CAMAS — The city of Camas could eventually have its own cold- and hot-weather shelter if officials can find a suitable space and work through logistics and costs.
At a mid-June workshop, Mayor Steve Hogan pitched the idea of opening a cold-weather shelter for the homeless in a city-owned building.
“For me, it’s a safety issue,” Hogan said, adding in his report to the council that he is “fully committed to conducting comprehensive and detailed research over the next 90 days, ensuring that all aspects of this proposal are thoroughly considered.”
The mayor said recent meetings with emergency preparedness groups, including Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency and the American Red Cross, led him to consider establishing a cold-weather shelter in the city.
“In Camas, last January, we had a number of homeless people out in the weather for some time,” Hogan said. “And, simultaneously, there were a lot of broken pipes and heaters that went out across the city.”
What’s more, Hogan said, Clark County “basically had a poor response” during the January 2024 ice storm.
“They were bad at predicting when things were going to end,” Hogan said. “They closed down some places they had on Friday… but we had another day or two where temperatures stayed low.”
Once the emergency shelters closed prematurely, it was tough for organizers to reopen the volunteer-run sites.
“The people working in those facilities — it’s a lot of nonprofits and church groups — they were done. It had been four days in a row and it was time to go,” he said.
The mayor added many local faith-based organizations “are at capacity” and have a limited, aging volunteer base. Some churches and nonprofits are even thinking about moving away from hosting emergency shelters because of increasing insurance rates, Hogan said.
“Establishing a cold-weather shelter addresses the immediate need for shelter during freezing events and provides a potential solution for extreme heat conditions,” Hogan said.
Councilman John Nohr urged the mayor to also look into opening a hot-weather shelter.
Hogan said he had a few city-owned buildings in mind that could potentially work for a shelter, including the upstairs rooms of the Camas Public Library, the city’s Annex building and the old community center, which Hogan pointed out has a kitchen and “some potential” as a cold-weather shelter. (The annex will eventually be demolished to make room for the city’s new fire station headquarters, if voters approve Camas’ bond measure during the August election.)
Hogan said other considerations include who would staff the shelter, how people would be transported to the shelter and how they would serve food and offer basic amenities such as showers and restrooms.
The mayor said the regional disaster officer for the American Red Cross in Clark County has already offered to “make field training from Red Cross personnel available” if the city decides to open a cold- or extreme-weather shelter.
Councilwoman Leslie Lewallen asked about what Camas residents might say regarding the shelter.
“There have been situations where our own residents, elderly citizens” had trouble during winter storms due to unplowed roads, Lewallen said. “So I can see them saying, ‘Why are we going to spend resources we don’t have?’”
Lewallen also questioned if there might be nearby facilities in Washougal or east Vancouver that might be able to act as a cold-weather shelter instead of the city establishing a shelter in a Camas building.
Hogan said the city would have some logistical difficulties getting people to shelters outside the city limits.
The mayor said he would look into potential issues that might come with opening a severe-weather shelter including insurance, coordinating trained supervisory personnel and volunteers and other homeless services agencies, costs, and facility needs such as backup power, furniture, showers, restrooms, cots and a first-aid station.
Hogan said federal and state funding may be available for this type of city-led shelter project.
