I think more than anything, the homeless community needs a poverty and homelessness board of its own, composed of its own members, with only one or two people from the traditional city or county organizations. They need to find a few spokespeople who can speak for them .
I served on the poverty and homelessness board, as  someone who lived for years in rescue missions or mental hospitals, and I have a lot of respect for the people on it. Daily they are working to plug up the dyke, but as we all know, often the flow of need is a hundred times the resources. 
Poor people need a union, and they need to find a way to apply for state and federal funds. The state offered quite a bit for homelessness solutions, and it went to the poverty board, but I expect going forward that a really powerful poor and homeless union would find a way to get funding from a variety of sources.
If there is a union of poor and homeless in Eugene, sorry, I am not aware of it. 
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon