State to Sink More Hless Assist $$ in MWVCAA Bldg

Revised: January 2019

 

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

The Mid Willamette Valley Community Action Agency (MWVCAA) asked for and obtained OHCS approval to spend another $495,856 in State Homeless Assistance Program (SHAP) and Emergency Housing Assistance (EHA) Phase I, II and III funds to renovate MWVCAA's new building at 615 Commercial Street.

This brings the total EHA and SHAP dollars dedicated to bricks and mortar to almost $983K.  The number of homeless sheltered in this building to date?  Zero, even though MWVCAA made a promise (legal, binding) to use it as a day shelter beginning June 30, 2017, which promise was a condition of using the first $487K in EHA and SHAP funds to buy the building. 

(For details, see "The Golden ARCHES Project", Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.)

The Governor's Office is aware of MWVCAA's lies and false promises.  So, what will be done about it?  We asked the Governor's Housing Policy advisor.  She told us,

We know the system [in Oregon that disburses state and federal funds through community action agencies] is broken, but given a choice between fixing the system, and pushing the money out, now, through a broken system, Speaker Kotek and the [OHCS] Director [Margaret Salazar] felt very strongly that they needed to get the money out there now.

When we pointed out that pushing money through a broken system means very little of it will reach  the people who need it, the Governor's advisor just shrugged.  We're all cogs on a wheel, she seemed to say. 

The excerpt below is from an email written by MWVCAA's Community Resource Program Director, Jimmy Jones, to OHCS last August 2017.  The email gives the false impression that MWVCAA was running a day shelter in its new building, and was about to start renovations (upgrade) needed to expand capacity.

The shelter was not open when the email was written, and is still not open.  MWVCAA did not have enough money for renovations, and the drawings were not being finalized, nor was MWVCAA about to start the renovations, not having sufficient funds for that purpose.

As of this writing, MWVCAA is seeking $300K in Community Development Block Grant funds from the City of Salem, also for renovations (total project cost $795,856, per MWVCAA's application).  (The City will ultimately agree to let MWVCAA have the CDBG funds, along with $300K in Urban Renewal funds.) 

Below is the architects' estimate of construction costs, to include the sobering station, which the City might or might not move ahead with constructing, as operating costs are an issue. 

Below is the latest version of MWVCAA's "business plan", submitted as part of their application to OHCS.  The statement that "MWVCAA is a $27,000,000 Community Action Agency" is true.