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No Place to Call Home: Rural Homelessness
Mickie Laird lives in Central Oregon. She gets up and goes to work in the morning to a local restaurant where she bakes pies. She works between 10 and 18 hours each week, but Mickie doesn't make enough to afford a permanent place to live. Instead, she camps. She's been in the same spot for about a year and it's been three years since she lived inside. Her campsite is not exactly legal and she could be forced out at any time. She says her employer is aware of her situation, but can't afford to give her any more hours. Mickie is just one of many homeless people gearing up for another winter without much shelter. The next in our No Place to Call Home series takes a look at homelessness in rural areas.
Homeless people living in rural areas tend to be less visible than those sleeping on city streets. Instead of curling up in doorways or under bridges, they sleep in tents or in their cars. Shelters may be harder to find — or too far away — so they often look for places to camp out until they're asked to pick up and move on.
Do you live in a rural area? What does homelessness look like in your community? Have you ever been homeless outside of an urban center? What challenges did you face?
Tagged as: homeless · noplace · rural
Photo credit: Julie Sabatier/OPB
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yes there are laws preventing this. usually zoning laws prevent these camps. the problem is if we allow them in rural areas those areas will become packed with homeless. and all the problems the homeless bring with them. Not to mention the increased cost and need for law enforcement.
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I lived in a rural town in MN, this town is well off. When organizations tried to start a homeless shelter, the town did everything in it's power to stop it. Out of sight, out of mind. In the winter time people have died, but once again out of sight, out of mind.
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Thank you for highlighting this important issue facing homelessness in rural areas. Can all of the readers and listeners commit to contacting the headquarters of the restaurant chain Mickie works for? It's an outrage that she was not allowed to have the day off to gain housing a year ago. I feel strongly the company needs to know about this. Clearly she is a dedicated employee, with likely a better attendance history than most of her coworkers
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Greyhound "therapy" is like passing a hot potato around the state. We need to hold the potato and address it locally instead of passing it off for someone else to "handle". This is where the 10 Year Plans to End Homelessness is important for each county and each community to address this issue.
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There are a few people who choose this lifestyle, but in Eastern Oregon there are more people who have one or two crisises that completely devistate them and cause them to lose everything. This is a cycle that is difficult to break out of... where do you go when the bottom of the barrel is bare and there is nothing to draw from?
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Homeless are very poor people and I always try to help them with warm clothes, I even wrote a few custom essay papers about their lives and souls...
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It is ironically weird that the homeless go to Wal-Mart parking lots, because wal-mart has caused so much poverty by killing off small businesses and throwing people out of work, driving down wages and breaking and preventing Unions.
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One of the stigma's in Eastern Oregon is that homeless people are not "hard working" and are undeserving. This is one area where education is so important to let people know who our homeless population is and that they work very hard to receive the very basic services that are available.
Collecting cans along the roads is hard work, especially considering how many cans have to be collected in order to make enough money to provide for your basic needs.
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Based on the one night count - over 70% of the homeless in Central Oregon work. Just because someone is homeless doesn't mean they don't work hard at what you would say is a "traditional" job.
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I was jealous when I heard that early fellow said he liked hearing the birds, because cat owners have killed off the songbirds around Bend and I miss hearing them even though I have a nice warm house.
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Tom,
I have owned a cat, why would owning a cat give me an urge to kill song birds??
You otta lay off those left handed cigarettes.
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Well, what can you say, we can bail out already wealthy bankers with billions but we can't help "the least of these", I guess the evidence says that we are really not a Christian Nation after all.
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Housing is a human right. We "can't" provide housing for "them" but we can put 2.3 million in prison. We "can't" have a national health sevice but we can invade and occupy two countries "to stop hijackings."
The system has failed. Destroy Capitalism. Stand up for humanity.
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I work for the City of Eugene and have worked on homelessness issues for 25 years. There are no easy solutions. Siting a homeless camp is nearly impossible. In Eugene we have created scattered site legal places to sleep. It's far from elegant but better for some than being illegal.
In our desire to create an environment that is ideal for those of us who own our homes, we have unintentinally made it very difficult for the population who aren't as fortunate.
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As a person who has lived in a tent for many months camping on my own dime, I have to admit I was shocked that the man who has chosen to live in a tent admitted to using not only his own food stamps, but also his mother's. Water, power and trash services are expensive and require workers to build the services as well as keep the facilities clean. Anyone who has used a rural campsite or even a rest stop knows that just one rude person can mess up the facility for everyone else who uses it.
As a landlord, I know first hand the costs of providing shelter for people who take no responsibilities for their own actions. I have had Section 8 renters who have no where else to go, are getting most of their rent paid by the government, and still trash the place they're living in. The cost of repairing a neglected home is very expensive compared to the rent, but if a person does not recognize that and respect their home then how can you truly help them?
I think education and personal responsibility has to be a big part of helping the homeless and people in poverty. Places like Dignity Village at least give people a community and the responsibility to build and maintain their own houses and take charge of their own community. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity_Village
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That can happen to anyone of us that is why we should all be very careful on how we spend our earnings. My sympathy goes to Mickie and I just wish I could do something to help her out. I do plan to encourage my colleagues at a chicago website design company I work in to chip in and donate their old stuffs or buy food for our homeless brothers and sisters every month.
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you are a very kind man,your benefaction will move the lord.
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Comments are now closed.
I understand that there is little to no space in an urban environment, but I don't understand why space can't be made in rural Oregon for the homeless there? I'm not talking about staffed and manicured camps, I'm talking low operating cost, minimal fee areas for the homeless. How much does it really cost to provide just the basic water, sewer, and garbage utilities? Are there current laws preventing such places?