DHSTF Calls for "Ongoing Conversation"

Revised: January 2019

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

Dealing effectively with the situation downtown is going to require an ongoing conversation.

Although overlooked or downplayed by mainstream news outlets reporting on the final meeting of the Downtown Homeless Solutions Task Force (see here and here), that was its strong message.

It's not hard to understand why Fox 12 focused on toilets and showers.  We've been talking about the need for toilets a very long time.  And, until we get them downtown, we're doubtless going to keep talking about them. 

The Statesman Journal emphasized law and order, running its the story under "Homeless Task Force stops short of sidewalk ban" (online) and "Stricter homeless rules weighed", subtitled, "Panel won't seek camping restrictions" (print), probably because they know the community was pretty upset about the City's reviving the debate over the role of law enforcement, and that seemed to them and to many to be the primary issue before the task force at its sixth and final meeting.   

However, we think the real story coming out of the task force was the recommendation to "Establish a Downtown Good Neighbor Partnership...that supports appropriate behavior and ongoing dialogue with stakeholders." Why?  Because there is ongoing conflict between the people living in the streets of downtown and downtown businesses that laws and rules alone cannot effectively address.  It's like, a neighbor thing.  If that seems hard to understand, consider what the task force said about the situation at their last meeting, when asked to discuss the recommendation to "Establish a Downtown Good Neighbor Policy...that sets expectations for appropriate behavior" (emphasis added):

Paul Logan (Northwest Human Services): One of the things that concerned me is that this all came up when I made the recommendation that there be an ongoing group of folks, businesses, social services and city representative, police force representative to sort of be a homeless action partnership or team that continues to meet about the situation, the environment downtown.  And I think if we are going to do something like this, it takes an ongoing discussion of those folks to come up with a behavior policy.  Lacking that, we just adopt some policy...or rule the police say they can't enforce, and this [policy] kind of becomes a moot point.

Cara Kaser (Ward 1 Councilor and DHSTF Chair):  So you're saying that...having a recommendation for expectations for behavior is fine, but we need to kind of investigate what those expectations might be with a group of people?

Paul:  Actually, the expectations are a by-product of a group of people continuing to meet over time.

Cara: Right.

Paul:  And the idea was, you're talking about the dignity of everybody.  You're talking about the whole environment of downtown, this being one of those issues.  This feeds into what are the situations in which I, as an owner, should get involved with something?  Or, should call the police directly?  Or, should feel comfortable interacting with a client?.  Or, help that client set expectations?  It gets rolled into the conversation about having teams downtown, UGM or Community Action meeting with clients on the street, sort of letting them know what services are available.  It grows into a larger conversation, this being one byproduct.  This, in and of itself, I don't think should stand alone.

Christy Wood (Runaway Art Studio): I agree with that.  I really agree with that. * * * I guess I'd like to suggest that we actually change the recommendation to mirror something else, rather than this at all, to be something about an ongoing group?

Paul: I would support that.

Christy:  I mean, that we would work as a team.

Jimmy Jones (MWVCAA):  It's easy to forget that the homeless population isn't a static population.  There are many people changing in the population over short periods of time sometimes, so, without a constant, ongoing conversation, this sort of recommendation has no real chance of success at all. 

* * *

Paul:  It's also to give us other levels of intervention.  Because we tend to jump from, "I either have to do it myself, as a business owner" or "I need to call the police."  And part of the thinking behind this was, if we had some other interventions, if we had outreach teams from at least three or four different agencies, is that an option?  When should we call them, instead of getting the police involved.?  We also talked about handouts.  If we do have a relationship, if Christy knows one of the homeless individuals who's suffering, is there something that she can to provide that person at that point, and is she willing to do that?  Part of it, too, is to help businesses understand, if you will, the mind of homelessness, what happens with people in terms of thinking, decision-making, to create more of a sensitivity around where folks are coming from.  It's also to let businesses know that social services are here and trying to support you...we're also business owners.  We also live in this community.  We're trying to find that balance with you.

* * *

Jimmy: I worry that any policy we create...we're talking about a chronically homeless population in the Salem Urban Growth Boundary of anywhere around 650 to 700 individuals, depending on the time of year.  You're looking at mental health rates in that population of at least 40%, probably a little closer to 45%, you know you're looking at people with very severe mental illnesses, pronounced schizophrenia, in particular.  It's going to make it very difficult for them to conform to any sort of good neighbor agreement we craft, so, I think, getting back to Paul's original point, that this has to be an ongoing conversation, and it has to continue, especially with these outreach teams, who are going to be the individuals primarily engaging with the chronically homeless population in the street, to kind of help them curb some of these behaviors.  Otherwise, if we just get back to...placards on the sides of walls, I struggle to see how this can be successful.

Christy:  I think that's the whole idea.  At least me, as a business owner, what I want is help to find a way that I can get that person in contact with the right group rather than just having to call the police. So that's what I'm seeing.  What I want. 

