A last-ditch effort in federal court for homeless people to stay on Hunnell and Clausen roads in Bend was denied Wednesday. That means that by midnight Wednesday night, everyone who has been living there for months or years will have to be out.
The request for a temporary restraining order was filed last Friday in U.S. District Court on behalf of the handful of people who are still living in the Hunnell area.
The City of Bend said Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the plaintiffs were not entitled to a temporary restraining order. Aiken dismissed the case, according to the City.
That means that as of Thursday morning, everyone who has been living on Hunnell and Clausen roads must be gone.
“The City will resume its clean-up operations as planned on Thursday morning, July 27,” City of Bend Communications Director Anne Aurand said in a statement.
RELATED: Q&A: What’s next for Hunnell Road, people living there and their belongings?
RELATED: Gas station attendant says Hunnell sweep about more than a place to live
It was the second time in recent weeks that people living on Hunnell and Clausen roads and their advocates have gone to court to block the closure of the area.
The City announced on June 21 it would be closing the area on July 17 and clearing it out, citing the camping code that was enacted in March.
People living there filed for an injunction in Deschutes County to delay the move. After hearings over two days, Judge Wells Ashby determined that the city had followed its own regulations and policies in properly giving notice to the residents of the city’s plans. He denied the plaintiff’s request.
Hours later, Hunnell and Clausen were officially closed and the clean-up began. But 23 people were given an additional seven days due to disabilities.
Those 23 were supposed to have left by midnight Monday. The City gave them a two-day extension this week due to the heavy wildfire smoke in the area.
But that extension ends at midnight Wednesday.
Aurand said last week that once the closure takes effect, the streets will be washed, repainted and bike lanes will be painted. “No parking” signs will be put up for two weeks. After that, Aurand said those residents could come back, but under the rules of the new Bend camping code.
“Time, place and manner restrictions would limit the number of people that can camp on a given block, for example, or how long somebody can stay in one spot on a city owned public right of way,” Aurand said last week.
The city previously planned to clear Hunnell Road in March. That was delayed after what Appeared to be an agreement for a managed homeless camp in south Bend. But that camp ultimately did not materialize.
