While reading Taylor Perse’s article about upcoming housing for the homeless, funded by local health care (News, 10/2), I look forward to how this “51-unit Housing First development for individuals struggling with homelessness” will greatly impact the community.
Set to be finished in December 2020, this project has already received $3 million out of $13 million needed for the MLK Commons by local health sources. Drawing from how members of the state of Oregon support the need to lessen the issue on homelessness, it brings my attention to neighboring states and how they tackle their city’s issue with homelessness.
The state of California is also proposing to fix homelessness with housing, but what makes this MLK project different is that this housing unit will also provide social services to help these individuals find a job and get mental care.
As homelessness has been an ongoing issue in the city of Eugene, it’s refreshing to see that a concrete project will be supported by local health care organizations, thus reinforcing the idea of community. Community here is not defined merely by the Merriam-Webster definition of people with common interests living in a particular area.
Rather, the members of the city of Eugene are creating a new definition for community-inclusive support and care for one another. By tackling more than one issue of our homelessness here with this project, both concrete units to live in and also services to help better themselves, this MLK project could become the first of a revolutionary solution towards helping our community.
Grace Sim
Eugene
A Note From the Publisher
Dear Readers,
The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.
That’s because of you!
Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.
Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.
We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.
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Thank you for standing with us!
Publisher
Eugene Weekly
P.S. If you’d like to talk about supporting EW, I’d love to hear from you!
jody@eugeneweekly.com
(541) 484-0519
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