By Chuck Bennett
Excerpts from Mayor Bennett's 2018 and 2019 "State of the City" addresses touching on the subject of homelessness. For the 2017 "State of the City" address, see "Mayor Announces Ambitious Plan for Chronic Homelessness." (15 February 2017.) Also see "Chuck Bennett, State of the City." (18 March 2016.)
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| State of City, 28 March 2018 |
On homelessness in Salem, Mayor Bennett said:
The survey did show a really marked increase in public concern about homelessness and affordable housing. I don't think that's news for anyone in this room.
Last year, I announced a City initiative to deal with a portion of our homeless citizens who are not being served by other government or private programs. Call them the "hardest to house." It's somewhat euphemistic.
These are the people who are homeless. They have been for many years. They suffer from health, mental health or addiction issues, and in many cases have criminal histories. Those of you who own rentals, think about that for just a moment. This is your new tenant...
With substantial assistance from the Mid Willamette Valley Community Action Agency and its ARCHES program, the Salem Housing Authority began the Homeless Rental Assistance Program. This is the largest Housing First program in the state of Oregon...Housing First is viewed as the best practice in dealing with homelessness in any community.
Forty-three individuals have been permanently housed since we began this program in July. Seventy-seven persons are fully enrolled in the program, which includes not just housing, but wrap around social services...These are folks who lost their network. They've got nobody underpinning them. And we have brought together a group of services to help them.
Beginning in June 2018, three of these clients are moving out of this program. They have been so successful, they are just moving in to the standard housing program. They came after, say, 10 to 12 years on the streets, addicted to drugs or alcohol -- they're moving into their own homes. This, I think, is a remarkable achievement, but I live in a world where recovery from these kinds of issues occurs one person at a time, one day at a time. And that I think is essential to remember, as you try to change these people's lives, and help them out of what can be horribly degrading conditions. This isn't going to be done for thousands. We will not -- we will not -- totally solve this problem, but we are going to save people's lives as a community.
I want to introduce a hero in this program. It's one of the landlords...This program relies heavily on the willingness of local landlords to participate in this program...Rhonda King, please stand up. [Applause.] Ronda...is manager for JPM Property Management. Rhonda hasn't just provided apartments for a couple of folks. Rhonda has rented to 19 of the 43 people we have housed. Rhonda, thank you so much. She is a truly amazing and wonderful ambassador for this program...
Overall, the Salem Housing Authority estimates that 500 to 600 families who are currently...living in subsidized housing would be homeless without that support. So, we're working with folks in the hundreds, as well.
The City has also worked with Salem Housing Authority...in acquiring property on Fisher Road. By moving it into the urban renewal area, we're going to provide 29 single room occupancies for just the kind of clients we're talking about. It's the sort of supportive housing we need for the chronically homeless...We've also received a grant for $270,000 from Salem Health Foundation to provide six medical respite beds at that same property. This medical respite care is essential [to] deal with post-acute medical situations [involving homeless individuals]...We will have six rooms devoted just to taking care of those clients. And if the basic humanity of this doesn't get you, there's a major cost savings of hospital costs that comes with it. So, this is...government doing right on many levels.
I've also appointed a task force, chaired by downtown city councilor Cara Kaser, to address homeless issues in the downtown area. We're expecting a report soon.
One of the major changes coming is the decision by Union Gospel Mission, the City's largest shelter, to move north of downtown, and the arrival of the...Community Action Agency at Union and Front Streets.
The City has also decided to proceed with the purchase of the old Union Gospel Mission site at some future date when they move.
In cooperation with the county, the state, Salem Health, the Mid Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, we are developing a sobering center in this town. This is a center that will provide quality service to residents needing help, other than the current practice of taking them to jail or the hospital emergency room to deal with excessive alcohol and drug consumption. It's quite simple, we're not going to put them in jail, and we're not going to run them through the emergency room. We're going to take them to a place specifically to deal with people in that vulnerable condition. [Applause.]
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| State of the City, 23 February 2019 |
On homelessness in Salem, Mayor Bennett said:
Homelessness. This is one of the most difficult issues faced by cities across the U.S. and around the world.
