Clark County Matters Executive Director Amy Harris believes, simply put, that Clark County’s largest city, Vancouver, is defending public camping after the nonprofit organization has encouraged stronger limits on the matter.
Clark County Matters, a nonprofit advocacy group, has been active for change in Vancouver and the rest of the county, especially in regards to the homelessness issue the region faces.
“Earlier this year, we sent a letter to city officials outlining seven specific recommendations for placing stronger limits on public camping in Vancouver,” an email from Clark County Matters states. “One of those — banning camping within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, and community centers — should have been enacted years ago. Another simply brings city policy in line with Clark County’s existing restrictions.”
Harris’ organization says they strongly support more shelters and services in the county, as these are essential to ending unsheltered homelessness. They claim that as long as public camping remains a choice, many individuals will continue to refuse shelter and services.
“For some battling mental illness, the decision may be beyond their capacity,” the email stated. “For others caught in addiction, it’s a cycle of dependency and criminal activity that requires intervention.”
Harris believes that Vancouver is “dragging their feet,” she said, adding that the city won’t do anything until there is pressure from more like Clark County Matters.
“I think for the smaller communities, it’s a little easier for them to ban it because they don’t have services there,” Harris said of other Clark County cities that have passed ordinances that limit public camping. “They can say like, ‘Hey, we’re not going to allow this in Battle Ground, go to Vancouver.’”
Harris acknowledges that Vancouver, as the largest city in the county, does have more resources and services, “... but if Vancouver isn’t willing to turn down people from Portland coming in and accepting services and we’re just going to say come here and live like this, it’s going to be a huge problem.”
Clark County Matters has previously found in a survey of 500 residents that 84% of them are worried about rising homeless camps, drug issues and crime.
A few days after the Clark County Matters letter was sent, the City Attorney responded, the email states. The City Attorney, Nena Cook, said in the response that Clark County Matter’s proposed recommendations oversimplified “fixes” and ignored the work already being done.
“The solution to people living outdoors is not more or stronger laws—it is having more indoor places for people to live,” Cook’s response states. “An ‘equal or greater commitment to preventing and discouraging public camping,’ particularly by way of enforcement, is meaningless without available alternatives to public camping. Your statement is more accurate if written in reverse — ‘Without an equal or greater commitment to more shelters, services and affordable housing, Vancouver’s efforts to prevent and discourage public camping to end unsheltered homelessness will be unsuccessful.’”
Rather than taking real steps to limit public camping, the mayor and city council continue to defend it, Clark County Matter’s email states. The email adds that Vancouver needs leadership willing to pair compassion with accountability.
“That means ending the dangerous, inhumane encampments harming both vulnerable people and entire neighborhoods,” the email states.
Harris pointed out other West Coast cities’ efforts to curb public camping.
“I know Spokane had passed a better, citywide camping ban,” she said. “I do think their new mayor might be backtracking some of it, but I have seen other cities — I know Burien’s moving in that direction. Portland has attempted a citywide camping ban. … I know the new mayor of San Francisco is trying to clean up the city and I feel like we’ll get more if we’re saying, ‘come do this here.’”
She said since starting Clark County Matters in 2024 that the situation has improved, citing a couple of larger homeless encampments being cleaned up in Vancouver.
For more information on Clark County Matters, visit clarkcountymatters.com.
