Roseburg Forum To Examine Youth Homelessness And Local Solutions

An estimated 560 Douglas County students experienced homelessness during the 2024-25 school year. A public forum this month will examine the challenges facing those young people and local efforts to help them find stable housing.

The League of Women Voters of Umpqua Valley will hold the free forum Monday, November 16, at 6 p.m. at the Roseburg Public Library. Sponsored by Creating Community Resilience, the event will include presentations, a panel discussion and time for questions from the public.

Thomas McGregor, youth and housing project manager at Peace at Home Advocacy Center, will lead the presentations and moderate the panel. McGregor has served since 2021 as co-chair of the Douglas County Homeless Youth Solutions Initiative, known as HYSI.

The initiative brings together local agencies and organizations to address immediate needs and coordinate longer-term support for young people experiencing homelessness. It operates through Creating Community Resilience, a collaborative community network.

A focus of the evening will be HYSI’s newly published “Strategic Roadmap,” which outlines goals for improving how the community serves youth facing housing challenges. Presenters will review local data, discuss the roadmap’s recommendations and provide updates on local projects.

The panel will include K–12 education personnel, crisis response specialists and young people with lived experience of housing instability.

The forum is part of local recognition of National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. Mayor Larry Rich is scheduled to read a proclamation at the November 9 Roseburg City Council meeting recognizing November as Homeless Youth Awareness Month.

The proclamation puts the estimated number of Douglas County K–12 students who experienced homelessness during the 2024–25 school year at 560, or 4.3%. It also describes how housing instability can disrupt education, make basic needs harder to meet and expose young people to trauma and exploitation.

The November 16 forum is open to everyone, with no admission charge. More information about the League of Women Voters of Umpqua Valley is available at lwvuv.org.