Mayor Bennett State of City

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

 

Chuck Bennett's been in City government a long time.  And after eight years on Council and three years as Mayor, he's begun his second mayoral term.  His 2021 State of the City address was his fourth.  

 

Last year, Bennett's remarks on the City's "homeless crisis" were focused on persuading Council to enact a sit-lie ordinance.  Bennett believed that then-existing homeless services and shelters "remove any barrier or excuse for anyone to claim that camping on our community’s sidewalks represents a needed choice or situation." See "Mayor Bennett: State of City" (12 February 2020).

 

It is untenable that after decades of work and tens of millions of dollars to preserve our historic downtown as the vibrant commercial and residential center of this region, it is being jeopardized by the current unnecessary use of our public sidewalks for permanent, 24-7 unsheltered living space with all of the attendant health and safety problems and costs. There are no more excuses for letting this situation continue. The council needs to heed our police chief’s advice to enact a sit/lie ordinance.

 

A couple of weeks later, Council passed Ordinance Bill 6-20 on the first reading 7-1.  The City could ban sitting and lying during certain hours only if shelter and hygiene facilities were readily available, so the City made plans to put a big tent and chemical toilets in Marion Square Park at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars.  See "Sit-Lie Passes, But it Will Cost"  (9 March 2020).

 

Ordinance Bill 6-20 was due to become effective immediately on second reading, March 23, 2020, but C19 hit and the Governor called an end to gatherings of more than 50, then 25, then 10, making the tent solution unworkable and effectively killing Ordinance Bill 6-20.  A few days later, Council adopted City of Salem Resolution 2020-18 prohibiting “public gatherings” in “public spaces” and restricts public spaces to active pedestrian use. Violators could be arrested for trespass under SRC 95.550.  The resolution also suspended the camping prohibition (SRC 95.720) in all unimproved areas in Wallace Marine and Cascade Gateway parks.  

 

The park-camping suspension was extended several times and is now due to expire June 1, 2021.  See "City to Extend Park Camping to June 2021" (4 December 2020).  One of the extensions, Resolution 20-506, substituted the prohibition on public gatherings with a mask/social distancing requirement, and provided that "publicly owned sidewalks, including landscape strips, are limited to active pedestrian use", enforceable by trespass under SRC 95.550. So, the City still effectively bans sitting, lying and sleeping on sidewalks, it's just disguised as a C19 mitigation measure.  That the City has not, for a variety of reasons including C19 and Blake v. City of Grants Pass, seriously enforced the ban has been a source of great frustration to Mayor Bennett who, days before his State of the City address, was publicly complaining about the Liberty Street sidewalk outside Rite Aid being "a dump."  See "House Bill Kills Mayor's Sit-Lie Buzz"  (4 March 2021).  

 

From Mayor Bennett's standpoint, the main difference between the state of the City's homeless last year and this year was that, as much as he might have wanted to, he could hardly claim in 2021 that existing homeless services and shelters "remove any barrier or excuse for anyone to claim that camping on our community’s sidewalks represents a needed choice or situation."  So he made the claim indirectly, in a long speech-within-a-speech that lasted 10 minutes (entire address lasted one hour).  The text of the speech appears below in its entirety.

Mayor Bennett State of the City, March 10, 2021

First, he indirectly acknowledged that the electorate is upset with the City's inadequate response to the problem, and argued that the problem is nationwide, complex, under-resourced and growing, though his numbers are bad:               

