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By Oregon Faith News Note,
St. John the Divine Episcopal Church in Springfield, Ore., has opened its 50-space parking lot for a decade to temporarily unhoused people who need a place to park their cars or RVs, according to the Episcopal News Service [6]. Church-goers usually only fill about 30 spots, so the church created a parking lot ministry offering hospitality to the homeless in their parking lot. It also worked with a service agency to add three residential huts shaped like Conestoga wagons. Oregon had the nation’s fourth-highest homelessness rate in 2022, with 18,000 people unhoused during a housing shortage. Springfield allows faith groups and other organizations to offer overnight parking as a housing alternative, according to the article.
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