Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon’s unemployment rate jumped above 9 percent Tuesday.

That’s the high water mark in this recession.

Yet in rural parts of the state, unemployment has hovered above 10 percent for months now.

A new national study reports that not only is the jobless rate high in rural Oregon – homelessness has surged too.

That’s in contrast to the national trend of fewer homeless people.

Chris Clouart is the operations manager at Bend’s homeless shelter – the Bethlehem Inn.

Chris Clouart: “I am certainly seeing an increased demand for our services. It used to be if you found yourself at the Bethlehem Inn, you could say to your self, the next day, even if you didn’t have any skills, you could at least clean up construction sites and you could make 40 or 50 bucks a day. Now the only jobs people are finding in the area here are the ones holding up signs for stores that are going out of business.”

The National Alliance to End Homelessness reports rural Oregon’s homeless rate is 36 percent higher than three years ago.

Central Oregon advocates will conduct a one-night homeless count next week to see where things stand this year.