homelessness

The City of Eugene is partnering with White Bird Clinic to provide a downtown location for primary care and behavioral health services to the unhoused.

The Eugene City Council Monday heard the results of a community engagement effort on public safety priorities.

Lane County will add two new microsites in Eugene for the unhoused at the end of April. While temporary, the county plans to reuse the sites for emergency shelter during the winter season.

A Lane County jury found a homeless activist who challenged a curfew in Eugene’s Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza guilty of misdemeanor trespass this week. The challenge was based on the first amendment.

Eugene’s Red Lion Hotel will soon house people displaced by last year’s severe wildfires.  Lane County Human Services has purchased the building through Project Turnkey, a state initiative that funds the purchase of hotels and motels for housing purposes. 

The Technical Assistance Collaborative report, known as the shelter feasibility study, was released in 2018 with a five-year goal of decreasing the number of chronic homelessness in Lane County. But, at the time it was created it wasn't using the best data, nor did it account for a global pandemic and a destructive wildfire.

Between the COVID-19 pandemic and a recent grant, the Eugene Mission has re-invented its work with the unhoused. 

A new tracking system has been adapted to demonstrate the scope and need of homeless populations in Eugene and throughout Lane County.

Many advocates in Lane County are worried about the chronically unhoused and what will happen to them after today’s (Friday) closure of two COVID-Relief respite shelters. KLCC’s Tiffany Eckert reached out to White Bird Clinic—an organization with 50 years’ experience of helping people on the streets. Executive Coordinator Chris Hecht talks about his concerns and what kinds of solutions they advocate for.

Washing your hands with soap and water has long been touted by health officials to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus and other diseases. For Lane County’s 2,000 plus unhoused population, that could be a problem. The county says they’re working on a solution.

The city of Cottage Grove is one wall closer to completing "Legion Cottages," after a wall raising ceremony on Monday. The plan is to build four tiny houses to increase affordable housing options for homeless veterans in rural areas.

Despite a disruptive protest last weekend, the owner of Eugene’s Elk Horn Brewery says business is rebounding.  As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, their work continues on reducing “lawlessness” across the downtown.

Across the nation last week, counties participated in an annual tally of people who are unhoused. KLCC’s Elizabeth Gabriel tagged along with a pair of volunteers in Eugene to see what it’s like to be a point-in-time counter.

With homelessness reaching what one official calls “epidemic proportions,” the City of Eugene and Lane County have jointly come up with additional funding to keep two services operational. 

Each of Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis’s State of the City addresses has discussed housing and homelessness. Vinis highlighted those topics again Wednesday night, noting that several plans developed in 2019 will take shape in 2020.