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Neighboring businesses and residents are very supportive of the programs, and experience little to no negative impacts from being located near the facilities. A large majority (83%) of residential or commercial neighbors of the rest stops and Opportunity Village support the programs, often justifying their support with the simple belief that everyone deserves a place to live. What’s more, very few of those surveyed reported experiencing any changes in their neighborhoods related to the nearby programs. The location of rest stops and Opportunity Village present equity issues for residents and neighbors. There is a sense of unfairness among neighboring residents and business owners related to the concentration of the rest stops and Opportunity Village in one part of the City. This sentiment of unfairness was communicated neighbors whom identified two aspects of unfairness with relation to the siting of rest stops: (1) the rest stops were concentrated in one part of the City; and (2) rest stops are sited are in industrial areas near railroad tracks and distant for day-to-day services. Neighbors and business suggested that the siting of rest stops and any future micro-villages should be reconsidered so as to evenly distribute the rest stops and/or micro-villages across the City. While the City of Eugene has taken significant steps to address homelessness in the community, it lacks a long term, clear vision for addressing the issue. Before expanding on this conclusion, it is necessary to note that the Lane County Human Services Commission is the lead agency in the region for addressing homelessness. Lane County has developed a comprehensive strategy and provides funding for homelessness outreach, emergency and transitional shelters, homelessness prevention and transitions out of homelessness. The Lane County Poverty and Homeless Board is a collaboration of local governments and nonprofit organizations focused on developing and implementing more holistic programs targeting the unhoused in Lane County and is a good example of regional collaboration among local governments and nonprofit organizations. The Poverty and Homeless Board are actively working to develop and implement a Housing First program. Some progress has been made towards that end; data provided by the County identify eight “Homeless First” programs run by local nonprofit organizations with the capacity to accommodate about 30 families and 130 individuals. Despite all these efforts, it is unclear what the City role is in implementing the County’s 10-year plan or in the Housing First strategy. Effective homeless strategies require partnerships—every case study community that had seen success in their homeless strategies involved all levels of local government, nonprofits, and private businesses. The Rest Stop program and Opportunity Village are working. This is perhaps the most important conclusion of this work. CPW structured the research as a 360- degree review of the programs and considered the experience of residents, neighbors and program managers. All three groups reported positive experiences with the program. One of the consistent themes we heard was that the programs should be expanded. Page | vi Community Planning Workshop