Tualatin City Council Work Session - July 27, 2026: Homelessness Ordinance, IGA, and Eviction Prevention
Tualatin City Council Work Session - July 27, 2026: Homelessness Ordinance, IGA, and Eviction Prevention
The Tualatin City Council held a work session on July 27, 2026, to discuss three homelessness-related topics: updates to the time, place, and manner camping ordinance, intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) for homeless services, and eviction prevention funding. The meeting also included a round table with updates from the city manager and councilors. No formal votes were taken, but the council provided clear direction to staff.
Camping Ordinance Update
- City Homelessness Liaison Megan Cohen and City Attorney Kevin McConnell presented an update on the city's camping ordinance, originally passed in July 2023 in compliance with House Bill 3115. The ordinance currently allows camping only on the lawn of the public safety building between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., with manner restrictions.
- Proposed updates include: (1) adding vehicle camping to the definition of camping (as done in Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Cornelius), (2) removing references to "available shelter" following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 overturning of Martin v. Boise, and (3) designating specific allowable locations for vehicle camping (e.g., public right-of-way in certain zones, or a dedicated city lot like Wilsonville’s city hall lot).
- Council discussion included concerns about required facilities (bathrooms, handwashing, trash) if a designated lot is used, costs, and enforcement. Councilor Gonzalez stated full support for restriction and a designated lot at the police station, warning "if you build it, they will come." Councilors Brooks, Hillier, Reyes, and Pratt expressed preference for a designated lot over allowing vehicle camping throughout public right-of-way, citing control and reduced impact on businesses.
- Councilor Hillier raised concerns about placing a lot in parks due to conflicts with scheduled activities. The mayor directed staff to bring back draft ordinance language, options for designated locations, and estimated costs, including for facilities.
Homelessness Services IGA Discussion
- Deputy City Manager Megan George discussed two IGAs. The first is a four-party agreement (Tigard, Tualatin, Sherwood, and Washington County) that funds the homelessness liaison position (Megan Cohen). The current agreement expired June 30, 2026. A new three-year agreement increases annual funding from $200,000 to $210,000 and adjusts time allocation to 60% Tigard, 30% Tualatin, and 10% Sherwood (a 5% increase for Tualatin). It also clarifies obligations for point-in-time counts and data sharing. Washington County has approved; Tigard will vote in late July; Tualatin's vote is scheduled for August 10, 2026.
- The second is a three-party agreement among Tigard, Tualatin, and Sherwood to disburse surplus funds (over $400,000) from the first agreement. Tualatin would receive approximately $100,000 (25%) for the first three years. The funds are flexible for homelessness-related uses, including eviction prevention. Councilor Brooks requested community input on how to use the funds. Councilor Hillier asked if the funds could be used for eviction prevention; Megan George confirmed yes.
Eviction Prevention Follow-Up and Outside Agency Grants
- Megan Cohen and Deputy City Recorder Nicole Morris presented follow-up from an April 2026 discussion on eviction prevention. Key statistics: 4,800 evictions were filed in Washington County in the last 12 months, 95% due to non-payment; state cuts reduced eviction prevention funding by 75% ($129 million) in June 2025. Local providers include Just Compassion (health-related rent assistance) and Family Promise (limited funds). Tualatin School District reported 255 McKinney-Vento students (doubled-up, shelter, motels).
- Outside agency grants currently total $50,000 annually, supporting about 15 organizations. No funding is currently allocated for direct rent assistance. Options presented: maintain current program; add eviction prevention criteria; increase funding for eviction prevention; or pursue eviction prevention outside the grant program.
- Council discussion favored using the $100,000 windfall from the three-party IGA for eviction prevention, spread over three years (approximately $33,000 per year). Councilors Hillier, Brooks, Reyes, and Pratt supported designating a single agency (e.g., Family Promise of Tualatin Valley) to minimize administrative costs and ensure funds go directly to residents. Councilor Brooks emphasized upstream prevention alongside downstream interventions. The mayor directed staff to incorporate the $100,000 into the outside agency grant process with a focus on eviction prevention, and to bring back a proposal.
Round Table and Announcements
- City Manager Sherlin Lombos announced road closures: SW Tualatin Road closure at the railroad crossing (Aug 3-4) and Martinazzi Ave closure over the Tualatin River Bridge (Aug 3-6) for rail repairs. Also noted the Metro Nature and Neighborhoods grant award of $2 million, the pumpkin regatta lottery opening, and a future work session on emerald ash borer.
