I have read the international discussion of the criminalization of being homeless in this country. At the heart of this is a discussion of the growing gap between those who have a lot and those who have little or nothing. This is a huge national issue, that has implications for cities across this country. In our case Eugene has an ordinance prohibiting camping in unauthorized spaces. The offense can result in a citation. Such an ordinance would usually be accompanied by adequate shelter available for those who are unhoused. Thus people would have a place they could go legally. As has been pointed out, our shelter capacity is insufficient although right now there are 40 slots available at the Mission for men and 5 for women. The other long term issue here is that the Mission is private, receives no public funds, and thus does not have to make their space available and accessible to everyone. As most people are familiar with, the city of Eugene is not a human services provider. The county is the local human service agency. The city has seen and heard the unmet needs and council has responded on a variety of fronts. They provide funding to the Human Services Commission to be distributed to non profits; support Egan Centers, the Service Station, Cahoots, the Buckley House, Opportunity Village and rest stops, to name a few. In a variety of ways each city department provides some opportunities and services at low or no cost, to make them available to all. The city has a Human Rights Commission and addresses policy through looking through the triple bottom line and a human rights lens. The city has long been at the forefront of the nation is landbanking and building affordable housing, partnering a range of great agencies and social services. With all this effort, we still have many people who are in need and we have a responsibility to support the provision of adequate shelter for the unhoused. We also have the responsibility to encourage and support the development of a more robust housing first program in our county to reduce the numbers of folks who are unhoused and to help them be safe and have their basic needs addressed. This is not something the city can do by itself but it is something we can and should do together as metropolitan area. In the meantime today an unauthorized camping site is being closed and spaces for rest stops have been authorized by the city council on city properties. Four have been authorized. One is up and functioning. One is partially up and appears to be facing some challenges. The third is not likely to open and the fourth has no host as of this time. That may change today. It is hard to find any place that welcomes such rest stops. council believes that can change if we have time to demonstrate that rest stops can function well and can be good neighbors. I understand, as does Council, that there are some who oppose the closure of Whoville, but the Council has made their decision in that regard. They have also committed to being part of developing strategies to more completely address the need and to reduce the need and the impacts on the community.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 18:46:28 +0000
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