Yamhill County to Remain in ROCC

Yamhill County Commissioners Kulla, Olson and Starrett at May 21 work session

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

The Yamhill County Board of Commissioners held a second work session yesterday to consider joining Marion and Polk counties in a regional Continuum of Care (see Yamhill Poised to Vote "Leave").  The session was scheduled for 1:30, but we arrived at 1:15 to find Commissioner Starrett explaining to Commissioner Kulla why leaving ROCC "isn't going to fix the problem."  She said,

It's going to cost $261,000 a year [gap funding until the HUD planning grant comes through], and that's somehow going to translate into all these social problems going away?  I don't see that money and staff [are] going to do that.

I think we need to look at the root causes of these problems, and that is not to say we enable the sub-populations that are creating perhaps the biggest concern in our community.  Take for example...the population that everyone seems to be talking about, which is the people who are taking up city streets and setting up residence there...If you throw more money at this, it's not necessarily going to fix the problem.  It's got to come from an initiative whereby the person says, I want to get clean, I don't want to live in the streets and I want to find a job.  Well, we don't even see that.  We have Stephen W[inaudible] from Express Professionals going around offering people jobs, transportation to those jobs, nobody's interested.    

There's one person on Dustin Court who wanted to get clean and sober.  HHS...sprang into action to get this person away from that environment so he could stay clean.  The majority of people are not interested, so more money is not going to fix that problem.     

Kulla asked Starrett what she considered the "root causes" of homelessness and the lack of affordable housing.  Starrett replied,

Let's just take the people who are camped on City streets.  Root causes are addiction -- the prevailing issue is addiction, and mental health issues, and a lot of it is drug-induced psychosis.  A lot of it is just ongoing addiction problems.  A lot of it is a lifestyle choice.

Starrett believes the problem is that you can't "force someone to seek sobriety."  Commissioner Olson weighed in at this point, saying,

To me, the answer is, and this is just me personally, you don't give a hand out, you give a hand up.  In order to give that hand up, some of those people have to want to take that hand up, and for those that don't want to take that hand up, which is several of them, you can't do anything to make them take that hand up.  Whereas...we have programs where we'll give you housing, we'll help you with subsidized housing, but in order to do that, you're going to have to [inaudible].  You're going to have to get a job, you'll have to stay clean, you'll have to work.  That's the only way you help people up... Most of the people on Dustin Court...you can offer them jobs, you can offer them anything...they don't want it.  They just don't want it.  So...I don't think the continuation [sic] of care, even though you make a lot more money for housing, I don't think it's going to address it, because they don't want to be there yet.             

Starrett asked Kulla how more money and more staff would increase housing supply.  Kulla started to talk about supportive housing, but Kulla cut him off.  "Let's talk about housing supply.  Supportive housing is next.  I'm just talking about increasing housing supply."  She said that Yamhill County had supportive housing "covered" by existing grants and programs.  Kulla said he wished he had area experts to speak to the issue, but it was his understanding that the County was seeking more supportive housing.  Starrett said, "We're not talking about supportive housing."  Kulla said he was returning to supportive housing because it was a good example of what more money and more staff could do.  He also said it was "one answer for the people on Dustin Court."  Starrett replied,  "That's not what I asked you...I asked you how spending $261,000 and adding three more staff people is going to 'increase housing supply?'...How do you spend more money and 'poof' -- housing supply increases?"

Starrett believes that housing supply "can't increase" because of state land use laws.  "It has to do with the political will of jurisdictions.  So, what I'm saying is, I don't know if we're going to get anything for spending all that money."  Olson said he'd asked Polk and Marion county commissioners if the McKinney-Vento funds they'd received had increased housing supply, and that "the majority of commissioners say it hasn't increased their housing supply."  He said low-income housing needed to be a business proposition for developers, and that SDCs were preventing that.  Kulla asked about SDC waivers and other ways the County might facilitate low-income housing development.  For Olson, though, the issue was that the reorganization into a regional CoC didn't guarantee additional housing.

Starrett said,

One of the points they make is that if we had a smaller geographic footprint, we would be able to address our own [community's needs].  They use the example, 'issues facing Salem are not the same as those facing McMinnville or Independence', and if we had a new continuum of care, we would be able to address our own specific issues.  But, I think, by and large, whether you go to Portland, Seattle, Honolulu, which has a really big problem, or anywhere, you have basically the same problem.  The basic problem is that you have significant addiction issues which are fueling a specific type of physical homelessness. 

