Homelessness
Posted inLocal News

Displaced By a Moment: A Teen on the Streets

A local writer with lived experience in Central Oregon homelessness shares stories of the people behind the tents
by Mandy Bryant

In early spring 2025, I was living in a camp on the outskirts of Bend when Sabra walked into my life. She was there to run media prep for campers scheduled to speak with reporters, making sure we stayed safe and they didn’t hollow out our words. We bonded immediately over the absurdities of our […]

Posted inOpinion

Federal and State Homeless Funds are Drying Up. Use Some General Funds.

With shelter funding soon to end, are we headed right back to where we started?
by The Source Editorial Board

Government officials and service providers were thrilled to announce this year that the number of unhoused individuals in the community went way down compared to the previous year’s count. According to the annual Point in Time Count, the numbers were reduced by a staggering 19.1% — a figure that felt almost too good to be […]

Posted inLocal News

Furnish Hope Finds Its New Permanent Home  

Furnish Hope, Central Oregon’s only nonprofit furniture bank, is expanding its reach in spring 2027
by Abby Francis

Recent regional data showed homelessness declined by 19% in 2026, with 293 individuals moving into housing through expanded housing programs and affordable housing initiatives. As more people transition into permanent housing, the need for essential household furnishings has grown alongside them. Furnish Hope, a Central Oregon nonprofit, is the only furniture bank serving the tri-county […]

Posted inOpinion

Empty Managed Camp = Debacle

A lack of qualified service providers means that Redmond and Deschutes County’s plans for more homeless services are delayed, again.
by The Source Editorial Board

If there’s a case to be made for expanding the capacity of the Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners, look no further than the situation currently unfolding at the managed camp recently built by the County and the City of Redmond near the fairgrounds. After some waffling, the City and the County finally agreed to […]

Posted inElections

Vote Morgan Schmidt for Deschutes County Commission, Pos. 5

With four candidates in this race, voters may very well get to vote again in November
by The Source Editorial Board

Like a lot of the races for the Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners this May, the one for Position 5 is a crowded field. Voters will see four names on their ballots for this seat — one of two seats that are being added after voters previously moved to expand the county commission. If […]

Posted inLocal News

One Homeless Man Seeks More Than Just Survival on Second Street 

A mind for politics among Bend’s roughly 1,000 unsheltered residents
Avatar photo by Kayvon Bumpus

The man in the tent was undeniably oratorical.   He casually supplied adjectives like “adversarial,” discussed the concept of trickle-down economics with disdain, and held the word “conducive” (often used incorrectly) to its dictionary definition.  Three feet away from an open bucket serving as a makeshift toilet, I was speaking to someone more eloquent than many […]

Posted inOpinion

Supportive Housing is a Lifeline. The Public Deserves Strong Oversight of How It’s Going.

Residents at Bend’s Cleveland Commons facility say drugs and other issues are challenging their ability to stay sober and move forward with their lives
by The Source Editorial Board

A recent investigation published in the Source revealed the complications and conundrums that can come up when trying to offer stability to those for whom instability has been the norm. At the start of this year, the region’s housing authority opened the first supportive housing community east of the Cascades, aimed at providing not just […]

Posted inNews

New Year, New Villages

In 2021 Central Oregon Vet Villages became the first-of-a-kind shelter in the region; in 2022 even more will open
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

Central Oregon Villages submitted two proposed models for a managed campsite to the City of Bend, and are the only organization to do so by the end of the City’s request for proposal period ending Dec. 9. The region saw its first village-style shelter open on November 11, 2021, when Central Oregon Veteran’s Village welcomed five veterans […]

Posted inNews

Vet Village Opens

After years of development, houseless veterans will begin moving into a village-style shelter this week
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

About five houseless veterans will move into the Central Oregon Veterans Village this week, with about 10 more to come once the shelter is fully completed. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday ended the three-year-long process to get the shelter built. Bend Heroes Foundation conceived of the project and Central Oregon Veterans Outreach will manage the […]

Posted inNews

Out Of The Junipers, a Proposed New Camp for the Unhoused

A village is in the works for unhoused people living on public lands east of Redmond
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

Urban and rural houselessness often don’t look the same and have different solutions. In more-urban Bend, the rising population of unhoused has inspired both great acts of compassion from houselessness advocates and drawn ire from NIMBYs who want unhoused camps out of sight and out of mind. In rural Redmond, houseless populations aren’t as acutely […]

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