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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2020)
A3 THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 Kotek proposes $40 million to fi ght homelessness Money would pay for new shelters “If they have funding available for those kinds of projects, it would be tre- mendously helpful for us,” Bennett said. He also suggested that maybe a declaration of emergency would help the public see homelessness as a crisis, too. By MOLLY HARBARGER The Oregonian The Oregon Legislature could be poised to make its most signifi cant investment to relieve the effects of a statewide homelessness cri- sis as House Speaker Tina Kotek prepares a bill that would allocate $40 million to create new shelters. She wants the Legis- lature to pass a bill that would declare a homeless- ness state of emergency that would allow local gov- ernments to bypass zon- ing restrictions when siting shelters and other critically needed space for home- less people to escape the elements. She also wants the state to provide money to create and operate such places. Such a state of emer- gency would have little effect in Portland, which started to ease its zoning restrictions to provide shel- ters years ago. But it could be a big deal in other com- munities that have pushed back on allowing public camping but also haven’t hosted shelters or public hygiene centers. While Oregon lawmak- ers have invested unprece- dented amounts in building and preserving affordable housing, the state has spent little on people who have already lost their housing. Gov. Kate Brown touted a $500 million investment in affordable housing during her tenure at a press confer- ence on Friday. “That is more than we have spent in the entire his- tory of the state of Oregon from state government, and it still feels like the tip of the iceberg,” Brown said. But the state’s biggest investment in homelessness has been 2018’s $5 mil- lion. While Brown did not explicitly pledge to push Kotek’s plan, she said that she wants to see a bigger investment than has been previously made. “I’m talking to mayors, I’m seeing the tents. This is a huge problem in every single community around Oregon,” Brown said. Kotek said in an inter- view that the money would largely go toward getting year-round shelters on the ground by fall in commu- nities around the state that have zero or little capacity. The rest would be used for rapid rehousing — fi nding housing quickly for peo- ple who either have lost or are on the verge of losing their housing — and public hygiene facilities aimed at homeless people. Kotek faces a short ses- sion and a lot of competing priorities. Opposition to shelters Molly Harbarger/The Oregonian The River District Navigation Center will provide shelter beds and on-site services for up to 100 homeless people in Portland. and leaders say they want to keep that there. Since lawmakers passed the budget, state economists have determined the state is likely to collect an addi- tional $500 million more in revenues than they antici- pated at the time the budget was fi nalized, and lawmak- ers are likely to spend much or all of that windfall. That means that Kotek’s $40 million plan for home- lessness relief will go up against a proposed $150 million to $200 million for wildfi re prevention and the pressing need for more money for a behavioral health system that ranks as one of the worst in the nation. Kotek also wants use revenues and state-backed debt to generate another $80 million for housing and homelessness bills. She proposes to use that money to help people buy homes. Kotek said $50 million of general obligation bonds would go toward construc- tion of affordable hous- ing and $20 million of lot- tery bonds would go toward saving existing affordable housing. The Portland Democrat sees an urgency to pass the package of homelessness relief spending now. Oregon is one of four states where the majority of homeless people — 61% — are living outside, in cars or places unfi t for human habitation. As more people become homeless in urban and rural areas, few cities and counties have invested in adequate infrastructure to shelter them. A statewide study last summer estimated that Oregon needs 5,814 shel- ter beds to reach adequate capacity. Just more than 20% of those would be for families with children. While Portland has the largest number of home- less people, smaller cities and rural areas have rap- idly rising populations of people who can no longer afford housing. They are forced to camp outside, like in Deschutes County, where many who were not served by one chronically full shelter in Bend moved on to undeveloped high desert land. Kotek’s plan, while still in the works, would largely follow the lines of Port- land’s. Portland is in its fi fth year of a city-only home- lessness state of emergency that was intended to allow it to build shelters faster and loosen zoning restrictions. But Kotek said that she doesn’t want to follow Port- land’s footsteps in spending two years debating rezon- ing. She plans to sunset the state of emergency provi- sions for July 1, 2021. “That is aggressive but we can’t go through another winter without more shelter beds,” Kotek said. Kotek pointed to cities such as Salem as examples of why the money should be spent now. Salem’s City Council passed a controversial rule banning people from camp- ing on the sidewalks that police began to enforce in January. The council promised to build shelters to give people a place to go. But no shelter space has come through, leaving homeless people with no options. Mayor Chuck Ben- nett said he is relieved that Kotek wants to help. Salem is considering passing its own citywide state of emergency to ease the headache of fi nding a good site with proper zon- ing to build a shelter, but Oregon’s capital city also has a list of problems Ben- nett hopes that statewide acknowledgement will help prioritize. Bennett wants to open a navigation center, similar to Portland’s recently opened one under the Broadway Bridge. It is a short-term shelter that connects peo- ple to social services and doesn’t require the people staying there to be clean and sober. Kotek said that she is interested in making that happen in Salem and Eugene, which recently sent offi cials to tour Port- land’s navigation center. Bennett said that Salem relies heavily on state and federal money and vouch- ers to house 3,000 people a year. City offi cials use a small amount of general fund money and give out about $400,000 in grants to local non profi ts to supple- ment their social services. But building a homeless services apparatus is com- plicated and expensive for a place that mostly focuses on providing water, roads and basic city functions. The Joint Offi ce of Home- less Services was funded with $75 million last fi scal year, split between the city of Portland and Multnomah County. That is largely out of reach for most places in the state, including Salem, Bennett said. Est. 1987 ANNUAL JANUARY SALE NOW THRU Jan 30 Competing priorities Lawmakers have the power in the coming ses- sion to allocate more than $1 billion that is so far not allocated in the two-year state budget. In formulat- ing that budget, lawmakers intentionally left more than $500 million in reserve to cushion the state in a pos- sible downturn, however, OREGON CAPITAL INSIDER Get the inside scoop on state government and politics! Clatsop Post 12 % 30 off NOW OPEN! Warrenton Branch 1771 SE Ensign Ln. Our beautiful Warrenton Branch is now open! 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Roosevelt Dr. Seaside 4 pm until gone $ 8.00 /ILikeTLC/ 6PM “Karaoke Dave” Federally Insured by NCUA A DIVISION OF ASTORIA AMERICAN LEGION The state’s study of shel- ters reported that one of the biggest reasons Oregon communities don’t have shelter is because of oppo- sition by residents. “We think this public declaration will be a tre- mendously positive move especially in local govern- ments’ cooperation,” Ben- nett said. Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury hopes so. She said that Multnomah County and Portland have long picked up the slack of surrounding communities that don’t invest money in homeless services. “You can see it really closely with Clackamas and Washington counties,” Kafoury said. “People come into our area because we have shelter and they don’t. I think it’s import- ant that every community have some type of plan: if they are a small enough county and they can get people directly into hous- ing, great. If they need shel- ters while they are working to get them back into hous- ing, they need to do that as well.” She called Kotek on Fri- day morning to pledge any support possible to make sure the bill passes. The state of emer- gency won’t include funds for social services. Kotek said that could be part of a future bill, but right now she wants to focus on get- ting construction started. “This is defi nitely a mul- ti year approach,” Kotek said. C REDIT UNION 1116 Commercial, Astoria, OR (503)325-5720 Follow us on Facebook & Instagram Clatsop Post 12 EXCLUDES FOOD, CONSIGNMENTS, LAYAWAY. 1132 Exchange Street 503-325-5771 LIMITED TO STOCK ON HAND
