Central Oregon Homeless Rate 6th in the Nation
Central Oregon ranks sixth in the nation in overall homelessness and third among rural communities, according to a report just released this week by the National Alliance to End Homeless.
The high homeless rate in Central Oregon is attributed to the local high housing, foreclosure, and unemployment rates. According to the January 29, 2009 One Night Shelter Count conducted by Homeless Leadership Coalition of Central Oregon there are 2,237 homeless persons in the region, including 876 children in the region. For the last three years senior and child homelessness have been the fastest growing segments of homelessness. Those that work with the homeless say that all of these counts have only increased in 2009 as the economy has weakened.
The Partnership To End Poverty is among 150 agencies trying to assist homeless people and those at risk of homelessness with the upcoming Project Connect event scheduled from 9:30 to 3:30, Saturday, September 19, at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds. The event offers free services for low income individuals and families including medical and dental dental treatment, housing and shelter services, foreclosure prevention counseling and financial services. Three thousand residents are expected to attend the one-day event this year.
“Thousands of Central Oregonians are faced with almost insurmountable barriers once they have tumbled into homelessness. A third of all Oregonians are at risk of homelessness within three months should the y experience an employment or medical crisis. The only reason there is this type of an event is because there is such great unmet need,” commented Cindy Pasko, Project Connect manager and Community Development Director at Partnership to End Poverty. “The report of the National Alliance to End Homelessness is simply further confirmation of what we already believed: that levels of homelessness in this region are continuing to rise at an alarming and unacceptable rate.”
Overall, the National Alliance report concluded that Central Oregon has 110.5 persons experiencing homelessness per 10,000 in the general population. Detroit has the highest rate of homelessness followed by Mendocino County, California, Monroe County, Florida, Portland, Maine and Santa Cruz County, California.
Additional information about homelessness in Central Oregon is available at www.projectconnectco.org. A media kit published by the National Alliance to End Homelessness is available at www.endhomelessness.org.