BEND, OR -- Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler was in Washington, D.C. earlier this week, with the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors. "They have a homelessness task force that’s led by Karen Bass, who’s the mayor of Los Angeles, who is dealing with this, obviously, in her city and also is a former Congresswoman," Kebler tells KBND News.

"We talked to Senators, we talked to Representatives. We also talked to the Secretary of HUD, our housing department at the federal level, the Secretary of the Veterans Department, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and all of this was to say the federal government needs to invest more," she says, "Especially in housing vouchers, which is our main tool that we use to get people into housing. It helps pay the rent for people who can’t afford it. And we also need more vouchers to help us build things like Cleveland Commons, which is permanent supportive housing; which is one of the best ways to get chronically homeless people off the street and supported." Construction began on Cleveland Commons last fall, at SE Fourth and Cleveland in Bend. 

Kebler says it was an important opportunity for the group of nearly 50 Mayors to show a united front on the need for resources, "It was really great to be with Mayors from California, Nevada, Providence Rhode Island, all these other places in the country, and we all agree this is a top issue for our cities." 

She believes they were well-received, "There’s always politics in play at Washington, DC, and helping to move things forward. But, especially our Senator Ron Wyden, that we spoke to is very invested in making sure that we have also what are called Low Income Housing tax credits, which are what directly help us build affordable housing, and a child tax credit to put money back in the pockets of struggling families and help end child poverty, which is also a way to help people stay in their homes."