A homeless encampment on Highway 99 in Eugene is expected to be dismantled starting Monday. About 90 campers have been notified they may relocate to another camp four blocks away.
Crews place dozens of mattresses inside 10 military wall tents in preparation for an influx of campers. The Dusk to Dawn camp managed by Saint Vincent de Paul will change to a 24-hour a day site next Tuesday.
Pete Kerns is with St. Vinnie’s. He says initially, there will be additional staff on site to mitigate any problems.
“We’re going to double the size of this facility. That's just a lot of people to have in a small space. I’m confident that we have a good program and it’s got the right leadership but we’ve never put this many people together like this.”
To accommodate more people, they’ve added tent spaces and Quonset huts for those with pets.
Staff say anyone interested in staying here must sign up at the Lindholm Center to receive a bed number and storage space.
As of Thursday, only about 20 of the homeless at Camp 99 had signed up for a bed at the St. Vinnie site.