Editorial

A Corvallis church, Westside Community Church, has stepped forward to offer cold-weather evening shelter to homeless men in Corvallis, and we owe the church thanks for placing itself on the front lines of Corvallis' homeless problem.

It's not always an easy or comfortable place to be.

Just ask members of the First Christian Church in downtown Corvallis, which gave permission earlier this summer for a few disabled transients to rest there temporarily. The church never intended for its action to be interpreted as an open invitation to the homeless to camp indefinitely there, but apparently that was the word that leaked out.

The result? By the end of last month, the church had asked Corvallis police to watch out for homeless men on church property. Last week, police in the process of citing homeless men for drinking in public and camping at the church had to physically subdue one of the men, who became combative after police discovered warrants seeking his arrest.

Let's be clear: We mean absolutely no criticism of First Christian's actions. In fact, like Westside Community Church, we think the church's efforts to aid some of Corvallis' homeless deserve praise.

And neither do we blame the church for eventually deciding that it had to turn to the police to help keep its facility safe for church members and others who use the site.

It's the same issue that rips at the hearts of the residents who want to frequent Central Park or other downtown amenities but feel uneasy because of the homeless people who congregate there. It's the same issue that tears at downtown business managers, who want to do something to help but whose first priority is to make sure that customers and employees feel safe at their businesses.

It all underlines the need for a many-faceted approach to the issue. The homeless population downtown, although it's likely the most visible part of the issue for most of us, is just the tip of the iceberg. Typically, we don't see the areas where the homeless traditionally have camped in Corvallis. We don't see the people who are couch-surfing, at the mercy of friends and relatives to find a place to spend the night.

We don't see the families who are living out of their vehicles, most of them headed by a single mother and her children.

Do we even think of them when we speak of Corvallis' "homeless problem?"

What might emerge as a solution for one group of the homeless won't do enough for another group. For instance, merely finding a job and housing for people whose chronic alcoholism and mental illness renders them incapable of independent living means they'll soon return to a cycle of life on the street, arrest, jail, court orders not to loiter or drink in public, followed by release to the street, and it all begins again. Repeat endlessly - all at taxpayer expense.

That's why we have hopes for the task force being led by Benton County Commissioner Jay Dixon, which is charged with examining all the aspects of the issue and suggesting practical solutions to the homeless people who most often make the news: The relatively small number of chronically homeless people whose layers of major problems defy easy solution.

Any broader look at this homeless demographic quickly leads to other issues - alcoholism, drug abuse, mental illness, affordable housing, broken families, etc. - that all contribute to the problem. As one of our readers commented this week on one of our blogs, "the picture requires multiple brushes."

The cold-weather shelter, which opens this weekend, is one of those brushes. We have many more brushes to identify and to wield until we can paint a better picture for Corvallis residents - regardless of where they live.