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Public speakers urge restoration of CAHOOTS-style alternative response as city weighs budget restorations
Summary
Budget committee public comment repeatedly urged restoring an unarmed crisis response modeled on CAHOOTS, with speakers saying other county services cannot replace it and citing higher call volumes that Cahoots handled in Eugene.
Hundreds of residents and providers told the Eugene Budget Committee on May 21 that the city should restore funding for an unarmed, community-based crisis response modeled on CAHOOTS.
Speakers said the loss of the program has left a gap that other services do not fill. "MCS has shared that they're responding in person to an average of 8 calls per day throughout the entire county," former Cahoots field worker Elizabeth Mitchell told the committee. "The Cahoots average is 45 per day in just Eugene and Springfield. MCS is not a substitute for Cahoots." She added that Cahoots' flexibility and ability to do wound care, transport people to meals or urgent care, and wrap individual safety plans could not be replicated simply by relying on county crisis teams.
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