Cities in Oregon have traditionally provided a limited list of services. Police, fire, streets, sidewalks, libraries, water and sewer. A couple of other things. Tax policy has tied most of the funding for these to property taxes.
In Salem, property taxes don't raise enough revenue to pay for police and fire, let alone other services. Think about that, just for a minute. Your property taxes do not fully pay for your police and fire department. Let alone your library or parks or any of the rest of services the city provides.
The challenge of homelessness is often oversimplified. It is not solely an economic problem. A substantial contributor to homelessness has been a collapse in an individual's support system. Whether it is family, friends or other institutions. The most frequent contributing factor is health, mental health and addiction issues.
The problem is that these issues have not been part of the menu of services offered by city government.
Faced with a real crisis on our streets, I asked the City to launch the housing rental assistance Program a couple of years ago, aimed at permanently housing the City's "hardest to house" residents.
This group of homeless were not seeking service from any of the traditional nonprofit groups. These are people who have been un-housed for over a decade, have untreated health, and other mental health issues, also are likely to be addicted to alcohol or drugs. They have, as you might imagine, bad credit, if they have any. They often have a criminal record. If left alone, the life expectancy of a person in this category, on the streets of Salem, is about 52 years. That, for me, and I know for most of you, is an appalling situation.
I found the whole situation untenable. The City added this group to its targeted low income housing clients served through the City's Housing Authority, which, by the way, just in case anyone says the City of Salem isn't stepping up on these issues, we housed 3,474 low income residents [households] in a variety of programs, including homeless families. That houses 8,200 residents, including 2,778 children, so I hope you understand we are working constantly on this issue.
The Housing Rental Assistance Program is one of the Council's priorities. It's housing over a hundred of these "hardest to house" individuals in privately owned housing, with solid wrap-around services needed to make their transition from homelessness a success. The issue of this is Housing First, and a cure to homelessness, not just a tent, or a tiny house, or some other little gimcrack idea.
We have housed the first 100, we are working on the second. The Housing First program is the largest of the Housing First programs in the state. Housing First [programs] like HRAP have a great national success record moving people away from chronic homelessness.
The City also has work under way on 89 new units purposely set aside for this program and for very low income residents threatened with losing their home. [Fisher Road and Yaquina Hall?] This isn't a band-aid program. It's not like tent cities or massive, publicly financed shelters. This is a cure to homelessness. It also is fiscally responsible. Studies show leaving a person chronically homeless costs the community $30,000 to $40,000 per year, per person. The HRAP program costs $12,500.
I also convened a task force of stakeholders and interested residents chaired by downtown councilor Cara Kaser, who did an outstanding job, by the way, on this very, very difficult issue.
It [the task force] has made a series of recommendations for dealing with some of the impacts of homelessness in our downtown, including long sought place for homeless persons to safely store their few possessions. I'll tell you just anecdotally, it was almost suddenly I began to hear about how many homeless there were the day some lockers were closed at UGM and people had no place to put their goods. It was [as if] suddenly they became visible, instead of just being invisible, which is probably good for all of us to know what's going on.
It also adds 24/7 toilets, laundry and shower services, support alternative ways of supporting homeless programs and individuals, there's a variety of different ideas that might replace panhandling, to help folks, encourage property owners to make building and site modifications that might help prevent crime, and assist in developing policies that result in better relations between business and homeless people. That is one of the most common emails I get is from a business person. I just got a text message from my barber with a really legitimate complaint. I won't go into it -- the details are not part of a lunch/dessert time.
Cooperative work between Marion and Polk Counties and the Cities of Salem and Keizer have resulted in retaining the local Council of Governments to complete a project mapping the various programs available, and the needs and impacts. It's an exhaustive list, one that now needs to be fully reviewed, and proceed to a program of well-coordinated services to homeless residents.
I want to particularly call out the partnership we have had over the years with a whole range of religious private and non-profit organizations. I can assure you, absolutely assure you, that without the help, really the leadership of organizations like ARCHES program at the Mid Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, Union Gospel Mission, Salvation Army, Northwest Human Services, and many other non-profits and churches, the significant progress we are making would not have been possible.
3/26/19 Update: transcript of entire 2019 address posted to City's website.
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