Morgan Mawn , News Contributor November 4, Another valuable resource for the homeless population is Room at the Inn, a cold weather overnight shelter. Located just off campus, Room at the Inn houses upto 18 women each night by providing a safe place to sleep, dinner and breakfast, toiletries and warm accessories for the winter.
Case management services are also offered to help these women gain control of their lives and help them attain stable housing.
According to Power, many women experience being ignored or shunned due to their housing situation. Homelessness in Corvallis has escalated in recent years and requires action by both the county and community alike to resolve the issue, according to the Benton County Home, Opportunity, Planning and Equity Advisory Board. Benton County has also taken initiative in addressing the homelessness issue.
The newly established the Home, Opportunity, Planning and Equity advisory board, replacement of HOAC, aims to utilize available research and existing county plans to develop a recommended course of action for tackling homelessness in Corvallis. HOPE is a recently created board and finalized its members in October. Despite being a young organization, it has years of established research and planning by HOAC to work with. From these resources, HOPE executive board members have identified concepts such as increasing permanent housing opportunities and community engagement as priority actions necessary to address increasing homelessness.
With its members finalized, the board will focus on developing a plan to present to the county that will have a detailed course of action for tackling homelessness involving a diverse group of community members. Traber said he believes that through the work done previously by HOAC, the community and county government will be able to make steady incremental progress in solving the homelessness issue.
