After months of public discussion and controversy, the Bend City Council has passed code changes that regulate where and how homeless shelters can be built in the city.

The City Council meeting where this decision was made Wednesday night was at times very emotional. Several members of the public brought protest signs against the proposed code changes, while several city councilors ardently defended the reasons behind their support for the changes.

The shelter codes have been among the most controversial topics in Bend’s recent history, garnering more than 700 public comments, according to a release from the city.

The codes address three permanent shelter types, referred to as outdoor, multiroom and group shelters.

The council decided to make three significant changes to the code in response to public feedback, including taking out one type of temporary shelter altogether.

Hardship housing, which was originally proposed as a way to let property owners allow an RV on their property for someone struggling to secure housing under certain conditions, is no longer a part of the code that was adopted Wednesday.

Another change adopted Wednesday included taking out an on-call option for managing a shelter, opting instead to require any shelter operating 24 hours a day to have on-site management. That management could be provided by a shelter resident. Neighborhood associations will also now be notified if a shelter is being proposed in their area.

The aspect of the code that garnered the most backlash — allowing outdoor managed shelters in residential neighborhoods on land that is already being used by an institution like a church, school, park or club — remains.

A state law currently allows homeless shelters in residential areas, but expires in 2023.

Several people testified Wednesday, repeating concerns about safety related to perceived behaviors of homeless people that have become mainstay at council meetings over the past six months.

But the Bend City Council stood by the code changes, at times expressing frustration at how some people in public comments characterize homeless people.

“These are people. They are not animals,” Councilor Melanie Kebler said Wednesday. “They are not a problem to be shoved aside.”

In response to several public commenters mentioning addiction as the cause of homelessness, Councilor Barb Campbell shared her own story as an alcoholic, 20 years sober. She attributed her success to be invested in rather than cast aside by society.

“I’m one of those people who was thankfully thought of as not irredeemable,” she said.

In general, the council argued the code changes are necessary to make the process easier and more regulated for shelters to come online in the future.

Councilor Anthony Broadman compared the changes to how the city regulates lots of things, like the size of streets and signs.

“Why in God’s name would we not regulate the siting of where a facility this critical would go?” Broadman said.

Councilor Megan Perkins said she couldn’t help but think about how 27% of homeless people counted in the region’s point-in-time count were families with children.

“I’m a mother, member of a family, and I keep thinking about 27% of homeless population that is family with kids. That’s why I want to do everything I can as a City Councilor to get people a safe place to sleep,” she said.

The codes will be officially adopted in a second reading on June 1.