September 7, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 3A
‘It’s a strange relationship. Feeling like I’ve been able to help others and not be able to help myself.’
Kevin Widener
ELECTED AND HOMELESS
Transit district
board member
struggles to find
housing
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
K
evin Widener enjoys
sitting on the Sunset
Empire Transportation
District board. It’s a
role he’s well-suited
for as a loyal bus rider himself,
a fact he campaigned on when
he was first elected in 2013.
But it would be a lot easier
to serve if Widener had some-
where to live. For the past
month, he has been homeless.
“It would just be nice to
have an address in the county
I represent,” he said.
Some of the difficulties are
what one would expect.
“What’s difficult about
preparing for a meeting?” he
asked. “Not being able to take
a bath and wash my hair when
I don’t have a shower or hot
water, is something.”
But perhaps what is most
difficult, Widener said, is a
sense of confusion over how
he got to this crossroads in the
first place.
“It’s a strange relationship,”
he said. “Feeling like I’ve been
able to help others and not be
able to help myself.”
The struggle
Originally from eastern
Washington, Widener moved
to Cannon Beach in 1975,
where his father took a job as a
teacher. After graduating from
Seaside High School, Widener
received an associate degree
from Clatsop Community Col-
lege.
For about 13 years, he lived
and managed rooms at the Pic-
ture Window Resort in Cannon
Beach before it closed in 2003.
Out of a job and a home, Wid-
ener alternated between staying
with friends and staying on the
streets, struggling to find hous-
ing for the next three years.
Part of his struggles were
due to what Widener referred
COLIN MURPHEY
Kevin Widener waits for the bus to arrive at a stop in Seaside.
to as a “worsening neurologi-
cal disorder,” which has slowly
affected his ability to walk, the
strength in his left arm and oth-
er motor functions. Between
the neurological disorder, an
intensifying case of chronic
obstructive pulmonary dis-
ease, and the side effects that
come with the medications to
treat it all, holding down a full
or part-time job became in-
creasingly more difficult.
It also marked the begin-
ning of his reputation as a ded-
icated public transportation
user.
“With all the medication
and the neural problems, I just
voluntarily gave (driving) up,”
he said.
After three years of insta-
bility, Widener applied for
disability and a low-income
housing voucher, which al-
lowed him to afford a small
apartment in Seaside for about
12 years. There, he was able to
manage a few apartments and
collect cans for extra income.
Widener volunteered with
a number of environmental
groups — protecting the envi-
ronment is one of his interests
— and ran a campaign for the
transportation district seat.
“I obviously ride the bus a
lot, so I thought I could bring
my perspective,” he said.
In March, an electrical fire
drove Widener and his neigh-
bors out of the apartment com-
plex. Soon after, the owner
sold the property.
The landlord, Ken Quarles,
who had developed a relation-
ship with Widener over 12
years and eventually served
as his campaign manager, felt
bad about the sudden upheav-
al. He decided to let Widener
stay in a side room of anoth-
er property he managed for
a few months before the sale
finalized.
“We all knew Kevin. And
his dad was a much-loved
teacher for us,” said Quarles,
a longtime Cannon Beach res-
ident. “All of us old-timers …
everyone has just kept an eye
on Kevin.”
Outpaced
Again finding himself in
housing limbo, Widener has
struggled to locate a place on
the North Coast that his vouch-
er can cover. When he does, he
is often met with a waiting list
six months to a year long.
“I don’t have six months
to a year. I don’t have a home
now,” he said.
What Widener is facing
isn’t unique, said Todd John-
ston, executive director of the
Northwest Oregon Housing
Authority. According to the
U.S. Department of Hous-
ing and Urban Development,
average fair market rent for
a one-bedroom apartment in
Clatsop County will be about
$654 in 2019 — about a $200
difference from what Widen-
er can expect for his voucher
based on his fixed income.
“What’s happened with us
with the voucher program is that
the increase in rents has been
outpacing the HUD voucher
COLIN MURPHEY
Kevin Widener rides the bus from Seaside to Cannon Beach.
standard,” Johnston said. “Now
voucher rents aren’t keeping up
with the market.”
Widener isn’t particular
about his next home.
“I don’t plan on being home
most of the time anyway,” he
joked.
Widener likes to stay in-
volved, whether as a fixture at
the local library or as a contrib-
utor to a City Council meeting,
where he is known to always
keep a close eye during budget
season.
“As the one in charge of the
meetings, I’ve always appre-
ciated his comments. They’re
often insightful,” Mayor Sam
Steidel said. “He always
comes at things with a differ-
ent point of view.”
If Widener is not at the li-
brary or City Hall, he’s at the
bus stop, where he is able to
rattle off when the next bus
will arrive without glancing at
the schedule. It’s important for
him to keep sharing his expe-
rience as a bus rider with the
transportation district, as ex-
panding public transportation
is his passion and his lifeline.
“When I see situations
where I can help, I help,” he
said.
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