SEASIDE, Ore. — Robert Bird knows what it takes to survive a winter outdoors in Seaside. He built a rock wall around his tent, a tarp awning and has two portable heat sources. He camps in the one spot homeless people in Seaside are allowed to go, but it comes with its own coastal challenges.
“Around here it just floods and floods the whole way around,” Bird said.
Bill Denington, who lives next to Bird in an RV, is one of the lucky ones as colder weather approaches. He said that many homeless people wake up to all their blankets and sleeping bags flooded out.
“It's hard to see it. I don't know how they exist in the winter. It gets really cold and wet,” Denington said of the others in the camp that live in tents, like Bird.
Ironically, it's the threat of the winter weather that's actually getting in the way of more shelter opening up in Seaside.
Across the city, 15 tiny homes meant for about 30 homeless people sit on a vacant lot, still wrapped in plastic. Kevin Peppercorn has lived in Seaside for seven years. He first noticed them back in April.
“These have been sitting there for months and nothing seems to have been done,” he said pointing to the white structures, many of which have yet to be assembled.
Clatsop Community Action, a local nonprofit helping homeless people, bought the tiny homes. It turns out there are certain building requirements specific to the city of Seaside preventing them from being installed.
“Sometimes during our winter months, we have severe weather out here on the coast so the building codes specific to our area does have some high requirements to beat the storms and the wind,’ explained Seaside City Manager Spencer Kyle.
One example of those codes is that new structures like the tiny homes must be able to withstand winds up to 135 miles an hour.
“Frankly, I wouldn't want be in one of those if the wind was blowing 70 or 80 miles an hour … those look really flimsy to me,” said Denington.
Kyle added that the main purpose is to make sure the tiny homes are constructed safely and that the people living there will be in a safe environment.
The city is still waiting on the nonprofit to finish those inspections and submit all their building plans before they give them the permits to install. KGW reached out to Clatsop Community Action for the reasoning for the delay but have yet to hear back.
“It's not right, is it? It’s a bit of a slap in the face to know that these are here. And apparently, it's just red tape and bureaucracy that's holding it up,” Peppercorn said.
Once the tiny homes are eventually built and homeless people move in, there are still some roadblocks given the lack of permanent, affordable housing in Seaside. Clatsop County recently received some state funding to build more housing and the city of Seaside is lobbying for some of that money to come to them.