On a corner dirt lot on Broadway Street in the middle of the night, Todd Nelson secures the perimeter of the place that he’s been calling home for the last five months. With a crowbar in hand and an injured back from fighting in Iraq, Nelson does the best he can to ward off bad company for the residents of Whoville, a DIY homeless campsite that has 65 residents just looking to survive.
“If we’re not together, then it’s everyone for themselves,” Nelson said. “And if we do that, we’re susceptible to thieves and druggies that are looking to start some trouble when all we want to do is have a decent place to sleep.”
Whoville came to be last August when the Eugene Safe Legally Entitled Emergency Places to Sleep organization, better known as SLEEPS, began a month-long protest outside of the Eugene courthouse to demand a safe place for homeless people to sleep. City council responded to the protest by legalizing two homeless campsites at Roosevelt Boulevard and Chambers Street. The two legal homeless campsites only allow 15 people maximum per site, meaning that those that are turned away move to Whoville, which is still considered an illegal campsite according to the city.
“We’re only missing one thing, and that’s police protection from the outsiders,” Nelson said. “We need to be able to protect the women better.”
According to Nelson, Whoville has more women than men in the camp, and one of those women are pregnant. Nelson says that she’s three months pregnant, and she’s been staying at Whoville for the last month. If anyone is hurt in Whoville, Nelson and one other person do what they can with the one small medic kit that’s suppose to help all 65 residents.
For food, the camp relies on a dining room that’s provided by the Eugene Mission. For 57 years, the Eugene Mission has been the constant helping hand for the homeless.
“Really, we are the only game in town. This is it,” Dana Eck, Eugene Mission director of operations, said. “We’re able to hold 360 people, and on a daily basis we make 700 meals.”
Even with their high-capacity, Eck says that on some nights — particularly the coldest ones — the shelter has to make the hard decision of turning people away. Once they’re left without a place to stay, by the mission, some homeless people resort to steal others supplies to get them through the night.
One night while Nelson was securing Whovilles’s parameter, two strangers came to the site looking to rob whatever they could find. Nelson approached the two men, who attacked, using his own crowbar against him. Nelson ended up with two bruised ribs.
“I can’t fight the way I used to, and to be honest I don’t really want to,” Nelson said. “Fighting just leads to more fighting. I’ll defend this place when I need to, but this place is meant for survivors, for the people who need a place to stay and have nowhere else to go.”