County asks state for help with housing
Jul. 15—The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners has sent a letter to Gov. Kate Brown asking for assistance on housing and homelessness issues as the state prepares for the 2023 legislative session.
The letter was also addressed to Andrea Bell, the executive director of the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department, and members of the state Department of Land Conservation and Development's housing needs work group and housing capacity work group.
Ryan Deibert, the governor's health and housing policy adviser, told the county in an email that the governor's team is "working closely with Director Bell and her staff at Oregon Housing and Community Services to provide a detailed response in the coming weeks."
The letter asks for state-level support in the county's efforts to address the growing problem.
"We encourage you to address our concerns in your final 2023 legislative concepts and policy option packages," the letter, signed by Mark Kujala, the chairman of the commission, says.
Citing a point-in-time count from 2019, the letter notes that Clatsop County has the highest rate of homelessness of all Oregon counties. The figure — 22.7 homeless individuals per 1,000 residents — is almost certainly an undercount because it predates the COVID-19 pandemic that destabilized many people's housing situation, the letter points out.
In addition, applicants for housing choice vouchers from the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority face a roughly three-year waiting list. The letter also cites the county's 2019 housing study that predicts a need in the coming years for over 1,500 new housing units to meet demand.
The county proposes that the state offer technical assistance to rural communities.
This could include helping counties and cities plan new housing-related development, enforce codes on properties with a history of violations, provide services to homeless veterans and assess whether strategies for addressing housing and homelessness are feasible, the letter says.
The county also suggests "community engagement assistance to address misinformation and public concerns about their proximity to affordable housing developments/programs."
Astoria's recent experience with a proposed workforce housing project with a built-in behavioral health component for Heritage Square, for example, became mired in such concerns, as well as a focal point of misinformation, before city leaders withdrew support for financial reasons.
The county would like to see the state help build capacity for local agencies — such as emergency shelters and resource navigation centers — that confront the housing issue. The letter argues for more staffing for Clatsop Community Action's homeless liaison program, which sends advocates into the homeless community to try to connect them to services.
The letter asks for support in the development of 15 parcels the county recently offered up to cities and nonprofits for housing, child care and social services.
The county also requests funds to help dispose of abandoned recreational vehicles and clean up waste at deserted homeless camps, as well as for wetland mitigation so that undeveloped land can be used for housing-related projects, the letter says.
