Dealing with the Homeless Crisis starter pack META

328 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

-18

It's called Homelessness is a housing problem

Weird, if it's a housing issue, why are they come from across the country to live in a tent here? why didn't they just stop in a cheap housing state?

27

u/TormentedTopiary Aug 04 '22

The persistent myth that "homeless people move here to take advantage of our generous social services" has the slight problem that it's not true.

But it's a very Eugene thing to build up a self-image of "Oh, we're so kind, and generous and people take advantage of us Soooo Much!".

And as a group we want to be seen as kind and put upon, rather than say arrogant and clueless, or judgy and tightfisted. But that myth is an excuse for not solving the problem at the root.

Which is to say building a lot more housing. Build enough housing that 20% of a full time salary on minimum wage is enough to rent an efficiency apartment. Enough that the rental vacancy rate is 10% of available units on October 1st. Enough that commercial landlords are putting up billboards saying there's too much housing.

4

u/labelm8 Aug 04 '22

People move here because Eugene is seen as a nice and chill place to live. And part of that is almost certainly the cheap plentiful cannabis.

But that begs the question, is it our duty to provide housing to every person who migrates to Eugene from all over the country?

8

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '22

People that have lived here their whole lives can't afford housing. Manufactured homes (double wides) are going for $350k+. Yeah, we need more housing.