Despite “Ten-Year” Plans, Oregon Homeless Numbers Increase
Monday, January 19, 2009
Portland, OR – The number of homeless people across Oregon has risen nearly nine percent over the past two years. A new report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness says the increase has been greatest in rural areas around such places as Bend, Redmond, and Medford, and in the rural parts of Lane County in the west central part of the state. This increase has come despite state and federal ten-year plans to help alleviate the problem.
Michael Anderson, with the Oregon Opportunity Network, says it's not just individuals who end up homeless.
"The main group of new homeless in Oregon is families with children, school-age children."
While Portland and some other communities in the state have seen a decrease in homelessness, thanks to intensified efforts to provide affordable housing, Anderson says those efforts could be short-lived.
"Oregon doesn't have the same stable funding at the state level for affordable housing that many states do across the country."
Anderson says the Oregon legislature is considering a new 15-dollar fee on home sales; the revenue would go towards affordable housing, to help prevent homelessness.
Read the report on the Oregon Housing Alliance web site, at
www.oregonhousingalliance.org
get more stories like this via email
Michigan boasts 11,000 inland lakes, more freshwater shoreline than any other state and tens of thousands of miles of rivers and streams but a new …
President Joe Biden was in Wisconsin on Wednesday, touting plans for a new Microsoft data center. The visit comes amid new polling data in …
Environment
Dozens of union members rallied Wednesday in Sacramento, calling on lawmakers to pass a set of bills called the California Worker Climate Bill of …
Social Issues
A North Carolina group hopes to help people stay out of prison by connecting them to critical resources. Recidivism Reduction Educational Programs …
Social Issues
It is nearly summer, and time to go to bat for those struggling with hunger in New Mexico. This Saturday, letter carriers with the U.S. Postal …
Health and Wellness
It's National Nurses Week, and educators and healthcare officials say there just aren't enough of them to go around. A combination of retiring baby …