Clergy members highly involved with the city’s homeless population spoke to the Aberdeen City Council on Wednesday. This came after Mayor Erik Larson and key members of the city’s staff met Tuesday with homeless advocates and community members, including people who’ve been living on the riverfront, to discuss short-term and long-term ways to keep the population from squatting on private land.

The need to find short-term accommodations arose because private property owners along River Street and the Chehalis River are once again making efforts to clean up those locations and asking the homeless people camping there to leave. The people camp elsewhere for a while, but often eventually end up back along the river. Finding somewhere for these people to go in the meantime is as important as a permanent solution, however, Larson said Wednesday near the end of the council meeting.

Rev. Sarah Monroe, of the Chaplains on the Harbor in Westport, told the council she was grateful the meeting took place and said she intends to keep bringing attention to the level of “humanitarian crisis” in this community. About 100 homeless people living along the river have been asked to move as of Monday, she said.

“Retired loggers, people with severe disabilities, people dying of cancer and young people,” Monroe said. “It’s hard to express the level of grief, anger … It has a ripple effect on the entire community.”

Finding some place for these people to stay as long-term solutions materialize is paramount.

“What we really need right now is property where they know they won’t be arrested,” Larson said. “Until that space opens up, they are on the streets.”

The city owns land, but most of those properties are small rights-of-way and unsuitable for this type of use. A land owner willing to sell a piece of property may be the only answer — or someone with a piece of property they’re willing to lease for a very low price for a specified amount of time, Larson said Tuesday.

Needs for such a place were also discussed Tuesday night and include:

• Access to public service access

• Ease to provide sanitary services

• Ability to comply with city codes

• Privacy for the occupants and neighbors

• Close to services

• Child-friendly and animal-friendly

• Semi-permanance

City Attorney Eric Nelson also advised the group they would fare better forming or teaming up with a non-profit organization, particularly a church or other religious entity that could lease the property from the owner.

“It’s the least-contentious way,” he said.

Larson also pledged city assistance and support in finding property for such an endeavor.

He said recently there might be a new long-term location for homeless to live in the area within the next year or two and the Coastal Community Action Program confirmed it was working on the situation.

“Where are we going to find a place where people can go tomorrow?” Monroe asked.

“I don’t have that answer,” Larson replied.

And Larson told the council Wednesday he still didn’t have an answer. But that some of the people who lived along the river showed up Tuesday impressed him

“Most of these things these people have to do to survive are illegal,” he said. “These people are in a situation where it’s very difficult to trust.”

On Tuesday, some of the homeless people were worried about Aberdeen’s no-camping ordinance. They don’t want to end up being arrested for sleeping on a sidewalk.

Larson said police warn people they’ll be back in the morning and that they need to be gone before then.

But, “nobody’s ever arrested for camping,” he stressed. “It’s usually for something else.”

If it’s not for warrants or drug-related offenses, even trespassing arrests aren’t immediate, Larson said.

Nelson said Tuesday while a lot of cities are allowing homeless camps, they’re not supposed to be. There is a difference between camping and “emergency sleeping.”

Nelson and Larson explained that using city parks and private property without permission must be avoided because both cause friction among segments of the community.

Camping at Morrison Riverfront Park is an example of a situation that causes friction among community members.

“Single women don’t feel safe walking the path in the park at 5 a.m.,” he said.

“We have a thousand homeless people in Aberdeen and Hoquiam. We have this huge crisis situation. I understand people want to walk, but these people have to survive,” Monroe replied at the Tuesday meeting.

Everyone attending the meeting also agreed finding a long-term site for the homeless is necessary, but finding a piece of land or building will take effort.

Val Metropoulos, pastor with Amazing Grace Lutheran Church in Aberdeen, warned that churches can’t do it alone.

The city is a stakeholder in the process but “we’re limited in terms of what’s available,” Larson said.