An aging population, economic decline and generational poverty have contributed to Coos Bay-area housing issues
Charles Buki wasn’t in Coos County to placate its residents.
“You need to get your shit together,” he told a banquet room full of locals at their highly-anticipated housing summit on April 26.
The Virginia-based consultant and his business partner, Thomas Eddington, had just spent the previous hour explaining to the audience that Coos County’s housing crisis hinged, in part, on the community’s overall attitude.
“I don’t know what happened, but somewhere in the last 40 years, you stopped having pride,” Buki said as he flipped through slides that illustrated his point with photos of dilapidated houses and overgrown landscaping. After clicking through a few additional snapshots, he added, “There are a number of folks here who have never been taught; don’t park your car on the lawn.
“I think that a lot of problems stem from long-term, generational poverty,” she said. “There are also issues that go hand in hand with that, of mental and emotional detachment and inability to figure out how to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.”
To read the full article, written by Emily Green, click HERE
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