Aberdeen City Hall was packed Wednesday evening for a workshop on homelessness, with a crowd of more than 100 that included homeless people, representatives from homeless assistance programs, and local business owners. It was a significantly larger turnout than typical city council meetings, and some council members took note.

“It’s a little intimidating to have that many people staring at you,” said Council President Tawni Andrews, who organized the meeting.

For the most part, only council members were allowed to speak during the workshop. The idea was to give the council a chance to discuss the homelessness issue without the formality of normal council meetings. It was a public meeting, but it wasn’t intended as an open forum.

The council went through a list of topics such as riverfront camps, panhandling, shopping cart theft and walking trail issues, but other than that the meeting had very minimal structure. The format led to a much more raucous environment, with a few in the audience applauding and cheering, “Right on! There we go!” when one council member said most homeless people are good citizens, and others shouting expletives when they disagreed with something that was said.

At the beginning of the meeting, the council read aloud a letter from Mike Lang, who owns a significant portion of the riverfront property along the Chehalis River, where many homeless people live in tents. He originally purchased the land 25 years ago for $350,000 to eventually be his “retirement nest egg,” the letter reads, and spent 20 years commercial fishing in the Bering Sea to pay for it.

Since his return, Lang writes that he now feels like the area’s “garbage man,” because he has to deal with trash left behind by campers. He said he has experienced harassment from tent residents while cleaning up trash, had his tires slashed once while cleaning, and has been unable to sell the property. Lang concludes his letter writing that he cannot think of a better location for the campers to inhabbit, but that he is “overwhelmed” and needs help to deal with it.

“I can’t think of a better place for these people to camp where they have water and lots of driftwood for their campfires,” wrote Lang. “I’m sure it’s better than if they are camped along the sidewalks in town in doorways or peoples’ back yards. In any event I need help, I can’t afford this burden.”

While city council members did discuss a number of potential solutions for homelessnesss, many of them expressed their frustration that they’ve been hearing the same problems and solutions for years, without much actually getting done.

“I’ve heard a little of the frustration, and maybe I’m frustrated myself,” said council member Tim Alstrom. “We’ve collected and thrown tax money to try and deal with this issue. It seems like it’s been studied and planned to death, and it feels like not a whole lot is getting done.”

Part of the recurring issue, Mayor Erik Larson said, is that the city doesn’t have enough money to fix a deeper solution to homelessness when they are constantly dealing with the side-effects of homelessness, such as increased theft, trespassing and panhandling.

“Because of the lack of funding and how the problem has been exacerbated in the past 10 years, we’re in a situation where we don’t provide the solutions, but we’re responsible for addressing the symptoms,” said Larson. “What we’re generally being asked by the public, and what we’re getting frustrated with not having a solution to, is how do you address these symptoms when you don’t have the ability to address the actual problem?”

Larson added that the city has little control over the housing market, and that there needs to be a larger state or federal effort to truly fix homelessness and not just the symptoms. He said that because the state and federal governments do not tax people more in order to address homelessness, it prevents there being enough money for non-profit groups that assist homeless people to address the underlying problems.

Andrews said she was also tired of hearing the same solutions and problems since she joined city council five years ago, and provided a few ideas for how to fix it, such as setting aside an enclosed area for tents or huts for people, not necessarily along the riverfront. She also suggested looking at other counties’ stricter panhandling ordinances.

“Maybe we can bring peoples’ safety more into concern, there’s (an ordinance) in Renton that really narrows down to say no soliciting from sunset to sunrise, no soliciting outside vehicles or around an ATM,” said Andrews.

Representatives from Revival of Grays Harbor and the Union Gospel Mission were invited to attend, but weren’t involved in discussions to the extent Andrews originally thought they would be. There were some minor questions asked, such as whether the mission had showers or computers, but that was it. Andrews said that prior to the workshop, Aberdeen’s city attorney Patrice Kent advised that the focus should be more on discussion among city council members.

“I guess I was hoping there would be a little more freedom to talk, but I consulted with the city attorney, and she cautioned me on a few things,” said Andrews. “I don’t have to follow her advice, but I chose to. It was supposed to be city council-centered, and about educating the council.”

Phil Calloway, executive director of the Revival of Grays Harbor homeless assistance group said it was disappointing to find out that he wasn’t going to be involved in the meeting, and thought it could have been a more productive conversation with multiple groups.

“They were talking about topics everyone already knows, they were no-brainers. It was kind of pointless, in my opinion, a waste of time,” said Calloway. “Everyone was telling me I need to be there, and I was sitting there thinking ‘Why did I need to be here?’”

Even though Calloway thought there wasn’t much productivity, he found it interesting to hear the opinions of council members he had interacted with in the past. He said the meeting helped him and the homeless people in attendance identify which council members appear to be more or less supportive to the struggles of homeless people.

“Some of the homeless people have mixed emotions toward a couple council members, but it really let them know who’s got their back,” said Calloway. “There were a couple who now we know we can go to to discuss the issues and maybe have things start pointing in the right direction. A couple of the council members threw me off, because I thought they had my back until I listened to some of the comments they were making to their personal agendas.”

Overall, Andrews and Larson thought it was a productive discussion, and Larson said he hopes more people come out to the regular city council meeting this upcoming Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. on the third floor of Aberdeen City Hall to voice their opinions.

“While I was happy to see so much interest in attending the workshop, it unfortunately seemed that many of those in attendance were under the impression that this was a town hall or that we were seeking public testimony,” said Larson. “I hope those individuals will instead attend the next council meeting, where there will be a public comment opportunity.”