Present: Sarah Smith, Chair, and Sarah Owens, Secretary;
Presenters Emily Reiman, Jimmy Jones, William Strawter, Harley Merck (new); with
Members Pamala Garrick, Eddie Maestas, Kristin
Kuenz-Barber, Rebecca Knight, Erin Grimshaw (new),
Shelly Ehenger, Dana Schultz (new), Chris Jones, and Michael Livingston (see Roster
tab, above).
Regional CoC Developments: following up on the discussion at last month's meeting regarding the effort to form a regional Continuum of Care (CoC), Emily Reiman shared with the group NEDCO's experience with the CoCs in Lane and Clackamas counties. She said Lane County's CoC appeared to be inclusive (lots of open meetings, etc.,), that was not her experience when trying to apply for funds. She said the same legacy grantees were funded year after year, despite questions in the community about their effectiveness. It might even be the case that Lane County doesn't accept new project applications. The Clackamas CoC was quite the opposite. Emily said she had shared this with the consultant to the Mid-Willamette Homeless Initiative Steering Committee, Jan Calvin, and hoped the steering committee would strive to be inclusive when making governance decisions regarding the new regional CoC.
Salem, Polk and Marion counties have adopted resolutions supporting
formation of a regional CoC. Yamhill County initially declined support, but might reconsider. There is division within Yamhill on the issue. A clear majority vote in favor of separation is needed to satisfy HUD. Yamhill also faces a timing issue. The late May/early June deadline for adopting a resolution in support has passed, however any decision rests with the MWHI Steering Committee, which meets on June 25 from 3 to 5 at the Mid-Willamette Council of Governments.
Permanent Supportive Housing: continuing his introduction to PSH using Lincoln Place, Vancouver WA, as a model of PSH congregate care, Jimmy Jones shared his experience with Salem's Homeless Rental Assistance Program (HRAP), which uses a scattered site model. The formal program managed by the Salem Housing Authority (SHA) was launched July 2017 to serve the area's most vulnerable chronically homeless families/individuals. Its success largely has depended on the availability of privately owned rental housing. Participants were and continue to be referred by The ARCHES Project from a master list based on assessments using the VI-SPDAT and VAT. Currently, participants are supported by three case managers (Christine Jeffries, Eddie Maestas and Jack Elliott) and SHA's Client Services Manager, Kimm McBeth.
As the program heads into its third year, 121 participants have been housed, 2 have died, 15 have been evicted, and 2 have left for other reasons. The program budget and goals were recently "right-sized" (halved) to match what's felt to be realistic based on the limited housing supply, a move that caused concern within the community about the success of the program. On May 28, City officials met with providers to "discuss shifting resources to slightly lower needs clients than the 'hardest to house'" (see Bach, J. "
Can Salem continue to pay for its 'housing first' program to get homeless off the streets?" (29 May 2019,
Statesman Journal.)
During the meeting, Jones was asked what circumstances might justify shifting the program focus to lower needs clients, and whether doing so was likely to affect outcomes. The discussion was just getting started when it was time to move on with the agenda, but it will be resumed at a subsequent meeting. (In the interim, members might be interested to read this
Permanent Supportive Housing Study, which concluded, "based on the variables included, there would have been no way to predict
at entry into permanent supportive housing who would stay or leave,
either positively or less so.")
Presentation: Harley Merck and William Strawter presented a proposal for a project that would explore: 1) the use of existing state and county models to develop tiny home communities by private individuals or businesses;
2) community concerns for tiny home developments;
3) county and city regulations, ordinances, building codes, safety concerns, and security concerns;
4) overall profitability for the private or business investor; and
5) result in a deliverable business plan to be used by low income housing
advocates to encourage private land owners and developers to build tiny
villages, as both a benefit to the community and a viable business
investment.
The group offered comments and suggestions, including taking a look at The United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley's efforts in this area.
Action: the work group also adopted a charter (see tab above).
