This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Oregon’s new governor, Tina Kotek, has set out an early marker for her time in the state’s top political office.

She wants to make dealing with homelessness a major plank in her platform.

So, as the first two steps:

• She is advocating that the Oregon Legislature, now in session for about four weeks, make $130 million immediately available to begin dealing with the problem.

• She is advocating that, on a longer-term basis, the state build or acquire 36,000 new housing units that could accommodate the homeless.

Both are big asks, especially since lawmakers are anticipating a hint of an economic recession that will reduce tax revenue available for anything, including homelessness.

Whether Kotek succeeds will be an early test of her Administration, including whether she, as a Democrat, will have any ability to reach out to Republicans to find middle ground.

Success also will require a new outlook on the part of many involved in the legislative session – “new” in the sense of a commitment to solving a controversial problem that plagues both urban and rural Oregon and is often beset by huge biases, one of which is homeless persons often are viewed as less than citizens.

One place Kotek and legislators could look for clues on dealing with homeless issue is Church at the Park in Salem.

To be sure, that might not happen because Church at the Park has a “religious bent.”  Which strikes me as a good thing, but might not build a bridge to policymakers.

The Church at the Park vision has been summarized this way, based on scripture found in Luke 14:12-14

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Beyond that vision, this list of services:

1. To restore dignity and relieve hunger through shared meals.
2. To listen intentionally to the stories of those who are experiencing homelessness, while looking for opportunities to affirm assets and motivation.
3. To ask those who are homeless about current goals.
4. To meet critical needs of shelter and clothing through relational partnerships.
5. To increase advocacy, awareness, understanding, and love for the homeless in Salem.
6. To invite all who join us to servanthood and leadership.
7. To say no to violence, and yes to making peace as a community.

Does this list solve all the problems?  Of course not.  But it is a start.  And the Church at the Park commitment also involves providing a type of “small houses” for those who are homeless, so they can begin the reality of living in a place with four walls.

Kotek, for her part, proposed the 36,000 housing expansion, which would help to make the Church at the Park goals a reality.

Many solutions to the homeless will be driven by the government and financed by the government, which means such programs must compete against other major government programs – education, transportation, health care, and many others.

Challenges:

• Many of the homeless do not know how to live in a house, much less afford to do it, given basic living expenses.

• Often, homelessness is aggravated by drug and alcohol addictions, or mental health problems, which make dealing with the issue even more expensive.

• One risk is that some citizens will say that everyone is responsible for themselves, so why should we help them?

Back to Governor Kotek’s first pledge upon taking office:  Building the 36,000 new Oregon homes.  This is an ambitious target, perhaps overly so.  One tough target:  Prompting local governments to remove permitting barriers to building homes.

According to the Oregonian newspaper, it’s been nearly five decades since the state produced 36,000 houses and apartments in a single year, and to get there would require the state to increase its production rate by 80 per cent.

But, housing advocates say the target represents an important acknowledgment from the state’s top executive of the state’s dire housing crisis, which has left renters reeling from ever-increasing costs, put homeownership out of reach for many, and contributed to a rise in homelessness that extends to all corners of the state.

So, from me, as I sit in the seats watching the debate, I wish Kotek and legislators success as they deal with what often has been an intractable problem.  And I hope they find time to look to Church at the Park in Salem as one place where at least partial solutions exist.