Housing Crisis In Oregon Research Paper

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Housing Crisis In Oregon “Poverty is not a disgrace, but it's terribly inconvenient” (“Milton Berle”). Poverty is a worldwide crisis, and in Southern Oregon this struggle leaves many homeless. Oregon’s high housing cost plays a huge factor in the poverty count in Southern Oregon. One should be paying only one-third of his income towards housing and Southern Oregon, this is not the case (Moving from). On top of that note, Medford- Ashland area housing is deemed less affordable than much more populous cities such as Portland, Eugene, and Springfield. With regard to housing, “Southwest… Oregon is one of the state's fastest growing areas.. [and] the affordable housing problem… is severe (“Strege-Flora”). Since Oregon’s high cost for housing drives …show more content…

One should be using ⅓ of their income to pay for housing or rent to have money left over for other necessities. For most Oregonians, this is not the case. According to an article “Raise the Roof” forty percent of Oregon renters are paying more than ⅓ of their income (Strege-Flora). With such unaffordable housing, a rising of an “alarming number of evictions of low- and fixed-income… homelessness, and housing instability [has spread] throughout Oregon (Vilet). Sandy Burke is one of the many victims of this housing dilemma. She was a resident of The Lower Pines in Ashland, Oregon and was at the time “in immediate danger of losing [her] home,” (“Strege-Flora”) along with the rest of the residents in The Lower Pines. All residents were given a one-year eviction notice with no help to move or relocate. Luckily, Oregon Action stepped into the situation and fought before the city council for what is right and advocating the “general lack of affordable housing in Ashland” (“Strege-Flora”). If it weren’t for the Oregon Action, all of the residents would have been homeless. Oregon’s lack of affordable housing drives many into homelessness and “a recent study found that 9,000 homeless people sought shelter assistance every night… [and] Oregon shelters must turn away hundreds of people each night” (“Strege-Flora”). Homelessness is not scarce in Oregon and while many of

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