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8. Assigned appropriate City staff and other applicable resources to short - and long- <br />term options approved by the Mayor and City Council. <br />Result: Ongoing. <br /> <br /> <br />PROGRESS SINCE LAST REPORT <br /> <br />Trends <br />The economic downturn is having a profound impact on homelessness. Providers are <br />seeing both an increased demand and a different clientele. For instance, St. Vincent <br />dePaul’s social services programs are seeing a 30% increase in requests for assistance <br />across the board, including rent, utilities, and food boxes. They report seeing many <br />people who are very new to requesting assistance. In the first few days of October, <br />2008 they had 1,500 requests for EWEB energy assistance and could only help 320. <br /> <br />ShelterCare reports that calls for homeless prevention assistance have doubled from <br />last year to this year. Last year they received 30 calls during an average week – which <br />at the time was considered to be a lot. This year during the same period they are <br />receiving 60 calls a week. <br /> <br />The First Place Family Center reports a significant influx of homeless families that are <br />totally new to the system and have previously had a long history of stable housing. <br /> <br />Additionally, the City is experiencing an increasing amount of complaints about on- <br />street camping. Many campers have few options and the police have few tools to <br />address the complaints. There are more tough cases where the campers are homeless <br />and also afflicted with other diagnosis. They cause problems for neighbors and resist <br />efforts to voluntarily relocate. <br /> <br />During the most recent budget process, Eugene allocated $100,000 to address <br />homelessness in two different categories: 1) funds for prevention and 2) day services <br />for homeless people. Transportation assistance was not renewed but funding will <br />continue during part of the next year because of carry over funds. <br /> <br />Prevention <br />The following table summarizes the results of prevention allocations since July 1, 2008. <br />ShelterCare receives all of the funds from the City of Eugene and allocates them to <br />other providers. No administrative funds were budgeted to accompany these dollars. <br />Jul- Jul - <br />Sept # Sept $ Jul - Sept <br />Provider Served Spent Avg./Client <br />Catholic <br />Community <br />356.67 <br />Services 3 1,070 <br />Looking Glass - <br />0.00 <br />New Roads 0 0 <br />458.09 <br />St. Vincent 11 5,039 <br />Page 3 of 8 <br />