Item B: Update on Homeless Initiative Action Plan

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Homelessness Trends Homelessness has steadily increased during the last twenty years, both nationally and locally. The annual one night street and shelter count doesn’t fully recognize the increases because the primary locations for counting (shelter spaces) are actually decreasing. Local rental housing is in short supply. Rental vacancy rates are estimated at less than 2%, creating an environment where poor people, often with tarnished credit history, struggle to compete for a limited commodity. During the last ten years housing costs have risen at a much higher rate than incomes. Other factors that lead to homelessness include reductions in funding for mental health programs, cuts and regulation changes in the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), reductions in the Oregon Health Plan, the national health care crisis, and the increase in war veterans and their families. Impacts of Homelessness The committee recognizes the many competing financial priorities facing local governments. The status quo is a costly option related to housing and homelessness. The community is directly and indirectly paying the price of homelessness through increased medical and hospital costs, jail costs, public safety impacts (including emergency and non-emergency calls to 9-1-1), impacts on the school system, illegal camping, paramedic responses, and park clean up. The less tangible costs related to human suffering and family dysfunction forecast long-term community impacts as well. During presentations some committee members were particularly impressed when a typical case of a chronically homeless individual was chronicled. One evening, during a four-hour period, this person generated costly responses that involved the 9-1-1 center, Sacred Heart Emergency Room, CAHOOTS, Police, Buckley House, and possibly park clean-up by Eugene Public Works. It was very similar to the case of “Million Dollar Murray” of Reno, Nevada, who was the subject of a broadly circulated essay by author Malcolm Gladwell. Murray cost programs in Reno at least $1 million over a ten year period. Other presentation examples included the high costs of homelessness that impact public schools and homeless children, and the challenges and expenses of assisting homeless people with disabilities who try to apply for federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Nationally an increasing number of homeless people are elderly. Many have a disability and most have monthly income from Social Security or Supplemental Security, but it is inadequate to pay for housing and other expenses. The committee concluded that proactively responding to homelessness would be less expensive and more effective than reacting to the problems associated with homelessness. The indirect total expenses associated with responding to homelessness are significant. Over time, efforts should be made to shift these costs to decreasing the incidence of homelessness by addressing the root of the problem. We strive to be a community where people feel safe, valued, and welcome. The BRC acknowledges that an intergovernmental approach is ideal for a problem that crosses geographic boundaries. Local goals for sustainability embody the concept that people are able to meet their basic needs. This requires public assistance to offset disadvantages experienced by many of our family members and neighbors. Some people hold a misperception that assistance programs targeted at the homeless population have made Eugene/Springfield a magnet for homeless people 7 Blue Ribbon Committee on Homelessness, Recommendation April 2, 2008 -- Page