The Eugene Police Department has partnered with a company to bring more homeless outreach services to downtown.
The new pilot program will station two peer navigators in the neighborhood on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m..
Ideal Option, which already works with Lane County on its jail deflection program, will operate the service.
Joshua Lair, Ideal Option's Director of Community Development, said its navigators will tackle non-criminal needs, such as helping vulnerable people locate social services and treatment options.
“What we're trying to do is eliminate the call to service for law enforcement," said Lair. "They don't need to have to respond to every single complaint that goes on downtown.”
Lair said the navigators all have lived experience in the criminal justice system, which will help them build rapport and relationships with the people they serve.
"Just handing somebody a list and telling them to make some phone calls, schedule some appointments--that's not easy to do when they’re also worried about where shelter is, food, transportation,” said Lair. “Coming alongside someone right where they are, and being able to walk with them through those things, can get them connected with the resources that they need to get from the start to finish.”
The launch of the program comes after some business leaders raised safety concerns about downtown Eugene, and called for the city to dedicate more resources to the neighborhood.
In a video released by EPD on Monday, Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner said he hopes the program helps change the public perception of the area.
“We wanted to listen to what it was about the downtown that had a tendency to feel less safe than other areas of our city,” said Skinner. “So much of that didn't really have anything to do with serious criminal activity. It had to do with just the complexion, the way it looked, the way it felt, their interactions that they had with certain people.”
Skinner said officers are often responding to the same 10 to 15 people downtown. He said with this softer approach, he wants to provide an off-ramp to people facing addiction or mental health challenges.
The effort is backed by nearly $250,000 in one-time funding from Eugene’s Community Safety Payroll Tax.
It’s a separate initiative from the city’s announcement last November that it wants to fund a new peer navigation service after CAHOOTS ended its Eugene services last April.
Lair said Ideal Option’s peer navigators will not be responding to calls for 911 or mobile crisis services.
