Re: New Leadership steps into the Tower’s Spotlight (Aug. 06)
The Tower has long been a community asset that has forgotten it’s a community asset. Far too many people running the place kept it very stale. Almost exclusionary. With only plays and events the old guard approves of. It’s a travesty the theatre is not used for local music! I pitched the idea of a local music series here and it went nowhere.
The place should be a stop for every band coming through as well. Bands that know the Domino is a dump and they aren’t on the LiveNation/Tickemaster level (thanks, City of Bend for selling that community asset from under our noses). No reason the calendar shouldn’t be full.
—David Roth
Re: Opinion Will “Criminalizing Homelessness” Come with Funds that the Big Beautiful Bill Just Took Away? (July 30)
Homelessness is not primarily caused by a lack of affordable housing. While affordable housing is a legitimate concern for many working families, the majority of the individuals living on our streets, in forests like China Hat, and on public lands are struggling with untreated mental illness and addiction. Simply providing them with housing will not address the root causes or ensure they can maintain stable living conditions.
Those who truly want and need affordable housing are more likely to achieve that goal with some effort, especially given the number of support programs already available in our community. I see wonderful success stories all the time reported on our local news stations. We should not conflate their needs with those experiencing chronic homelessness due to behavioral health and addiction issues.
Unfortunately, the low-barrier housing initiatives promoted by our city council often worsen the situation. Allowing people to live in squalor on public lands and on our streets, often with animals they can’t care for, is neither compassionate nor humane. And it’s costing taxpayers a fortune and creating dangerous situations in our community.
Many view the homelessness services sector as altruistic, with mobile showers and water bottles offered as acts of kindness. But in reality, these services often create a revolving door system that fails to address the underlying issues or offer real upward mobility.
It’s important to recognize that homelessness has become a multibillion dollar industry in the U.S.. It generates over $21 billion annually and supports more than 160,000 jobs. A truly compassionate and effective strategy must focus on long-term behavioral health and addiction recovery with wrap around social services, not just housing.
—Nicole Perullo
Re: Opinion Will “Criminalizing Homelessness” Come with Funds that the Big Beautiful Bill Just Took Away? (July 30)
Oregon homeless response has been ineffective, wasteful and abusing the funding with little to show. Rinse, repeat and throw more money at ineffective programs. In many instances it’s the addiction that leads to the homeless problems. Not the other way around, as was stated. Perhaps upsetting the funding will drive meaningful discussion and new ideas to address the problem. More of the same hasn’t worked to date.
—Clayton Dewberry
This article appears in the Source August 21, 2025.
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Re: New Leadership steps into the Tower’s Spotlight
David Lee? Roth makes an interesting observation. Apart from Hayden, Bend has few venues to attract bands regionally, nationally and internationally. Some smaller venues succeed in this intermittently – Volcanic, Domino/Mid-town and even Silver Moon in its expanded format.
But look at it from the bands’ perspectives. Bend is distant from, and significantly smaller than, the major metropolitan areas these bands find profitable. Bend is simply not worth the effort for most bands. And when they do play Central Oregon, it’s for one night, as opposed to consecutive night gigs that might be more worth their time.
When the British Bar Stool Preachers played a one night stand at Volcanic several winters ago (skapunk), I asked the frontman what was next and he said they were planning to stick around a few days to enjoy the wilderness. That might be a good hook, but if a few more existing venues opened up for two-nighters, that hook could become a net for rawkers in Bend.
If addiction were the primary cause of homelessness, states like West Virginia, Ohio, Louisiana, and Tennessee would have the highest rates of homelessness per capita. The same applies to mental illness; West Virginia often ranks among the states with the highest prevalence of mental health issues and the poorest access to care. However, research consistently shows that homelessness is mainly a result of housing unaffordability (again, West Virginia, which consistently struggles with addiction, overdose rates, and access to treatment options, also has one of the lowest rates of homelessness in the country). The cost of housing is still too damn high here, and the most effective way to reduce homelessness is through housing-first policies, which are based on solid evidence rather than emotional reactions and lazy stereotypes. While Bend’s track record in addressing homelessness is not impressive (much to the chagrin of our Bay Area overlords), there is tangible proof supporting the housing-first approach. Until someone proposes a policy backed by a proven history of success in this opinion section, it’s reasonable to consider these letters as complaints without substance.
According to a rather old but still relevant study by the NIH:
Three factors contributing substantially to the recent increase in the numbers of homeless people are the low-income housing shortage, changing economic trends and inadequate income supports, and the deinstitutionalization of mentally ill patients.
When you look at their 3 classifications, you can see that different solutions are required.
Temporary- these folks are usually homeless due to a catastrophic event such as a fire which displaces an individual or family who may quickly run out of funds for temporary housing.
Episodic-those who may require public benefits and run out of funds before the next payment.
Chronic-these are most often people with addiction or mental health issues.
Hear, hear DERRICK’S salient comments of 8/21. Of COURSE housing should be our first focus in addressing homelessness. People need shelter, second only to decent food and clean water. Having once provided that housing, we can then sort out whatever other problems the homeless experience or are thought to present.
Housing First is the practical and humane approach.