According to theUS census, Oregon has one of the highest homeless populations in the nation.
Andon Thursday,community members in Ashland are gathering to discuss how to bring those numbers down.
Organizers ofthe meeting say there’s no one solution to help fix the problem since homelessness is an issue most cities face and in each case it can look different.
But getting the conversation rolling is a start.
It can often be a difficult topic but it doesn’t matter if you’re in a large city like Portland or in quaint little town like Ashland, almost every city in america has some sort of homeless population.
According to Leigh Madsen, the city had a homeless population of 200 in 2011.
For years, the city of Ashland has been trying to figure out how to deal with the number of homeless people inside city limits.
Before coming to Ashland, Police Chief Terry Holderness worked in Fontana, California where the department with the help of local organizations reduced homelessness by over 50%.
But he doesn’t believe that same model could work in southern Oregon because the culture of the homeless population is much different.
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