As I follow the various elected and appointed officials and non profit organizations in Oregon tasked with solving the homeless crisis, it has occurred to me that the current leadership style doesn't seem up for the job. Too slow. Too conventional. Too soft. Too many cooks in the kitchen. Too bureaucratic. No awareness that we are in a crisis. Tired, hackneyed phrasing. Ad nauseam op eds dead with jargon. No accountability. No Harry Truman mentality. As I wrote months ago in this newsletter, a Czar of some kind probably should have been appointed long ago in Oregon to oversee all efforts. That initiative should have originated with the Governor, but oh well. It's still not too late, but now all the fiefdoms have have become entrenched and fortified, and as a result, we have no statewide plan. Leave it up to the bigger cities and wealthier counties and farm most or all of it in rural Oregon out to churches and non profits or local jails. True, the Legislature recently allocated $400 million for alleviating the homeless crisis, but again, who do we want to implement it on the ground and right away?
Add to the list, Matt Love.