Homelessness in Douglas County
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Homelessness is not just a national crisis
-- it is a community crisis.
In Douglas County, too many of our neighbors are homeless. To solve homelessness we must understand how many people are homeless, who they are and the barriers they face. We also need to understand how the term "homeless" is used; it is not the same for everyone. First, we look at the numbers.
The Numbers
Douglas County Homeless PIT Count
Total:
2015
2017
2019
404
462
**
*Total Unsheltered:
198
224
**
*Note: There are two ways homeless are categorized by the federal government: Sheltered and Unsheltered. Sheltered does not mean housed; it may mean having a roof over one's head, only on the day the PIT Count was done.
**Note: We are still waiting for the report from the 2019 PIT Count for Douglas County.
Roseburg PIT Count
Although the official numbers have not been released by HUD or the State of Oregon for Douglas County from the 2019 PIT Count, we do have the numbers for the City of Roseburg only.
City of Roseburg Homeless PIT Count
Total:
2019
260
*Total Unsheltered:
120
This year, the City of Roseburg contracted to have additional questions asked during the PIT Count of the homeless who were living in Roseburg at the time. The Homeless Population Study was then developed from this information, but only for the city.
The Homeless Count
Each year a Point-in-time (PIT) count of homeless people is done. It happens on one day only at the end of January. The count is primarily done to fulfill the requirements from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for any community receiving homeless services money.
It is the only mass count of homeless people done in Douglas County, however there are many that go uncounted. Some of the reasons homeless advocates believe there is a major undercount each year are: the time of year it's done, limits to access to where homeless are found, and insufficient outreach to the homeless to encourage their participation.
Getting a more accurate count is the best way to ensure getting better funding for housing and homeless services. What needs to be done is to start planning early and getting more people involved to help.
Estimates are that less than 50% of the actual number of homeless get counted. Volunteers from the community can make a real difference!
The People
The chart and graph above are from a recent series of articles done by The News Review (Oct/2019) about homelessness in our community. The information is from the City of Roseburg Homeless Population Study.
Sources:
Although many homeless people go uncounted, we still have significant numbers of people who become chronically homeless, due to a severe shortage of affordable housing, insufficient income and lack of support services.
There are a number of barriers to ending homelessness in the Umpqua Valley. The most challenging are the lack of affordable housing and lack of income or money for housing.
The Barriers
Additioal Barriers
Limited Services
Accessing Homeless Services
Accessing Other Needed Services
Physical Disabilities & Health Problems
Unmanaged Mental Health Issues
Unaddressed Addiction Issues
Criminal Justice & Other Court Involvement
Having No Shelter or Safe Place to Sleep
Constant Searching for Basic Daily Needs
Public Policies: Money, Housing, and Other
Criminalization of Homelessness by Laws Against Acts of Living
Although government entities and non-profit organizations provide some services in Douglas County for people who are homeless, these do not meet the needs of the community. These range from getting basic daily needs met to public policies and laws that actually make matters worse.
People need shelter, but more importantly they need a safe place to sleep and access to faciliites to take care of their hygeine. Over 100 people on any given night in Roseburg do not have shelter, a safe place to sleep and access to hygeiene facilities like toilets and showers.
There is significant medical evidence showing how lack of sleep causes various mental health and physical problems. Yet we do not even allow people who are homeless to safely sleep.
Unfortunately we have very limited resources for shelter; only 4 shelters in Douglas County exist. Two are high barrier* shelters, which prevents many from being able to stay there, one is only available for youth and the other only operates in severe weather.
*High Barrier/Limited Stay: shelter that requires religious participation, sobriety, payment after a few days and may limit how long someone can stay.
76 beds for men
104 beds for women and children (no male children over the age of 12)
0 beds for families
Low Barrier
100 beds
Transitional housing
As the name implies, transitional housing is only temporary. There is an expectation that people will leave transitional housing by moving into permanent housing but that is not always the case.
98 beds for men
27 beds for women and children
64 beds for men or women
20 beds for unaccompanied youth
Part of the constant searching for basic daily needs is food not being available every day. In Roseburg, there are two days a week where someone may not be able to eat. One week a month there are three. There is no entity currently providing meals to people who are homeless on Friday or Saturday, or on one Sunday a month.
Only One Meal a Day. All programs that feed people, except the Roseburg Rescue Mission, only feed one meal a day. So if one is banned from using the RM, they may go hungry in our community. This daily struggle for food causes significant obstacles for someone who is homeless.
People who are homeless may get Food Stamps or SNAP benefits, but because they have no place to prepare their own food, lack of transportation, food storage abilities, and other issues, people often have to buy expensive, prepared and junk food. Even food boxes do not adequately address the need.
What does homelessness mean?
Housing First Umpqua (HFU) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) use the definitions of "homeless" from the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended by the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009. These are the federal laws that sets out requirements for homeless services funding.
People are considered homeless when they are living in a place no meant for human habitation, in emergency shelter, or in transitional housing, as well as, those who are losing their primary nighttime residence.
People are considered chronically homeless when they meet the definition above, and have a disability, having been homeless for at least a year, or four times in the last three years.