ASHLAND, Ore.– Places of worship in Ashland may soon be allowed to legally provide people living out of their cars with a place to stay overnight. On Tuesday, the city council met for a business meeting where they held the first reading of the ordinance.
The ordinance, No. 3171, would add a new chapter to the Ashland Municipal Code giving religious institutions or places of worship the option to let people legally sleep overnight in the parking lot.
The Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship has been one of the driving influences behind the ordinance. For the past two years, the church has been testing out its own overnight parking program approved by the city.
The program allocated three parking spaces in the churches backlot for people to sign up and use. Each vehicle and attendant was screened, registered and given a pass to use the space without worry of staying in a space illegally.
According to Leigh Madsen at the Ashland Resource Center, that ability to sleep without having to be constantly harassed and moved around can do wonders.
“Every time somebody doesn’t have to be woken up by the police it saves the police time but most importantly these people can sleep safely,” he said. “They can sleep soundly and if you don’t sleep you make terrible decisions.”
The fellowship says the program has been a success and an evaluation brought before the city showed that “there had been no litter or garbage left and no complaints from neighbors.”
The RVUUF’s Social Justice and Action Committee, the one heading the proposal, see this success and the councils openness to it as good signs the ordinance will be approved. Many hope that this will bring more churhces into the fold.
“It will really help if it’s legal,” said Delores Nims, a member of RVUUF. “If we can get a permit and get the support of the city, I think it will encourage churches to step up.”
In the city’s council business meeting summary, the city staff recommended that the ordinance be approved by the council. If passed, it could have a ripple effect across the entire valley. Already, the City of Medford will be holding a public hearing for a similar ordinance this Thursday.
“An important thing is that we’re supporting what they’re doing by saying it’s legal,” said Madsen. “The other thing I think is really important is it now opens the door to other faith-based communities to make a decision.”
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