There is no one in Redmond who doesn’t have thoughts about the problem of homelessness in our fair city.

Inflation is spiking, housing costs are soaring and energy costs are going up, too. It’s getting harder and harder to afford a roof over your head here.

Yet people lucky enough to have a roof and walls still have to deal with the problems of houselessness. A person living outside near your residence, place of business or favorite park negatively impacts our community and our quality of life.

Most of us have empathy for folks struggling without life’s basic necessities. I know that after a cold evening walk I can’t wait to get back inside my warm living room. It’s scary to contemplate the physical and emotional pain of having to spend a single winter night out in the elements of Central Oregon, much less night after night after night without shelter.

Numerous people and organizations are already dealing with this issue head on. Yet it still feels like Redmond has a chance to take a fresh approach to this problem and come at it with a local, community-centered approach unique to us. We all see examples of other cities getting it wrong, which we should be able to use to help us get it right.

So how do we get there? Well, for one, we talk about it. Having open communication is one way to avoid stereotypes and find common ground. It helps us become informed about root causes and possible solutions. It allows us to debate future paths and fine-tune proposals. It allows us to point out problems that are festering.

The Spokesman hopes to do its part by producing quality, factual information and facilitating community discourse. We also hope to partner with other community groups when the opportunity presents itself.

To that end, we’re happy to help present “Let’s Talk About Homelessness,” which will be Thursday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m. at Mountain View Fellowship, 1475 SW 35th St. I will help direct the discussion, along with Louise Kaplan of KPOV.

It won’t be a debate, with Louise and I peppering panelists and putting them on the spot about issues and opinions. The hope is we can have an open, free-flowing conversation with numerous perspectives heard and everyone given enough time to speak.

There will be a wide variety of folks included, from Redmond Police Chief Devin Lewis to Keith Leitz, Redmond city attorney. We will also have Rick Russell, pastor of Mountain View Fellowship Church, and Colleen Thomas, homeless outreach services supervisor for Deschutes County Behavioral Health. Steve Curley, director of REDI, will talk about how homelessness is affecting the business community. Kara Pileggi, of the Redmond School District, will talk about how the issue is affecting students and their families.

James Cook, a former county commissioner candidate and member of numerous organizations fighting homelessness in Central Oregon, helped organize the event. He wrote in a Jan. 3 column in this newspaper that “we cannot continue to say, ‘homelessness is someone else’s problem’ and look to others for solutions. Homelessness is everyone’s problem, and we can only forge real solutions by working together.”

To that end, we hope to have everyone be part of this discussion. Those hoping to ask questions, both in the audience and online, will be able to submit them at letstalkredmond.com. Anyone can attend the event, and we hope many of you do. Those who cannot be there in person can watch a live stream of the discussion at www.redmondspokesman.com and our sister paper’s site, www.bendbulletin.com.

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— Tim Trainor is editor of the Redmond Spokesman.