Why is Rockwood the Poorest Community In the County?

Below is a portion of an article from the Oregonian that discusses how Rockwood became the poorest community in the Multnomah County:

Jean DeMaster has run Human Solutions, a nonprofit social services agency, since 1988 in east county. She said the population shift occurred in four surges. The first began with the renovation of the public housing project Columbia Villa, which forced many residents to find cheap housing out east. More came as Alberta and other inner Northeast neighborhoods such as Boise, Eliot and King gentrified, and another rush came with the Interstate MAX. Rental homes were sold, rents driven up, and many low-income renters couldn’t find anything affordable within the inner city. The recession drove the fourth wave.

“We’re seeing a much higher demand for services than we’ve seen before,” DeMaster said. “But there aren’t enough services for low-income people, and we are getting pushback from people in the community who say we’ve been here a long time and we need help and it’s not fair that the new people are moving in.”

Last month, 900 people came to Human Solutions seeking emergency money to avoid eviction. The agency had 40 vouchers to divvy up.

Every type of service is stretched, DeMaster said: homeless services, rental assistance, youth gang prevention, alcohol and drug treatment.
 
But the greatest need, she says, is for health care. Many people she sees have lost jobs because they got sick and were unable to get care. That wreaks havoc on every part of their lives: their health, their ability to keep a roof over their family and their ability to support themselves.

To read the whole article, click this link:  http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/03/rockwood_health_center.html