Interestingly, the Mayor didn't/doesn't seem to like the idea.  After the meeting, and again in a recent Willamette Wakeup interview, he derided it as more, "can't we all get along?"  Which is probably why it wasn't included in the initial draft recommendations developed by staff, and why, when the task force moved to included it anyway, they got push back.

Kristin Retherford (Urban Development Department Director and Faciliator): I want to speak before the Mayor decides to.  [Laughter]  One thing I do want to caution, not to say that I don't support this idea, because I think that there's a lot of value to this.  I want to ask the question about the organization and ownership of something like this, and whether it's -- because through this group, you know, we can't say we think we need another City body, committee, advisory board, what not, okay?  I think that there's a difference between the City sort of owning an organization or having it under the umbrella of the City, versus the City being a partner and at the table, okay?  So I just want to put that out there.  The recommendation is the recommendation, and the City Council can certainly decide one way or the other, but I just want to put that out for discussion that the City might not be the best umbrella for that -- or we might be.  [Emphasis added.]

Christy:  But it's still an option that I think many of us think, whether or not the City does it, or partners with it, it's still I think something many of us feel strongly would be beneficial. 

One wonders why the task force can't say "we think we need another City body."  Isn't Salem a city of volunteers?  Don't we love our work groups, task forces, commissions and advisory boards?  Did we not invest a year and all kinds of staff time on the Mid Willamette Homeless Initiative (MWHI) Task Force a couple of years ago, several months on the Affordable Housing, Homelessness and Social Services Work Group, and six months on the Downtown Homeless Solutions Task Force?  Are we not supporting the MWHI Steering Committee and Program Coordinator position?  Do we not believe in the ability of our Downtown Advisory Board or Community Services and Housing Commission to convene an appropriate group?  Particularly given that the latter is under a duty to "Identify the social service needs of the community and develop recommendations and solutions to meet the identified social service needs." (SRC Chapter 20G.040(c))?  [repealed by Ordinance Bill 23-18, effectively dissolving the CSHC.  See Brynelson, T. "Salem moves to dismantle, replace commission overseeing federal dollars."  (11 December 2018, Salem Reporter.)]  

And what about CANDO?  Why is it no one from the City ever comes to CANDO to say that "City staff and elected officials are regularly contacted by downtown customers, residents, and business and property owners regarding littering, public urination and defecation, and inappropriate behavior", or asks us to work with them to develop some solutions?  (We had to ask to have a rep on the task force, it wasn't offered.)  How come CANDO wasn't part of the conversation last summer when Chief "we're-not-going-to-arrest-our-way-out-of-this" Moore and the city attorney decided what CANDO really needed was a "sit-lie" ordinance?  Hunh?  You can't even talk to the neighborhood you want to exclude people from?

Councilor Kaser tells us she supports the creation of a Good Neighbor Partnership (GNP), but it's not clear she supports the City taking a leadership role. 

Cara: If we adopt this recommendation, who are we directing establish this?  I think this gets back to Kristin's point...because I think that's something that's important to identify.  If the City of Salem should do this, or if this is some other organization...because I already know that the City Council's going to go, "Well who's supposed to establish this?"

Christy:  Okay, so can the city staff look at key players, and ask those key players if one of those will take the lead on this?  That's the way I would deal with that.

Kristin:  I would suggest that we handle this as we do with the other recommendations, that for each of these, there's more than one option and how it could be implemented, and that will be further vetted when City Council decides whether or not they want to move forward with this specific recommendation...

* * *

Paul:  We can have several options, I agree with that...but I really do think it is the City that needs to be the cheerleader and sort of champion for this.  It's a City issue.  My concern is, a lot of us meet behind the scenes, and we can do certain elements, but we become identified as part of the problem sometimes...because we're not linked with the City...so, I really want the City in the middle of this, with us, not doing all the work, not carrying all the burden, but I really think they need to be there as a strategic partner and a champion of this issue. 

A champion of this issue.  What is it the Mayor likes to say?  Salem's situation is not as bad as Portland's?  All those camps.  At least we're not at the point, yet, where business owners just shoot their homeless neighbors when they feel like it.

But, let us not be too sanguine about the situation in Salem.  Downtown business owners are screaming obscenities and threatening to spray people outside their businesses with pepper and water, and the Mayor and Chief of Police continue to insist that the City is under pressure to find a law enforcement solution.  The broader community has a different idea.  Anybody with half a brain can see there needs to be an ongoing conversation. 

If the City doesn't step up as a strategic partner and champion in an ongoing dialogue aimed at solving specific problems downtown, it's either going to be Groundhog Day and another City task force, or the situation will continue to escalate, and what happens in Portland could start happening here.  The community has expectations about how problems like this should be dealt with, and those need to be worked out under City leadership, over time, beginning immediately, without further delay or temporizing.  Could we please have a little leadership, here.