Vancouver police cited three people for illegally camping in mobile huts Monday morning, prompting St. Luke’s Episcopal Church to open its parking lot to the three huts.
Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said a patrol officer had spotted the huts parked on city property along the road in the 400 block of Phil Arnold Way, near the Veteran’s Memorial Wall south of Vancouver City Hall. The officer knocked on the doors shortly before 8:30 a.m. and warned the people inside the three huts — two couples and a single woman — that they needed to move along to comply with the camping ordinance, which prohibits camping in public between 6:31 a.m. and 9:29 p.m.
When the officer returned at 11:30 a.m., only one of the three huts was gone. The officer issued citations, which carry a $250 fine, to the couple and the woman who remained. The woman said she had been unable to find help moving her hut, said Kapp, who believed it might have had a flat tire.
Advocates for the homeless who learned of the situation Monday reached out to the Rev. Jaime Case at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, who said the huts could park in the church lot in Vancouver’s Shumway neighborhood.
Case is in Louisiana visiting his grandchildren and wanted to provide an immediate solution for homeless people in Vancouver.
“I’m doing this without necessarily the knowledge and approval of my governing body,” Case said, adding that he would meet with the vestry when he returns.
The church at 426 E. Fourth Plain Blvd. gets a lot of foot traffic, Case said. In the past, people have been allowed to car camp overnight in the parking lot — something that has elicited a mixed response from neighbors. The church also provides food, clothing, umbrellas and hygiene products to those who need them.
“We used to passively put out a bit of clothing. Now, we have a staffed clothing closet,” Case said. “I’ve gotten the parish to move toward directly serving the people.”
He said he hopes having the huts camped in the parking lot will help the parish better understand people’s conditions and engage with the problem of homelessness.
“This is the whole community’s challenge, not just St. Luke’s,” Case said.
Tom Iberle, executive director at Friends of the Carpenter, at 1600 W. 20th St., said people can park their huts at the day shelter during business hours, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., but they can’t stay there during the night.
Another church, the Arnada Abbey at 2001 Broadway, began housing three women in huts after the camps were cleared out near Share House at 1115 W. 13th St. a few weeks ago.
“I didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t take a few of them on the side of Arnada Abbey,” said the abbey’s Rev. David Knudtson, adding that the huts are in a fenced area. “It’s better than them wandering around downtown and being preyed upon.”
The women can use the bathrooms, showers and microwaves at the abbey. All of them are on food stamps and have been able to cook meals, Knudtson said. Arnada Abbey and St. Luke’s often work together and share a common Anglican faith tradition.
“There must be something about our particular ethos,” Knudtson said. “We follow a person who was homeless. How could we turn our back on the homeless?”
Huts evolving
So far, Huts for Hope has put together seven wood-and-fiberglass huts for homeless people in Vancouver. The eighth hut will be delivered as early as Sunday, said Richard Nichols, who heads the nonprofit, which is based in Long Beach.
The shelters are made out of fiberglass and a lightweight plywood and insulated on the inside; they’re light enough that people can move them.
“That’s why we built them on wheels,” Nichols said. “I kind of figured people would be shuffled around.”
The hut designs have been refined and each new model is easier to pull around. To move the older, heavier models someplace far away, the huts would have to be loaded onto a trailer and transported, Nichols said. For the newest model, Nichols plans to add reflectors on the front and back, along with a “slow-moving vehicle” sign.
Kapp said the city has never dealt with huts before, but that police are treating them like tents because they’re not licensed and registered as other trailers are. The city has been working with its legal department, city staff and social service agencies to talk about options, she said.
“We have to figure out what the plan is because they can’t be parked on public property or on the street 24/7,” Kapp said. “The ordinance is very clear. … They were well outside the camping ordinance’s hours.”
A solution could be in sight if all the pieces fall into place. Bill Ritchie, who is the founding pastor of Crossroads Community Church and chairman of the Clark County Commission on Aging, is working on establishing a temporary emergency shelter on a church property in Vancouver for 50 people, centering on the vulnerable, primarily single women and the elderly, he said. He hopes to announce plans within a few days, he said Tuesday.
Most of Vancouver’s shelters are full right now, including the two Winter Hospitality Overflow shelters at St. Andrew and St. Paul Lutheran churches, said Lani Rudolph, housing hotline coordinator for the Council for the Homeless. The exception is the winter severe weather shelter at Share Homestead in Hazel Dell, which has four openings for single women, she said Tuesday.
