Wednesday,March31,2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
9
$3.1M grant funds year-round pallet homes in TD
Neita Cecil
■ By Columbia
Gorge News
The pallet-home homeless
shelter on city-owned land in
The Dalles that was slated to
close March 31 will remain
open until June 2022 thanks
to a $3.1 million grant won by
a local agency.
“We are very excited that
The Dalles shelter will be able
to remain open,” said Kenny
LaPoint, executive director of
Mid-Columbia Community
Action Council, which re-
ceived the grant.
The pallet home proj-
ect began last year when
the COVID-19 pandemic
prevented the opening of the
longstanding winter warming
shelter at the St. Vincent de
Paul offices in downtown The
Dalles.
The pallet homes were set
to close March 31, since the
city made land-use zoning
exceptions and authorized
the shelter on an emergen-
cy basis only for the winter
months.
Important to helping the
pallet homes stay open past
the emergency deadline was
a legal opinion by the city
attorney of The Dalles which
determined the pallet homes
were not subject to city land
use rules because they are on
city right of way.
“Everybody was thrilled
to get that opinion,” said The
Dalles Mayor Rich Mays.
State legislation last year
gave cities shelter-siting
flexibility for a limited period,
and new legislation re-estab-
lishing that flexibility appears
certain to pass by May,
LaPoint said.
MCCAC was prepared
to house the pallet home resi-
dents in motels until that new
legislation passed, but now
they will not have to.
The grant will help provide
homeless services to Wasco,
Hood River and Sherman
counties for the next year and
a half, LaPoint said.
It will pay for multiple pro-
grams at multiple agencies,
including regional shelters,
housing payment assis-
tance and culturally specific
services to communities of
color and Native American
community members.
The organizations partic-
ipating in the effort include
The Next Door, Nch’i Wana
Housing, the Oregon Human
Development Corp., Hood
River Shelter Services,
Bridges to Health and the
Mid-Columbia Housing
Authority.
“This is a huge win as we
work to advance equity and
provide housing stability to
our most vulnerable com-
munity members,” LaPoint
said in a press release. “I am
proud to be a part of this
collaborative effort to serve
our community in the midst
of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The grant was issued
through Oregon Housing
and Community Services,
using federal funds from the
Emergency Solutions Grant
COVID-19 program.
LaPoint told Columbia
Gorge News the grant will pay
for the pallet homes in The
Dalles year-round and for the
Hood River pallet shelters for
next winter.
He noted the grant
application was the highest
scoring grant in the 26-coun-
ty rural region. Because of
that, it not only got the full
$1.8 million it initially sought,
but became top priority to
request more funding, so the
grant was awarded another
$1.3 million, LaPoint said.
That additional $1.3 mil-
lion included funding to keep
the pallet homes operational
year-round, he said. MCCAC
has also recently purchased a
shower/restroom trailer that
will go on the shelter site.
His agreement with the
city also has the city installing
sewer and water to the site
so they can plug the shower
trailer directly in, he said.
“The funds will also pay for
Community Meals to contin-
ue providing meal service to
the shelter residents. In ad-
dition, a portion of the funds
will help provide houseless
folks with resources to be-
come rehoused in perma-
nent housing as quickly as
possible,” he said.
“Our goal when someone
enters shelter is to help get
them into permanent hous-
ing and prepare them for that
by providing wraparound
services and supports,” he
said.
LaPoint told The Dalles
City Council last week that
the pallet homes have served
as a “center for safety and sta-
bility for our most vulnerable
community members during
the difficult winter months
we experience here in the
Gorge.”
The pallet home project
has 18 homes, which can
hold two people each.
The shelter has also
provided an “opportunity for
transition and hope for the
future,” he said.
Since MCCAC took over
managing the shelter in
February, it has worked to
connect shelter guests to
other programs including
behavioral health, medical
and permanent housing
opportunities.
So far, seven shelter guests
have transitioned to perma-
nent housing, five obtained
steady employment, and
four are currently attending
post-secondary education,
A staff volunteer occupies the trailer at right when the pallet homes
in The Dalles are in use. A list of rules are posted for those using the
site.
Mark B. Gibson photo
he said.
Two guests have received
housing vouchers from the
Mid-Columbia Housing
Authority and “are searching
for a permanent place to call
home,” LaPoint said.
Darcy Long-Curtiss is a
The Dalles city councilor
who also works as the on-site
manager for the pallet home
site. She won the initial grant
that funded the pallet home
project.
She noted she is speaking
as an individual for this arti-
cle, and not as a city council-
or or on behalf of MCCAC.
“I believe the transition
program will help our entire
community in a number of
ways,” Long-Curtiss said.
“Formerly houseless people
will have a higher quality of
life. Those who are elderly
or disabled will be able to
focus on their health and
other needs. It will be easier
for those who are capable of
working to find and maintain
work with access to an ad-
dress and a place to shower
and wash their clothes as
needed.”
It will also improve things
for neighbors who live
around the St. Vincent de
Paul office in downtown
The Dalles, she said, which
provides meals and other ser-
vices for the homeless. (See
related story, page 1.)
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