Over the past several years, homelessness and its impacts has replaced by far any other issue on the public’s mind. No wonder. It’s disturbing on a basic humanitarian level to see our fellow residents living in what can be degrading, unsafe, unsanitary and deeply unfortunate conditions.  The homeless condition invites a range of reactions from scorn or fear to deeply held religious beliefs of personal responsibility to alleviate the situation.  There's a deep hope that there is some simple or universal solution.  What you learn as you get very close to this on a public policy level is that there isn't one thing in government that we can do to solve this problem.  It's truly an all-hands-on deck, all resources concentrated at the local level on this situation, and the price tag is well beyond what we have seen invested into mental health addiction, chronic health care, these needs and the truly affordable housing for every income level [sic].  Oregon is the seventh leading state contributing to the overall homeless population, sitting in order behind Massachusetts, Washington, Texas, Florida, New York and California.  In 2019, Marion County saw a 20% jump in the number of reported homeless individuals, moving from 1,218 to 1,422.  [This is not true.  The higher number appears to be the preliminary 2019 figure reported in the Statesman Journal linked here, though the article cites a total of 1,462, not 1,422. However, while the 2018 PIT Count showed 223 homeless persons in Polk and 995 in Marion, for a total in both counties of 1,218 -- the figure cited for Marion alone -- the final 2019 PIT Count showed 121 homeless persons in Polk and 974 in Marion, for a total in both counties of 1,095.  That's a difference of twenty-one persons, not 20%.  See "The Struggle to Count Bodies and Beds" (18 January 2021).]  Our homeless advocate groups expect the number to rise between 1500 and 1800 homeless people in Marion County today.  [Also not true.  The 1,800 figure is based on current HMIS data and has been cited for at least the past year as being more reliable estimate than PIT Count figures.]  That number is too high.  Based on interviews with people who are homeless in our region, many have untreated mental illness, addictions, and chronic health conditions worsened by long periods of homelessness.  Also some individuals have pre-existing barriers to housing, such as criminal history, evictions, and a poor rental history.  Providing shelter for someone who is experiencing chronic homelessness requires intensive case management and a network of community-based services.

Then he gave a kitchen-sink account of all efforts, no matter how remotely related, for which the City could take some amount of credit.  Message:  look at all the City is doing and stop complaining.

