Homeless Advocacy agencies go one bus tour to look at helping homeless population
EUGENE, Ore. - On Tuesday, homeless advocacy agencies ShelterCare, CornerStone Community Housing, Food for Lane County, Community Supported Shelters and NEDCO organized a bus tour to look at ways to help the homeless population in Lane County.
City, County and State elected officials were invited on the tour to look at “several important programs and services in Lane County that are achieving success in supportive housing and prevention of homelessness.”
They visited the following locations on the 4 hour tour on an LTD charter bus.
-Polk Street Apartments, NEDCO
-Roosevelt Safe Spot Camp, Community Supportive Shelters
-The Oaks at 14th, Home for Good
-The Dining Room, Food for Lane County
-WestTown, CornerStone Community Housing
-ShelterCare
Susan Ban, executive director of ShelterCare said that the tour comes as a reminder that there is still more work to do.
“Our goal is 600 new housing units by 2021 and the only way that's going to happen is by elected officials approving the dollars approving the policies," said Ban. "Getting rid of the barriers so we can actually do the work on the ground. “
"The housing crisis here locally has been critical for some time and that too contribute to the homelessness population," added Ban.
Lane County commissioner Pat Farr had some similar thoughts.
"It's a tour showing the different supportive housing projects that we have throughout the county," said Farr. "It elevates people’s attention, shows people the projects we've been working on, we are innovative in the many things we do because of our partnerships."
For elected officials, this serves as a learning opportunity. State Senator James Manning hopes to take what he's learned from the tour back to the State Government.
"It's important that everybody gets a firsthand look, find out what is working, so that we can duplicate that throughout the state, and find out what we need to improve upon," said Manning.
The last tour like this happened about three years ago, and the groups don't have any plans for a future event.
They did say, however, that they want to present some policy change to officials that will make it easier for future projects to be built.
