Frustrated after two devastating fires allegedly set by homeless people since last year, Medford officials are pleading for $4.5 million from Salem this year to be able to continue efforts to get people off the streets.

At a Thursday night City Council study session, after a fire destroyed part of a popular playground at Bear Creek Park earlier that morning, City Manager Brian Sjothun said, “We’re going to be a crossroads in this calendar year if we don’t get help from the Legislature to keep those programs going.”

No arrests have been made in the Bear Creek Park fire, and it is unknown whether the person was homeless.

Gov. Tina Kotek has asked the Legislature for $200 million to help fund emergency services and provide housing.

City officials calculate they have invested almost $20 million to date on homelessness since July 2019, most of the dollars coming from the state or federal government.

Without more help, the city has no sustainable funding to continue homeless operations.

The city helps fund a number of homeless programs, including the Navigation Center on Biddle and Market, the Urban Campground off Biddle Road, and a severe weather shelter. It also works with Rogue Retreat, which operates many of the facilities.

The urban campground started with 25 campsites and has since expanded to 125.

Since COVID, homelessness issues have become far worse in Medford and have plagued downtown merchants. Last year, the city endured the devastating Carson Fuel Pacific Pride explosion and fire on South Central Avenue caused by arson.

Early Thursday morning, residents woke up to a fire that destroyed part of the popular Olsrud Family Community Playground in Bear Creek Park, with witnesses saying they saw a man with a butane torch in the area. 

Sjothun said local residents often ask why so many homeless campgrounds still exist despite efforts to get homeless people off the streets.

“They don’t understand the rules and regulations we’re up against,” he said.

Court cases have made it difficult for cities to remove tents or to prevent homeless people from sleeping in parks or on the streets, and state law requires the city give 72 hours notice to remove a tent.

While chronic homeless is down 15% since 2020, the city has seen a 93% spike in substance abuse among homeless people, and a 63% increase in severe mental illness, city officials said. The number of youths who are homeless has jumped by 104%.

Kelly Madding, deputy city manager, said the operation of the severe weather shelter has been problematic.

“The people who come to the severe weather shelter are probably the most difficult people,” she said. These people often refuse services, other than wanting a place to stay warm when temperatures drop below 25 degrees, Madding said.

The severe weather shelter has had volunteers help staff the operation, but it has proven difficult for the volunteers because of security issues.

ACCESS, which operates the shelter, needs about $300,000 to improve the building to make it suitable for a security company to even come into the building, Madding said.

Rogue Retreat, which operates many of the other homeless facilities, has also struggled financially.

“They almost went away,” Madding said. “If Rogue Retreat had gone away, there would probably be 300 people on the street overnight.”

The city provided Rogue Retreat with $1.35 million in 2022 to help it continue operations at the Navigation Center and the Urban Campground.

She said there is also a bottleneck in services provided at Hope Village, a collection of tiny houses used to house people in need, because it was supposed to be only for six months, but some of the residents have been there for more than two years.

“It’s not because they don’t want to move out. They can’t find a place they can afford,” Madding said.

Without adequate housing, the city is potentially looking at having more camps, with people living in them for a long time, she said.

Councilor Kevin Stine said when he was running for office in 2014, the word homeless didn’t even appear in the city’s strategic plan, even though residents often told him that was the number one problem in the city.

Despite all the services the city provides now, Stine said, “it is really odd when I look around. It seems so much worse.”