A3
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021
Church: ‘They deserve
better than to sleep in a
tent by the river’
ber and mid-March.
So, even though the
law gave the w arm-
ing c enter more discre-
tion about which nights to
open, in practice it changed
very little. For the most
part, the center will open
during nights of inclement
weather.
“There’s not nearly as
much diff erence as I’d
hoped there would be,”
Barnes said.
The law did change one
thing. The warming center,
which operates in a residen-
tial area, no longer needs
the good-neighbor agree-
ment, put in place in 2017
in response to complaints
about noise, loitering, litter-
ing and other nuisances.
“That being said, we’re
still trying to be good neigh-
bors,” said Barnes, who
lives nearby . “We’re trying
to be very thoughtful.”
The warming center will
monitor behavior as if the
agreement is still in place,
Danielle Hall, the board
president, said. Quiet hours
will be enforced, litter and
pet waste will continue to
be cleaned up, and people
will have to be respectful of
the neighbors.
Hall said people can
reach out to her or Barnes if
they want to raise concerns.
In a county with many
hundreds of homeless peo-
ple and few resources, it is
diffi cult to come up with
solutions that make every-
one happy, Hall said. “But
we are trying to come up
with solutions to really pro-
tect people and give them
some stability, ” she said.
It is hard, for example,
for someone to hold down a
job when they don’t have a
place to take a shower .
“These are just people.
They are our fellow Asto-
rians,” she said. “And they
deserve better than to sleep
in a tent by the river.”
Continued from Page A1
Right now, the organi-
zation is allowing volun-
teers to work in the kitchen.
“Looking at what’s going
on right now, I think that’s
fairly safe,” Delaney said.
“And it’s one person at a
time; we’re not having a
whole crew of people com-
ing in.”
The warming center
may try to design volunteer
roles for people from both
the housed and unhoused
population — opportuni-
ties for people who use the
emergency shelter to “feel
more ownership of the
space,” Delaney said.
The center requires that
all staff and volunteers be
vaccinated against the coro-
navirus to protect work-
ers and guests. “We’re just
trying to prioritize every-
body’s safety,” Delaney
said.
Last year, social distanc-
ing measures cut down the
shelter’s guest capacity to
just under 30. Even with
the reduction in beds, the
center never maxed out,
according to Teresa Barnes,
the executive director.
The warming center
is low-barrier: As long as
someone can come in unas-
sisted and isn’t behaving
unruly or experiencing a
serious medical episode,
that person can stay.
In the spring, the state
passed a new law that
removed some operational
hurdles for homeless shel-
ters . For the warming cen-
ter, this eliminated the
requirement that the shel-
ter open only when the
weather becomes danger-
ously cold or wet.
But, because the build-
ing lacks a commercial
sprinkler system and needs
other upgrades, the center is
still limited to a total of 90
days between mid-Novem-
R.J. Marx/The Astorian
A building on S. Roosevelt will open as a warming center on Dec. 1.
Seaside: ‘Homelessness is a community issue’
Continued from Page A1
An overnight staff mem-
ber will be assisted by one or
two volunteers to oversee the
shelter . Men will be separated
from women and children,
Evans said. A pet policy has
yet to be determined.
Data will be gathered
to determine future needs.
“Whoever comes in, we’ll
take their name and their
information,” Evans said.
“We want to grab demo-
graphics. We want to hear
their story, and then take that
data and collect it so we can
understand the people that
we’re trying to serve.”
The park district will
work with the shelter to pro-
vide vouchers for shower
access, said Skyler Archibald,
the park district’s executive
director .
There is no fi nancial con-
tribution estimate at this time,
Archibald added, other than
‘ONCE THE ( EVICTION)
MORATORIUM IS LIFTED, THE
FACE OF HOMELESSNESS
CHANGES AGAIN.’
Alan Evans | Helping Hands
the $3 shower vouchers.
The park district is assess-
ing the best way to provide
food, Archibald said. “The
hope is to provide a box lunch
for dinner for folks at the shel-
ter and then something for
them to eat on their way out
in the morning, ” he said.
Viviana Matthews, the
executive director of Clatsop
Community Action, asked for
community support.
“Homelessness is a com-
munity issue, and we all need
and want to work together to
provide the best services pos-
sible for the unhoused in our
community,” she said. “I am
thrilled that we are very close
to making the warming and
navigation center in Seaside
a reality, as last year we were
not able to achieve our goal.
“I am asking and hoping
that the community will sup-
port this collaborative eff ort
to serve our unsheltered
population.”
The news on the warm-
ing center came as the city
reviewed fi ndings from a
homelessness think tank
chaired by Mayor Jay Bar-
ber and City Councilor Tita
Montero.
League of Oregon Cities
lobbyist Ariel Nelson pro-
vided state and legal recom-
mendations at community
forums this summer. The city
hopes to reestablish a county-
wide elected offi cials work
group, which had met until
2019 but has not met since the
coronavirus pandemic.
Other think tank strate-
gies include a managed RV or
car parking lot where people
could stay, transitional housing
and permanent housing. City
actions could include a hous-
ing initiatives manager and a
contract position to support the
work of Clatsop C ounty’s two
homeless liaisons.
Evans said he sees the
warming center as a good fi rst
step for Seaside.
“I think there have been
great voices at the table,” he
said. “And I think they’re in a
good place because it’s going
to get worse before it gets bet-
ter. Once the ( eviction) mor-
atorium is lifted, the face of
homelessness changes again.”
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