MWHI Steering Committee Continues Oversight

Revised: January 2019

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

July Mtg of the MWHI Steering Committee at MWVCOG

The Mid Willamette Hopeless Initiative Steering Committee, who appear persuaded they are accomplishing something, perhaps due to all the meetings, mappings and reportage by the Hopeless Initiatives Program Coordinator, Ali Treichel, and the willingness to claim credit for all the outside projects listed in their strategic plan, continue to meet.

At the August meeting, held as usual at MWVCOG offices, the steering committee received a draft of a community survey intended to collect information about all the resources available to people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness, a document comparing the Marion and Polk Counties Plan to End Homelessness and the Hopeless Initiative's strategic plan with the elements of a community plan as defined by the HEARTH Act (2009), a list of proposed metrics by which to judge the strategic plan's success or failure, and an updated listing of public funds dedicated to housing and homeless services in Marion and Polk Counties.    

The discussion was unedifying and lasted two and a half hours.  One hour was spent receiving a presentation on the 100-Day Youth Challenge, and the remainder  listening to Ali present her reports.  No action was taken.

The very last bit of business was a request to pitch a proposal for a micro-housing project at the steering committee's next meeting.  The proposal came from some folks working with Home Base Shelters of Salem.  Whereas HBSS's original proposal was to reproduce Eugene's Rest Stop program in Salem (which the City was not interested in), the new proposal for "Habitat & Hope Village" looks more like Eugene's Square One Villages.  The units would be 8x8 duplex construction of lumber/plywood (basically two wooden tents side by side), to be constructed as funds are made available, up to a maximum of 20.  The proposal did not identify a site, funding or managers.

The steering committee heard the proposal at its September meeting, but did not seem interested in supporting it. 

In October, Ali Treichel put in her notice to quit, effective at the end of the month, details here.  Treichel said she was leaving to take another position closer to home (PDX), but sources say the commute was not the primary reason for leaving, nor were the reasons "personal." 

MWVCOG Director Sean O'Day told the steering committee in October that he hoped to recruit and hire a new coordinator by January 2019.  The steering committee did not meet in November or December.