From KATU 2 News:

“There is definitely a perception that Portland and Eugene and some of those larger metro areas have the biggest homeless problem in the state,” said Pegge McGuire, Executive Director of the Community Services Consortium serving Lincoln, Linn, and Benton Counties. “I think that it is more obvious in those areas, I think that we don’t even begin to know exactly what the nature of the problem is in our area.”

Oregon has eight continuums of care, its largest, the Balance of State or Rural Continuum of Care (ROCC) spans 26 counties.

When taking office in January, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek announced a state of emergency on homelessness. The order which sought $ 130 million in funds to address the homeless crisis excluded the Balance of State.

The Balance of State, with a total population that is almost double that of Multnomah County and with a much larger territory, received roughly 10% of the HUD grant money that the Portland/Multnomah COC did over the past two years…

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