We have the best economy we have had in half a century.  There is no shortage of jobs...the problem today is not a lack of employment.  We have a constriction in the housing supply, which is what you have when land use laws make it not hospitable to people building and expanding...I don't think we need another layer of government to facilitate [ways to accommodate workforce housing], and I don't think we have different problems.  Everybody's got the same issues, the same questions -- how do we deal with this?   

Kulla said he thought Starrett was going to say that housing in those communities is very expensive, unaffordable.  The three discussed whether housing affordability should be considered a "root cause" of homelessness, with Starrett and Olson arguing that housing was affordable for those willing to work.  To illustrate, Starrett said,

Kate Stokes [YCAP's Director of Youth and Adult Services] knocked on every door of every RV on Dustin Court, and she said, "We can get you into affordable housing."...She would get them first and last month's, all ready to go, and people would leave.  People would leave their RV completely empty, and someone else would move in.  So, despite offer after offer after offer for the housing, which is supposed to alleviate the problem that we see, it didn't happen.  It wasn't a question of the offer wasn't there, the apartment wasn't there, the option wasn't there.  It was a choice not to do that...Why would you choose to sleep in a freezing cold RV in your own filth?  Why would you, because addiction is a horrible disease that tells us that we would rather have the drug than to live clean and warm.  It's a horrible way to live.  We do everything we can to fight for these people, to bring them into recovery, but, as you know, you can't force recovery.  And that's the problem. 

Kulla said what he was hearing was his fellow commissioners equating the people living on Dustin Court and Marsh Lane with all Yamhill County's homeless, even though, "I know you both know differently than that."  Starrett agreed there were different sub-populations, and talked about county programs targeting those sub-populations.  Kulla noted that the county wasn't providing housing for every unaccompanied youth or woman fleeing domestic violence.  Starrett replied, "You could never, ever do that.  I mean, I don't know where you could get that amount of money, to be able to solve every social ill [with] the government and someone else's taxes."   

After several minutes discussing housing policy issues, Kulla pointed out "We're already in a Continuum of Care organization", and the discussion returned to whether or not Yamhill County should leave ROCC to join a regional CoC.  Olson said, "I just don't see a lot of benefits in joining a regional CoC."  Starrett said she was concerned that Yamhill County "might become less stable."  She said, and Olson agreed, that there were already differences with McMinnville, and "we don't necessarily lose anything by staying in the Balance of State."  Starrett said, "I'm looking at what they [the regional CoC] want to do, and I look at what we're doing, and then it's going to cost us more money, and we have to hire more people, so maybe what we should do at this point is say...this is not in our best interest."  There followed several minutes of discussion of the situation in McMinnville.  Finally, Olson said,

We've belonged to [ROCC] since...HUD put the rules in place.  I haven't heard any complaints.  I see it working.  Is there a potential we could get more money?  Probably.  Is there potential we could take on a lot more risk?  Certainly.  And [are] there a lot of things it's doing that the County isn't currently doing?  No.  I think the County is doing a lot better job than some of the Continuum of Care does.  So, benefit-wise, what would we benefit by changing?  I don't see a big benefit.     

Olson asked the county attorney if a formal action was needed, and it was agreed "an official vote" on the question of whether or not to join Marion and Polk counties in forming a regional CoC would be taken at the regular meeting on Thursday, May 23.  The question was ultimately placed on the agenda for May 30.  During the meeting on May 30, the question arose whether or not entities within Yamhill County such as McMinnville or YCAP could decide independently to join the regional CoC.  Based on the erroneous belief that they could, Olson and Starrett voted in favor of a motion "decline to join the regional" CoC and Kulla voted against.  Audio at 1:00 through 1:16.

6/9/10 Update:  Sources say Olson has had second thoughts about his vote and will be hosting a gathering of elected officials from Yamhill County in the next two to three weeks to discuss the proposal further.  However, the "late May, early June" decision deadline identified by the Mid-Willamette Homeless Initiative Steering Committee has passed.  Even if Olson were to change his vote through a formal reconsideration process, HUD's process requires a clear demonstration that the move is  supported by the provider community.  See "HUD admits ROCC 'formed out of thin air'."  That could could be difficult without Starrett's support.  Starrett is on the YCAP board and YCAP's Kate Stokes, who refers to herself as a "happy warrior for conservatism", is Director of YCAP's Adult and Youth Program Services, which includes YCAP's homeless housing and support services, and is reported to be "100% opposed" to leaving ROCC.