of the tents they once sheltered under.

Last week, councilors declared a state of emergency, allowing them to open up more shelter beds and allow limited car camping. However, the city hasn’t been able to expand warming shelters, as was originally planned when the camping ban passed.

Once again, the debate brought passionate testimony from community member, including Salem Center mall general manager Dana Vugteveen.

“In the short-term, we have a crisis in retail,” Vugteveen told the council. “The folks can certainly stay under the shelters – underneath the awnings after business hours – which are killing retail business downtown.”

But homeless advocates said the city needs to do more as lives are at stake.

“We kicked people out of their tents in the middle of December,” one woman said. “It’s now been almost 45 days that we have forced them to huddle under overhangs of our stores.”

“We are treating our unhoused neighbors worse than we would treat stray dogs,” she added.

The city council is also exploring opportunities for both a short-term and long-term shelter and homeless navigation center.

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