OREGON OBSERVATIONS.1 17 JUNE 2024

Eugene City Council approves over $1 million in funding for affordable housing projects. Okay, let’s take a magnifyin’ glass to this whole affordable housing situation. First of all, assuming these programs are an effort to get rid of the homeless squalor, if you believe the data that says 30% of bums and bumettes have jobs, it follows that they’re the only ones that could afford even the CHEAPEST rent, which, let’s face it, isn’t cheap these days. At an average of $1700 per month in Eugene, there’s no way the other 70% of the bum population can pay rent by cashin’ in cans that’re worth 10¢ apiece. For Christ’s sake! That’s 17,000 cans each and every month – just for rent. As has been said on these pages more than once, the core of the problem, not countin’ those that have a mental or physical malady, is lack of initiative and or training to obtain an employable skill that pays a living wage. As a direct result, the bums aren’t even KFC or McDonald’s material. I mean, come on, folks – even burger joint people have to have access to personal hygiene facilities (and want to use ’em) along with a change of clothes, appropriate for wear in a public, customer interface environment. From the televised bum interviews I’ve seen, all the forgoing amenities are missing from canvas condo dwellers, and most have a “don’t f⭐⚡⭐ with me” attitude. So I ask you again: Why do governmental bureaucrats at all levels continue to pour millions, if not billions, of our tax dollars into these low-income housing projects? What they need to get bums outta their tents is NO income housing. The problem with that is that management of no-income housing won’t let ’em continue their substance abuse in that environment. As a direct result, even if they do move in, they move right back out again. Enter my Transition Centers – controlled environments staffed with security personnel and health professionals, which provide job skill training. If the goal is to transition people outta their homeless camps, that’s where they OUGHT to be sinking our tax dollars – not cheap-rent facilities that the tent-dwellin’ bums can’t afford in the first place.

3