Medford city councilors discuss 'homeless action plan'

MEDFORD, Ore. — Medford City Councilors discussed a ‘homeless action plan’ at a study session on Thursday night creating new steps to tackle the homeless situation locally.

A needed step, some say, especially after the recent wildfires.

City councilors say there were just over 1,000 households that are homeless in Jackson County before the wildfires.

Since 2018, the city says its invested 4.1 million dollars to address the homeless problem. The biggest chunk of that money going towards Medford Police Department’s new ‘livability team.’

The team was approved by city council in June of 2019 as a solution to crackdown on criminal behavior downtown and along the greenway.

There’s also the new urban campground on Biddle and Midway Road run by local non-profit Rogue Retreat.

Initially, the campground had only 25 tent spaces.

Now, there are 40.

But Rogue Retreat says the homeless problem isn’t going anywhere, in fact, it’s gotten worse.

“One of the issues with I think the fires was that a lot of older people were living in those mobile homes and they were on limited income and now without those more affordable mobile homes. Where are they going to go now? And they’re on limited income where are they going to go now,” said Chad McComas, executive director of Rogue Retreat.

Since July, the city says there’s been nearly 200 referrals from the livability team for people to be connected to resources.

22 have refused those services.

However, city councilors say there’s more work to do like creating more affordable housing options in the community.

Councilors even discussed creating a housing foundation for people to donate properties for that purpose.