Council agrees to continue providing winter shelter - News - MailTribune.com - Medford, OR

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Council agrees to continue providing winter shelter Friday Oct 20, 2017 at 6:07 PM Oct 20, 2017 at 6:07 PM By Julie Akins for the Mail Tribune The city of Ashland will continue to provide shelter to the homeless this winter, three nights a week — and more when the temperature drops below 20 degrees — with the conditions that homeless people not congregate sooner than one hour before the shelter opens and that they clean up after themselves before leaving in the morning. Ashland City Council Tuesday added the stipulations in the ordinance that Pioneer Hall or the Ashland Community Center may not be available due to pre-booking for other events — or because of too much snow weight on the roof of Pioneer Hall. Councilor Dennis Slattery said he received complaints about homeless people hanging around under the shelter of awnings at Pioneer Hall on Winburn Way before the shelter opens. “We need to keep a close eye and make sure this doesn’t crop up in future years, so down the line we don’t have to do something else because it becomes untenable,” said Slattery. “We get e-mails from citizens about debris left over and concerns about the behavior,” Councilor Greg Lemhouse noted. Lemhouse suggested the solution to sheltering homeless people ultimately should come from the community rather than the council. “I really hope that we start looking at other community alternatives because I don't know how long the city can continue providing the winter shelter,” he said. — Email Ashland freelance writer Julie Akins at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/@julieakins.