The Medford Police Department Livability Team has attempted to maintain as much data as possible as it pertains to the referral of homeless citizens to our partner agencies and agencies that provide services to the homeless.
This data is particular to the referrals made to the Urban Campground, run by Rogue Retreat. However, data has also been collected on other non-enforcement actions taken by the Livability Team in it’s goal to connect our unsheltered homeless population to services and thus reduce the amount of unsheltered homeless persons and specifically encampments within the city.
Urban Campground Referral Data:
As the sole referral source for the Urban Campground, the Livability Team has done 945 referrals since July of 2020. Of those 945 referrals, 751 people have been moved into the camp. As noted in Exhibit A, Rogue Retreat has transitioned 132 to the Kelly Shelter from the campground and 144 people to other transitional housing options (276 total transitions). There have been 272 people exited from the campground on their own accord and 120 people exited by staff for misconduct.
Connections Made:
The Livability team has prioritized relationships with our partner agencies and those providing services to the homeless in addition attempting to create relationships with the unsheltered homeless population themselves. Due to these relationships, the Livability Team conducts twice weekly outreach with partner agencies to include but not limited to; Rogue Retreat, La Clinica, Options for Southern Oregon, ACCESS, the Veterans Administration, Addictions Recovery Center and Jackson County Mental Health. These twice weekly outreach efforts have created in-field connections for service providers directly to their clients.
Prohibited Camping Operations:
Starting May 3rd, the Livability Team began weekly Prohibited Camping operations, targeting between eight and ten camps per week. Thus far, 177 camps have been removed from the greenway with a total of 215 camp occupants contacted. Of remarkable note, only 10 enforcement actions have been taken on homeless persons for refusing to vacate an illegal camp. The most effective part of these operations is the 72-hour window that occurs after an illegal camp is posted and when it is removed. During that time, resources are funneled to these camps and as can be seen in Exhibit A; 76 people have accepted shelter, 23 have accepted medical resources, 5 have accepted substance abuse treatment and 2 have accepted mental health resources. During this time, over 660 cubic yards of garbage
Courtesy of the City of Medford
