BLM/Pandemic Weaken CAPO's Grip on Hless Assist $$

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

Joint Committee of the Second Special Session of 2020

Civil unrest and a pandemic have begun to change how Oregon delivers homeless assistance.

Oregon has long mandated through ORS 458 that federal "anti-poverty" funding be distributed by formula through long established community action agencies (CAAs), who could then "sub-grant" funds to eligible non-profit agencies -- if there was enough to go around, and if the CAAs felt like it, with almost no accountability for outcomes, due in large part to the effective advocacy of Community Action Partnership of Oregon (CAPO), the CAAs' trade organization.  See "State Seeks Accountability from Hless Service Providers." (24 February 2019.)

After decades under CAAs' monopoly control over resources, Oregon has "fallen far short in its goals associated with funding minority and culturally specific projects", particularly those serving BIPOC communities, according to the Oregon Commission on Black Affairs, a message resoundingly amplified by the voices of Black Lives Matter over the last couple of months.  But for the pandemic and the need to push massive amounts of federal CARES Act funding out to hard hit communities, who knows when or whether change would have come.

But change has come.  Last night, #orleg quietly passed HB 4304, which, among a lot of other things, "specifies that expenditures related to the Emergency Solutions Grant made available under the CARES Act can be awarded to various entities through a competitive or contract process."  (See Section 41.)  In other words, the change will allow the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department (OHCS) to depart from the requirement of ORS 458 to distribute more than $49M in federal CARES Act funding by formula. 

In a letter to Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina Kotek, co-chairs of the Joint Committee of the Second Special Session of 2020, OHCS Director Margaret Salazar described the need for change this way:  

OHCS is seeking this change to address the unprecedented demands on our community services and homeless services systems.  OHCS is slated to pass through more than $200 million directly, exclusively and non-competitively to Community Action Agencies over the course of just a handful of months.  As context, for the 2019-21 biennium, base level of funding for homeless services is $50 million.  To successfully and thoughtfully steward these resources, OHCS needs more seats at the table to help program these dollars; an all hands on deck approach will help deploy funds and meet the immediate and mid-term needs of our friends and neighbors.  Our Community Action Agencies are working harder than ever to get funds out to Oregonians as fast as they can, but the existing statute and the existing program delivery system was not built for this.  OHCS needs flexibility to address the crisis.

This change will open the door to new strategies that will more intentionally serve communities of color, and build the capacity of organizations designed for and by people of color. The COVID-19 pandemic, recent uprising on the issue of systemic racism, and the inequitable impact of the health and economic crisis on communities of color, call for government to take intentional actions to undo systems that have, intentionally or not, led to barriers to access and disparate outcomes.

The first funds to be distributed with HB 4304's new flexibility will be $49.4M in Emergency Solution Grants (ESG).  ESG can be used for shelter and homeless services and homeless prevention, like rent and utility assistance.  OHCS plans to allocate $7M to local CAAs and the remaining $42.7M through "a competitive process that maintains regional distribution."  Salazar's letter states that "the competitive process developed will include regional allocations that take into account the needs of communities across the state and ensure geographic reach of ESG funds", and a "set aside" for culturally specific organizations that will allow them to build capacity, expand services, and create stability in staffing. 

A recent study by the Urban Institute found that, among existing federal rent assistance programs, the tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher and Emergency Solutions Grant programs were the best suited to deliver rent efficiently and equitably during the pandemic.

This blog may be updated with news of the community response to this major policy change.

News from the Continuum

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

City of Salem-approved vehicle camps

The City Manager reports that Salem now has, in addition to the vehicle camp at Church at the Park, four more registered vehicle camps.  The other four are at Salem Mission Faith Ministries (4308 Hillrose Street SE), Capitol Futbol Club (5201 State Street), Salem Indoor (4701 Portland Road NE) and West Salem United Methodist Church (1219 3rd Street NW).  The manager says the City needs more organizations participating in the program so police can enforce the ban on vehicle-camping at Cascades Gateway Park.  Under the pilot program, a maximum of 6 vehicles are allowed at one location, and a maximum of 8 locations are allowed.  It's estimated that the City has approximately 400 people living in their cars.  Find the vehicle camping registration form with more information here.

