Homeless Program Coordinator Position Empty, Iffy

by Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

Homeless Initiative Program Intern, Valerie Lang

The Mid Willamette Valley Council of Governments (MWVCOG) was unsuccessful in recruiting someone to fill the position of Homeless Initiative Program Coordinator, so an intern will be filling in for a term.

MWVCOG Executive Director Sean O'Day said in an email, "the limited duration, tentative funding, and timing of our recruitment (not synched with the end of the academic year) make it very difficult to fill the position in the current employment market."  

The Winter 2019 (and third) issue of Mid Willamette Homeless Initiative News introduces Valerie Lang, an OSU undergraduate student in public health and says she will be completing several Mid-Willamette Homeless Initiative (MWHI) strategic plan projects focused on financial literacy, youth homelessness and service coordination.  It also says Lang will be attending community meetings "to observe how partnerships serve homeless individuals and families." 

According to the MWHI News, Lang has a background in senior services and "sees the homeless initiative internship as a good way to learn about how governments and nonprofits work together to serve people in need."  Lang's Facebook page indicates she lives in Salem and attended Chemeketa Community College.

Former Marion County Commissioner, Janet Carlson

On Friday, O'Day announced that recently retired Marion County Commissioner Janet Carlson had contracted with MWVCOG to conclude the continuum of care analysis and a few other projects (e.g., evaluating anti-panhandling programs and a resource map report) that were part of the Homeless Initiative Program Coordinator's year-one work plan.

Carlson also contracted to "evaluate whether there is a longer term need for the position and if so make recommendations to the participating jurisdictions and the COG Board on how to best fund the position for its long term viability."  The term of Carlson's contract is reportedly four months.

In an interview in late December, Carlson was asked if she had any regrets about her tenure as County Commissioner, and she identified the lack of progress on the MWHI strategic plan.  Carlson has plans to move to Idaho "at the end of winter."

The announcement of an unsuccessful recruitment comes on the heels of the Salem City Council's recent decision to repeal SRC Chapter 20G and thereby eliminate the Community Services and Housing Commission (CSHC), which was based, in part, on the representation by Urban Development Department Director, Kristin Retherford, that the Homeless Initiative Program Coordinator "is charged with many of the same duties that are outlined in SRC [20G] as duties of the CSHC."

Retherford is a member of the steering committee that oversees the work of the Homeless Initiative Program Coordinator.