The City is currently working with our homeless service providers to increase shelter capacity, adding more permanent affordable housing units, and reducing barriers that lead to homelessness.  We are dedicated to finding solutions through a community-wide coordinated approach.  That means strengthening our crisis response systems as we advocate for state assistance, for more supportive housing as well as a navigation and sobering center.  It means retooling our criminal justice involvement through a mobile-crisis response structure that has trained professionals that can assist homeless individuals on the spot with direct access to addiction treatment, mental health counseling and health services.  We're asking again that the state support a sobering and a navigation center to help homeless persons access needed programs of all types, including mental health and addiction services and a variety of other programs that assist them out of their situation.  In addition to our collaborative long term planning agendas, Salem is involved in several current programs to help mitigate the homeless crisis.  Those include additional security services for downtown.  Last year the Salem Housing Authority opened Redwood Crossings, 37 units of permanent supported housing.  Salem Housing Authority owns and manages the property, contracting with Arches to support residents.  Salem Health leases six of the housing units for transitional respite care for homeless individuals coming out of the hospital or with long-term illness.  Salem Housing is securing funding for Sequoia Crossings, which will add about 75 units of permanent supportive housing to Salem.  It will own and manage the property, contracting with Arches to support residents.  The Homeless Rental Assistance Program HRAP, was launched in July 2017.  The City through the Salem Housing Authority has committed $2.1 million dollars to support the homeless rental assistance program.  It links chronically homeless individuals to housing, food, furnishings and social services.  HRAP has housed more than 300 individuals since its inception.  This, the largest Housing First program in Oregon, has had an 83% success rate moving homeless residents into permanent housing. The Salem Housing Authority operates a community partners property tax exemption program to encourage the inclusion of affordable units in market rate developments.  This program provides a tax exemption and requires the housing authority be designated as general manager in a five-year renewable partnership.  It's an agreement to achieve the tax exemption.  Salem Housing Authority does not become a partial owner or an active manager of the property.  It's really interest from apartment developers and owners who make this happen, and any who are interested are welcome to let us know. The City has created a temporary homeless shelter operating today at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in partnership with the State Fair Council, Mid-Willamette Community Action Agency, Church at the Park and other local homeless advocates.  The temporary homeless shelter offers a place for folks to sleep and shower for at least [up to] 100 residents in a socially distanced 30,000 square foot area.  The City also provides financial and staff support for the Salem Warming Network, which houses homeless individuals during the coldest nights of our winter.  We've worked to design overnight parking policies, allowing for an innovative safe vehicle parking program, permitting homeless people to safely park and sleep in their vehicles in designated parking spaces in the Salem area.  We've increased staff support for departments working on the homeless crisis in Salem, such as hiring a navigator at the Salem Housing Authority to work directly with our unsheltered population on the streets and in parks, learning how we can best support their needs and get them back on their feet.  There now are added patrols with the Salem Police Department and code enforcement checking on health and welfare of homeless individuals in public spaces.  We're trying to make sure that these folks are at least checked on regularly.  We are awarding more than $400,000 each year in grants to local non-profits to provide emergency assistance and essential services to Salem residents and families in need.  We're beginning a new permanent supportive housing units [sic] in structured small communities.  You'll hear more about that I think over the next several weeks.  The City is also providing short-term financial assistance with City of Salem utility bills for households experiencing financial hardships.  We're offering tax incentives to developers who will build affordable housing in our area, and we're adapting building standards for single-family property owners to add additional units on their property, such as a basement apartment or converting a single-family home into a duplex.  We are also providing more than 3,000 Salem households with affordable rent through our Salem Housing Authority.  That's 3,000 people who could be potentially homeless in this community.  We're pouring time and resources into understanding our region's growing homeless population, identifying subgroups including youth, families and older adults who need our support.  We're very active in the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance, which is vice-chaired by our Council President Chris Hoy.  Ultimately, we're setting goals and adapting policies to meet a series of goals.  We need to reduce the need for sheltering in unsuitable locations that would include our City parks.  [Tents are not shelter.]  Reduce the average time a person is homeless --we're talking to people who've been on the streets for 10 to 15, 20 years.  Reduce the number of homeless individuals in our community -- just help more people get into housing.  Increase adult employment and the percentage of persons who become sheltered.

 

Thus, the robotically-delivered mini-speech ended.  There was no homeless death count for 2020.  No call for advocacy at the national level.  No mention of C19 or C19-related resources or their effect on the City's homeless policy decisions or spending.  No expression of understanding or regret for having led the opposition to a private, non-profit developer's quality low-income housing project.  "'I do not understand the Mayor'" (1 December 2020).  No wrap-up, no feeling, no inspiration, no perspective, no focus and no pause before starting into his next topic, the Police Department's "banner year."  Local coverage was blah blah blah. Whitworth, W.  "State of the City: Mayor Chuck Bennett talks homelessness, disasters and development."  (10 March 2021, Statesman Journal.)  Harrell, S. "Mayor points to city efforts to reduce homelessness in annual address."  (10 March 2021, Salem Reporter.) 

 

By all appearances, it would seem that Mayor Bennett, who continues to claim he has consistently pushed for long-term solutions to the City's homelessness, and is "A Mayor for All of Salem", is just going through the motions.  He continues to behave as though homelessness is neither his or the City's problem, and remains in 2021 just as stubbornly focused on how to get it off his plate and out of his view as he was in 2020.  

Bennett is a poor politician.  When Salem residents say "homelessness" is their No. 1 issue, they have in mind the people under bridges and overhangs, namely the chronically homeless.  This is the same homeless subpop that haunts Bennett's beloved downtown, and the would-be target of his sit-lie and camping bans.  This group also happens to be what the majority of the Oregon legislature has in mind when they are asked to increase funding for homeless assistance programs.  They all are wanting first and foremost to bring about a functional end to chronic homelessness.  What halfway capable politician could fail to grasp such an obvious opportunity to focus his call for "all hands on deck"?  Charles R. Bennett, obviously.  

     

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