My latest oped in The Oregonian:
"Why do we still have a homelessness crisis after all these years? Part of it is political. Part of it is spiritual. We've never invested the resources needed to build affordable housing. The entire Metro region — Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties — needs a permanent source of funding to build affordable housing. The majority of those who are homeless are families with children and the working poor who cannot afford the high cost of housing. We need more drug treatment. We need more mental health counseling. But we need housing first.
We also need to recognize the common humanity we all share. Until then — until we acknowledge that we are our brother's keeper, our sister's keeper — we will never find the political will to end homelessness. We'll simply go on trying to manage and hide it."
