BEND, OR -- Deschutes County’s first Houseless Strategies and Solutions Director has been on the job just over a month.
Cheyenne Purrington’s mission is to streamline the work done by dozens of local organizations.
“The councils and commission are very aware of the challenges in terms of homelessness as a hot topic for this community like many others. And so, I think that the role of this office is truly around coordination intending to provide support to the efforts that are ongoing,” she said.
Purrington feels policy-makers are on top of the main issue, “The high unsheltered rate that we have locally is around 80 percent, which is one of the highest in the nation. And of course, with that comes additional challenges. The needs are much higher once someone is unsheltered.”
The Houseless Strategies and Solutions Director is the first of its kind in Central Oregon. Deschutes County and the Cities of Bend, La Pine, Sisters and Redmond are recipients of House Bill 4123, which will provide $1 million in funding over two years for the newly created Coordinated Houseless Response Office.
“As we establish this office, I think it’s going to be important because it is new, to communicate to folks what we’re doing that is different and supportive. Our intention with this office is not to duplicate the efforts that are already underway but really support and invest in capacity building,” said Purrington.