The Oregonian reported recently that camps around Portland have grown "exponentially" since the start of the pandemic.  Vinson, T. "As coronavirus rages, Portland’s homeless camps continue to grow."  (22 July 2020, Oregonian/Oregon Live.)  We asked Jimmy Jones, Executive Director of the Mid-Willamette Community Action Agency, if the same was true in Salem.  This was his response.

Yes, the population is growing.  We don’t do official camp counts like some outreach models do throughout the year.  We do track active camping areas and it appears that the population has increased, especially in areas outside Wallace Marine and Cascade Gateway. Those two parks tend to have longer-term homeless residents and would not be the primary places you would expect to see increases and the newly homeless.  The East Salem homeless population appears to be growing rapidly.  The million dollar question is why.  It is it the virus?  Is it the normal summer swell we always see? Is it migration in from the counties and other places like Yamhill County?  The most probable answer for the increase is that it is all local and relates to two intertwined forces:  loss of income and the original lockdown with family members where there was strife.  The income piece probably led a lot of doubled up folks to exit.  There is a historically documented connection between unemployment and the rise in homelessness.  I do not think we have seen the full impact of that yet because of the eviction moratorium.  But it is coming.  

The federal moratorium on evictions ended last month.  Oregon's ends October 1, 2020.  Despite Oregonians having until March 31 to pay back rent, the potential for mass evictions in the coming months is what worries Jones.  See Cohen, J. "What Happens if 23 Million Renters Are Evicted?" (24 July 2020, Shelterforce.)  While "the vast majority" of Oregon renters have continued to meet their rent obligations during the pandemic, (Goldberg, J. "Oregon lawmakers extend commercial, residential eviction moratorium through September." (29 June 2020, Oregonian/OregonLive.)), the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that Oregon will need $1.2 billion to help people with very low incomes (<51% AMI) pay rent to make it through the next twelve months.  Marion and Polk counties have $5M to get renters through the end of the year, by which time the funds have to be spent. 

The Statesman Journal has added "Homeless" to its online news categories

SEMCA was back at City Council last week with concerns about the campers at Cascades Gateway Park.  See "Has Council 'moved the needle' on Homelessness?" (2 May 2020.)  SEMCA's chair, Cory Poole, argued it was unfair to concentrate camping at Cascades Gateway and Wallace Marine parks and that the City should instead open all City parks to camping.  During his remarks, Poole stated that the code enforcement workers had told him they were spending five hours a day at Cascades Gateway.  We asked the Neighborhood Enhancement Division Administrator, Brady Rogers, about that, and he confirmed what Poole had said.

Rogers explained in an email that much of code enforcement work involves face-to-face contact.  The pandemic and the Governor's "Stay Home, Stay Safe" executive order effectively limited that work to priority cases.  When the City opened Cascades Gateway and Wallace Marine parks to comping, some of his staff volunteered to help out.  They did such a good job, Rogers told us in an email, that Parks wanted them to continue.  "We eventually got to the point where as many as six of the Code Officers were helping with this", he wrote.  After a couple of months, the situation had improved, and the Code Officers returned to their usual work.

Jones agreed conditions at the parks had improved considerably, adding that, "from the client perspective they generally prefer to deal with a 'code guy' than someone with a badge and gun, because of institutional trauma."

The West Salem Neighborhood Association (WSNA), however, continues to push the City for more of a police presence, claiming without evidence that "increasing criminal activity since the establishment of a homeless camp here in West Salem", and that "the radius of this criminal activity is increasing."  WSNA  Chair Kevin Chambers reported on Friday that Polk County Sheriff's Department "will now be increasing patrols in West Salem at night, specifically around Wallace Marine Park."  

9/14/20 update: City Council authorized $312K to be allocated from General Fund to security services in Wallace Marine Park (in addition to Marion Square Park).  Two personnel, 8am to 12am, through 2021.

9/28/20 update: Governor Brown extended the residential eviction ban to 12/31/20.