10311 Addressing Homelessness in Eugene and Public Works · Microsoft PowerPoint - 10311 Addressing...
Transcript of 10311 Addressing Homelessness in Eugene and Public Works · Microsoft PowerPoint - 10311 Addressing...
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Addressing Homelessness in Eugene and Public Works
Craig Carnagey
Eugene Public Works
Parks and Open Space Director
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Homeless are negatively
impacting parks and
public right of ways
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Affecting the health and usability of public spaces
Costs to manage and cleanup after homeless are skyrocketing
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What is the right balance between protecting public use and having compassion for homeless people?
Overview of who the homeless are and reasons they’re out there
What the City of Eugene has done to address homelessness
How Public Works mitigates impacts
What other agencies are doing to mitigate impacts
Innovative strategies being used or considered
Audience Discussion
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Homeless during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl
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Camp Boondoggle
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Camp Sweeps Summer 2013
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Six fold increase in illegal camps from 2013 ‐ 2014
Steady increase in illegal camps since
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A. Enter Answer Text
Enter Question Text
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Has anyone in this room been homeless or had a friend or family member who has been?
A. Yes
B. No
0%0%
Homelessness has been occurring for a long time
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Modern Homelessness
1970s Deinstitutionalization of patients from psychiatric hospitals
1980s less affordable housing, growing unemployment, and budget reductions for government
assistance programs
1987 McKinney‐Vento Homeless Assistance Act
3.5 million likely to experience homelessness in a given year.
National Law Center on Poverty
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Who are today’s homeless and why are they out there?
23% of homeless are families with children
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Causes of Homelessness
Poverty – lost job, foreclosure, inability to pay rent
Declines in public assistance
Mental illness
Domestic violence
Sexual abuse
Addictions and substance abuse
Current Federal Programs to Address Homelessness
HUD Homeless Assistance Grants
Veteran Affairs homeless assistance programs
Health and Human Services
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Rate how significant of a problem homelessness is in your community
A. Minor Significance
B. Significant
C. Very Significant
D. Extremely Significant
0% 0%0%0%
What the City of Eugene is doing to address homelessness
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Shelter services and rapid rehousing
Overnight emergency shelter
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Affordable housing programs
Veterans housing initiatives
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Car camping program
Micro Housing‐ Conestoga Huts
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4 Temporary rest stops
Transitional housing
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Opportunity Village
EMERALD VILLAGE
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Many people don’t want services or services they need aren’t available
Homeless Protest Camps
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1,500 chronically homeless people in Eugene
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How the homeless impact Eugene’s parks and public spaces
Deter park users
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Public and environmental health
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Divert resources from other needed services
Impacts on staff
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What Parks and Open Space is doing to mitigate impacts
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Park RulesPark hours
No CampingEnforcement
Exclusions
Monitoring parks for illegal camps
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Posting notices of illegal camps
Clean up of illegal camps
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Store personal belongings for 30 days
Impacts to Public Space Design
Almost no use of shrub beds at all in our designs.
Reluctant to put in picnic shelters even though they could be a long term source of revenue and it rains here a lot.
Added more lighting in some parks so people feel safer.
Removed trees and shrub beds and replacing them with lawns
No playgrounds with solid decks – they are all mesh to provide drainage – but don’t create a dry and covered space either.
Sometimes we put in ‘short’ benches to discourage a lot of sleeping –e.g. 4’ or 6’ instead of 8’.
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Closed half of Scobert Garden Park
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What are other agencies doing to mitigate homeless?
Arizona State Parks jobs for homeless vets
Portland Park Rangers
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Park Activation – Downtown Seattle
Micro Housing
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Converted City Buses to Mobile Shelters
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Housing First Approach
Grade your agencies level of effectiveness at addressing homelessness
A. Very good
B. Good
C. Above average
D. Need lots of work
E. Almost nothing0% 0% 0%0%0%
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