- Councilors reported attending various community events (IBAC neighborhood fair, Safety Town, Kai Kershaw ribbon cutting, police swearing-in, Metro meetings). Councilor Brooks noted the MET director requested a meeting. Mayor provided updates on freight subgroup and JPAC meetings.
Key Outcomes
- Camping Ordinance: Council directed staff to draft amended ordinance language including vehicle camping, and to explore a designated city lot for vehicle camping (with cost estimates for required facilities). Staff will also review parking ordinance conflicts and bring options back in August 2026.
- Homeless Services IGAs: Council expressed support for approving the four-party IGA on August 10, 2026, and for moving forward with the three-party IGA to disburse surplus funds. The three-party agreement will be brought to council for final authorization.
- Eviction Prevention: Council directed staff to propose using the $100,000 surplus from the three-party IGA for eviction prevention over three years, likely through the outside agency grant program, with funds awarded to a single agency experienced in rent assistance. Staff will return with a detailed plan.
Meeting Transcript
Are we ready? Not waiting. Yep. I think I'm Maria C and let's go. Same thing with Cindy. Recording in progress. Good evening and welcome to the July 27th, 2026 Twalton City Council work session. Our first time on the agenda tonight is camping time, place, and manner ordinance update and discussion led by Megan Cohen and Kevin McConnell, our city attorney. Welcome, Megan and Kevin. All right. Good evening, Mayor, City Council. My name is Megan Cohen, and I am Twalton's City Liaison on homelessness, and I'm joined by Kevin. So we have we have all the attorney expertise in the room. And we're here to chat about our time, place and manner ordinance, and about some potential updates to that ordinance, explore uh sort of where we are, um, how that ordinance has been working and where we might want to go from here. So with that, uh next slide, please. Okay. So for some background, I'm sure you're all very familiar, but Twalton's time, place, and manner ordinance was passed in July 2023. That was, of course, in compliance um with uh House Bill 3115, which was passed by the Oregon legislature. Um since then, um we have actually I think seen our ordinance working um in a way that has been uh advantageous for the city and has been running pretty smoothly. Um there have been some changes, um policy changes uh since then. Um and one of those is that the Supreme Court actually overturned the Martin v. Boise decision in June 2024. Um and so for many states um that meant that there is no longer any um protection for public camping, but for Oregon, since we have House Bill 3115, that was still in place, but it does uh have an impact on some of the language, as we'll talk about later on um available shelter, which is written into our ordinance. Um part of this is just to make changes that uh recognize some of the changes that have happened um at the national level. And then as a reminder, House Bill 3115 requires all cities and counties to ensure camping ordinances are objectively reasonable to time, place, and manner with regards to people experiencing homelessness. Um so we end up getting those three parts of the ordinance. Um and in the last year, I know you have heard um from businesses uh here. We've seen an uptick in vehicle camping, specifically RVs. Um despite you know, trying to have sort of one off uh responses to those, whether it's you know, um on the enforcement side or um making no parking rules uh to specific areas. Um we wanted to look at what may be a more comprehensive um response to that would be and to some of the impacts that we're seeing from that vehicle camping, which include like public materials um uh uh or camping materials uh outside of the vehicle and in our public spaces. Next slide, please. So this is our current ordinance. So just to go over what's in there, this is the ordinance is in the ordinance language itself that's also accompanied by um definitions as well, um, which we'll get into in more detail. Um the time uh is that uh camping time between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. Uh and then place really the dedicated places that that lawn on um our public safety building, everything else, uh including public right of way is prohibited within our current ordinance. And then um in the manor really talks to sort of the specifics of that, which include um not accumulating, discarding or leaving behind trash, excavating, those types of things. We have seen um folks camp on the lawn by the public safety building. Um they've complied with the manor pieces with the time pieces. Um we've had outreach go out and touch base with folks there on the lawn and see if they can offer services. Um, and it's been a good place to be able to meet people there and see uh what connections we can make. And I would say overall, this current ordinance is pretty similar to the other ordinances um throughout the county. There's some differences, small differences in time and in place, but overall um really not too different from what we're currently seeing, with um I think one piece that we're gonna talk about this evening. Next slide, please. Okay. Um so updated language options. There are a couple revisions that we're exploring, and I'll let Kevin go into a little bit more detail. Um, but one is to add language within the definitions that uh defines vehicle camping as camping. So at the point at which you all um uh initiated the ordinance for time place manner, the decision was not to include vehicles. Um defining vehicle camping is something that several other jurisdictions in Washington County have done, including Beaverton, Hillsborough and Cornelius.
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