SALEM, Ore. (AP) – The City of Salem is paying to put six portable toilets and hand-washing stations at a homeless encampment near the ARCHES Project, a downtown social services provider.

The Statesman-Journal reports that Salem was on the verge of declaring the encampment of dozens of tents  a public health nuisance. That move would have made city staff notify the homeless they needed to leave within a set amount of time.

But the city’s health officer, Brady Rogers, decided against issuing a declaration after seeing conditions had improved at the camp since his visits in November.

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