EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) -- Lane County’s parks department is working on a pilot program with Saint Vincent de Paul to give homeless people a chance top become park hosts. Parks representatives say they oversee 73 sites with a staff of ten people and could use some extra eyes and ears. They spend thousands of dollars each year cleaning up parks that have been vandalized or stolen from while no one is watching.
People who own RVs or trailers but can’t afford a place to park could volunteer as camp hosts in exchange for a site to stay and access to water, septic and electricity. Saint Vinnie’s would handle the background checks of candidates and forward their recommendations to the county.
The two groups will meet next week to get more details on paper. They hope to launch the pilot project this winter and monitor it for several months. Later, findings would be presented to county commissioners for a decision on whether to continue the program long term.
