Good News Headlines 9/9/2024

Image courtesy Metro

Nearly 5,500 Oregonians Have Been Moved Out Of Homelessness And Into Housing Thanks To Persistence From A Recently-Appointed Task Force

by Andy Corbley, Good News Network

Nearly 5,500 Oregonians have been moved out of homelessness and into housing thanks to persistence from a recently-appointed task force. This amounts to a 28% increase from the previous year, and the number of housing placements is the most seen in a fiscal year since the task force’s inception. Located in Multnomah County, one of two counties into which the metropolis of Portland extends, the Joint Office of Homeless Services, set up in 2016, has been hard at work in the city and the surrounding counties addressing what is the largest homeless epidemics in the country.

Profits From Community Windfarm To Fund A Million Native Trees In Hebrides

by Severin Carrell, The Guardian

An ambitious plan to plant at least a million native trees on crofts in the Outer Hebrides has taken root, its organisers say, with more than 200 small new woods sprouting across the islands. The Western Isles woodland project hopes to reestablish a thriving mosaic of small woods dotted across the islands by using vacant or underused crofts to reforest the Hebrides and promote nature restoration. Under the project, funded mainly by profits from the UK’s largest community-owned windfarm, west of Stornoway, 211,000 trees have already been planted on 245 crofts, plots of land that were historically family-run small holdings.

The World’s Largest 3D Printer Is Building Cozy Homes From Wood

by Andy Corbley, Good News Network

At the University of Maine, one of the world’s largest 3D printers is using sawdust from the state’s lumber industry to 3D-print cozy 600-square-foot wooden cabins. It’s part of a move towards making 3D printing faster and more sustainable in a state where the housing shortage that has metastasized in most states around the country is dire. It’s thought that 80,000 new homes will be needed over the next 5 years to keep pace with demand, and though it takes years for building codes to be changed, the technicians at the Advanced Structures & Composites Center (ASCC) at the Univ. of Maine hope their new toy can help address this need.

I’m Creating Tiny Homes To End Sleeping On The Street After My Brother Became Homeless

by Good News Network

A man is making tiny homes on wheels to provide innovative shelter for unhoused people—inspired after his brother became homeless. Ryan Donais started building the portable homes in July, concerned about the levels of homelessness in his city of Toronto, Canada, where he was seeing a huge growth in the tent cities popping up. In a bid to provide a solution for local authorities, the 37-year-old construction manager spent 100 hours working on the prototype, and two months building the first unit. Made from fiberglass-reinforced plastic, the homes feature a bed, a desk, a sink, and a camping toilet.

Klamath River Runs Free For First Time In A Century As Largest Dam Removal In US History Nears Completion

by International Rivers

Today, the last coffer dams were broken at the former Iron Gate and Copco No. 1 Dam sites, returning the Klamath River to its natural path and marking an end to a significant construction phase in the largest salmon restoration project in U.S. history. The project is a major step toward healing a critical watershed for West Coast salmon production and is widely recognized as a Tribal justice initiative that will help revitalize the culture and economies of several Tribal Nations whose homelands are in the Klamath Basin. ​“I am excited to be in the restoration phase of the Klamath River.