Reality Check: the CoC is just a framework

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

Last week, after a work session to discuss camping restrictions, low barrier shelters, and public health emergency declarations, the McMinnville City Council got an(other) earful from residents concerned about what nearby RV camping is doing to McMinnville's downtown.  People are  upset, and the Council seems at a loss on how best to deal with the problem.  (See, e.g., videos of March 23 and May 14 meetings, and this May 16 KOIN report.)

Later, in the meeting following the work session, the Council voted to support the formation of a regional Continuum of Care (CoC) with Salem/Marion and Polk Counties.  The resolution of support goes to the Yamhill County Board of Commissioners, which will hold its second work session on the proposal to form a regional CoC this Tuesday, May 21 at 1:30 at the Courthouse in McMinnville.  Yamhill County might, or might not, vote to leave the "balance of state" -- aka "Rural Oregon" Continuum of Care (ROCC) -- to form a regional CoC with Marion and Polk counties.

Whatever Yamhill decides to do, one thing is for sure:  forming a regional CoC will not, as has been suggested, "dramatically increase the number of resources that are available to the local governments in this area", nor will it "make it easier for our tri-county region to start getting coordination and project funding for regional housing and homelessness needs", without a great deal of hard work and perseverance.  It is critical that the electeds be clear that a CoC is just a framework, and what's being proposed is a reorganization to leave the 28-county ROCC and form a 2 or 3 county CoC.     

Lane County 2018 Homeless Service System Map

To use Lane County as example:

Lane County formed a CoC in the 1990s, just after HUD started the program.  Having the county health department become the community action agency, and having only one housing authority and county commission helped to simplify things.  A regional CoC will have one or two community action agencies, three or four housing authorities, two or three health departments, and two or three county commissions.

The Lane County CoC has been working together for decades, planning and coordinating in accordance with HUD guidance, strategically allocating resources and competing successfully for HUD CoC funding.  As a result, the Lane County CoC today receives about four times more CoC funding per homeless individual than ROCC receives, based on PIT Count figures.

Lane County's 2018 TAC Study

Even so, the Lane County CoC faces significant challenges.  The current "system" doesn't work like it's supposed to (see Homeless Service System Map above).  Better coordination is needed across all aspects of the system.  They need to do better about street outreach, to beef-up coordinated entry, diversion and "move-on" strategies.  They need 350 units of permanent supportive housing and a low-barrier public shelter.  They need more partnerships with landlords and better tenant supports.  They need to implement frequent worker turnover training systems.          

Lane County knows all this because, in March 2018, the City of Eugene hired Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC) out of Boston, Mass., to conduct a Public Shelter Feasibility Study and Homeless Service System analysis. The purpose of the study was to provide information about Lane County's homeless service system needs and gaps, and recommend ways to fill the gaps and make the system more effective.

The Eugene City Council and the Lane County Board of Commissioners held a joint session last week to discuss a plan to implement the recommendations over the next three to five years.  The video of the meeting is a "must see" for Marion, Polk and Yamhill electeds and for anyone still under the misapprehension that reorganizing for homeless system planning purposes and for purposes of receiving HUD CoC Program funding is any kind of a guarantee.  Of anything.

Of note, the City of Eugene does not shirk a leadership role on the grounds that "homelessness is not our problem", as Salem's City Manager has been heard to say, with echoes from the Mayor and some City Councilors, who say they want to see the counties do more but do nothing to facilitate their involvement.

Also of note, even after years of organized cooperation, problems in understanding and relationships persist.  Springfield, perhaps feeling slighted, wasn't at the table.  The conservatives always tend to want more "balance" (code for enforcement strategies), even though that has nothing to do with homeless or housing services.  Cost considerations will always fail to account for the costs of allowing the service and housing system to deteriorate further.  The point of all this is that, even after years of experience building systems and relationships, the work doesn't get any easier.  Knowing that will not only help electeds build systems and relationships, it will help them manage community, and their own, expectations.