City Looking To Close Homeless Encampment

The city of Yakima next Tuesday is expected to take action that will permanently close the homeless encampment on South 3rd Street across from the Yakima Police Department. Joan Davenport, Director of Community Development says the camp will close on November 18 and won't be open next year. "We will be working hard through the winter with local service providers to come up with a better option for what happens after the cold weather shelters close." The Yakima Valley Conference of Governments is working with a handful of the homeless to get them into permanent housing but a majority will take advantage of cold weather shelters operated by Yakima Neighborhood Health. Next year Davenport says the city will create a permanent area that could be operated year round.