Occupy Unhoused part 2.mov

OCCUPYING THE UNHOUSED: An Alternative Shelter?

A primary target of protest in the Occupy Eugene Movement this fall was the lamentable state of services for people with no home address. The longer the encampment was in place, the more prominent grew the concern with meeting the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors—those made homeless by a variety of factors, in many cases out of their control. We recognize homelessness as a symptom of broader social ills, including inadequate funding of social and mental health services and policy choices made to accommodate funding exigencies. The temporary solutions offered so generously and in good faith as the OE camp broke up are intrinsically unreliable, due to their need for volunteers to staff shelters at ratios sufficient to offer real security, if only for the night. What can we do as a community to balance work on long term solutions with work on meeting immediate needs?

In this clip, Jean Stacey describes some the ideas that emerged in discussions at the OE encampments and elsewhere and offer a critique of current polices affecting our homeless neighbors. Jean has experience in long-range planning, project management, and exhibition design. She was based in Florida and managed projects throughout the US and overseas, until she retired to Eugene in 1997. She now divides her time between Eugene and Bolivia, where she has grandchildren.

Recorded at the City Club of Eugene on Jan 6, 2012.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• City
• Club
• Eugene
• homeless
• occupy