Reporter takes a walk around the blocks a couple of times, and he has a conversation with a member of the homeless community that is living near the Share House in Vancouver as well as a neighborhood resident

Paul Valencia
Clark County Today

The homeless camps near the Share House in Vancouver have only grown recently, and there seems to be a pattern with how the city handles the camps.

In 2022, there was a homeless camp set up just feet from the campus of Fort Vancouver High School.

Parents, students, and school staff complained. For a while, they were told there was nothing the city could do, even if needles, human feces, and other trash were thrown over the fence onto the athletic fields, even if school equipment storage units were being robbed.

Soon after media attention, those camps were moved.

In 2024, the homeless camps along the sound wall on Mill Plain Blvd. near downtown Vancouver became larger, and larger. In March of 2025, those campsites were moved.

In April of this year, Clark County Today watched as city officials, clean-up crews, and hazardous material handlers cleaned up one homeless camp along the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail near Andresen Road, only to find that all the campers had just moved across the street, a few hundred yards away from the clean-up area. It turns out, that cycle had been going on for months. 

City leaders told Clark County Today that until the Bridge Shelter opens, this would be the protocol: to clean up a site every few weeks, then clean up the next site as the homeless go back-and-forth between spots.

Then in July, those camps were moved, and the campers were not allowed to set up just across the street. The Bridge Shelter has not yet opened, but the city found a way to move the homeless camps after all.

Last week, a Clark County Today reporter took a tour of the area around the Share House, at 1115 W. 13th Street, walking around a couple of blocks two times. The reporter witnessed drug use, as well as tents, other gear, and garbage that had taken over a sidewalk on two different streets.

A man who said he lived in one of the tents asked what the reporter was up to, wondering why photos were being taken of the area. The man was gracious with his time, and he wanted to make sure that readers understood that while there are a lot of drugs on these blocks, not everyone here is on drugs. Many people, he said, do want to turn their lives around and would be receptive to the help provided by the city and advocacy groups.

When asked about the obstructed sidewalks, the man said that this homeless community makes a point of trying to only set up on one side of the street. So the sidewalk on the other side of the street remains open for residents and visitors to the neighborhood. 

One resident of Vancouver recently shared that he complained to the city about the sidewalks, bringing up ADA infractions.

The city’s response: The city is doing a clean-up sweep once every other week that includes the clearing of all sidewalks and roadways. (Sounds a lot like the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail cycle.) Also, the Vancouver Police Department is taking action against violators for “Pedestrian Interference.”  

The man who lives in the camp said he is frustrated that the homeless are often targets for citations for obstructing sidewalks, but he has never seen residents in the neighborhood being cited. He said there are a number of drivers who park their cars partially in their driveways, but with the back of the cars sticking out and obstructing sidewalks. 

In the few minutes of this conversation, the reporter and the man witnessed a person “shooting up” drugs. They took a look at all the tents, the people living on the streets. The man said if this tent city was across the street from the mayor’s house, “We’d be moved out that day.”

Later, the reporter was approached by a woman who lives in one of the houses that is on the kitty corner of one of the campsites. She has empathy for those affected by homelessness. She has asked those who live on the streets to please do their drugs only near their tents, and not in front of her home. For the most part, that request has been followed, the woman said.

However, she spots discarded needles just about any time she goes beyond the few feet of her property. And a new row of tents was just set up across the street from her residence.

She said it is an awful scene every time she looks out her window. Worse, when she goes outside.

The woman has a dog, but over the last few months, she said she has found that there is a smaller area of the neighborhood where she feels safe to walk her dog. She said she does not dare try to walk on the sidewalk with all the tents.

There is a medical emergency three or four times a week. She sees first responders from her window regularly. She even stores Narcan in her home, ready to respond with the life-saving medicine for overdose victims. She said she saw a death over there, pointing just to the east of her home, a few months ago and there was an overdose over there, pointing to the west, just the other day.

“There is no way this would be allowed across the street from the mayor’s house,” she said.