To: Board of County Commissioners, Eugene Mayor & City Council, Joe Henry, Florence Mayor, Christine Lundberg, Springfield Mayor, Kathy Holston, Oakridge Mayor, Don Bennett, Lowell Mayor, Richard Zettervall, Creswell Mayor, Keith Weiss, Vene...
Declare a Housing and Homelessness State of Emergency
We, the undersigned, request the declaration of a housing and homeless state of emergency for Lane County and its municipalities. The housing affordability crisis, coupled with an unprecedented number of unsheltered individuals, has caused a human rights crisis in size and scope that must be addressed at this level of impact to the community.
Why is this important?
In Lane County, the Point-in-Time report showed we had a 44% increase in the total number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. On the night of the count, more than 2,000 people lacked housing and adequate standards of living. Homelessness leads to other human rights violations among the most vulnerable. Women face violence and sexual abuse. Persons who are rendered homeless are challenged to survive. There are thousands of people living in their vehicles and outdoors in our community. We need policies that do not ignore this reality but instead take actions that address this crisis immediately.
Some of the immediate areas a housing and homeless state of emergency declaration can address, which would help make the TAC report implementation possible are: expanding safe and legal parking places for individuals and families living in RVs or other vehicles; developing year-round campgrounds; permitting alternative shelter options that allow people to stay with their pets, partners and possessions; initiating a temporary moratorium on the conversion of affordable housing into other uses; expediting permitting and siting for building more affordable housing units; facilitating more mobile-home park and Single Room Occupancy buildings (SROs); and putting vacant buildings, such as the Armory, into service for winter and extreme weather events.
An emergency declaration could help streamline government procedures in order to act more quickly and utilize our community resources more effectively. Please move this forward to help eliminate the systemic barriers to equitable treatment and address this escalating human rights crisis that is homelessness in Lane County.
Some of the immediate areas a housing and homeless state of emergency declaration can address, which would help make the TAC report implementation possible are: expanding safe and legal parking places for individuals and families living in RVs or other vehicles; developing year-round campgrounds; permitting alternative shelter options that allow people to stay with their pets, partners and possessions; initiating a temporary moratorium on the conversion of affordable housing into other uses; expediting permitting and siting for building more affordable housing units; facilitating more mobile-home park and Single Room Occupancy buildings (SROs); and putting vacant buildings, such as the Armory, into service for winter and extreme weather events.
An emergency declaration could help streamline government procedures in order to act more quickly and utilize our community resources more effectively. Please move this forward to help eliminate the systemic barriers to equitable treatment and address this escalating human rights crisis that is homelessness in Lane County.