Centralia Homelessness Workshop Addresses Concerns, Discusses Solutions

The City of Centralia held a homelessness workshop at city hall on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. which featured a presentation from Director of Lewis County Public Health and Social Services (LCPHSS) J.P. Anderson and County Manager Erik Martin in which he spoke about the county’s approach to reducing homelessness, what programs are being funded and which actions would be best to take and the council brought up the issues of the need for more housing and effects on businesses.

“Judging by the number of people that are here then they probably agree with us that this is a top issue not only in our community but throughout Lewis County and really throughout the state of Washington,” said Councilor Peter Abbarno. 

About 50 people filled the council chambers at Centralia City Hall on Tuesday night leaving standing room only.

“Homelessness is a result of many causes, I think we all recognize that — substance abuse, mental illness, traumatic experiences, loss of a job — all of these things are involved in the result of homelessness and that’s what makes it so difficult to find solutions,” Abbarno said.

The city council brought up the need for building more, not just affordable housing, but all types of housing which will, in turn, free up housing for people of all income levels since the city’s housing availability is currently at less than one percent. 

Councilor Kelly Smith Johnston asked how many people were identified as homeless in Lewis County during the last point-in-time count and if the number has been increasing or staying steady.

“Our numbers on that have been increasing, not dramatically. Last year were at about 135 and this year I believe we are at about 150 in the point-in-time count. … Commerce will often say take that number and multiply it by three and you’ll probably be getting a little closer so that’s 450,” Anderson said. “A lot of time it’s the people that are unseen that are the hardest to serve because it’s not something that a lot of people want to raise their hand and say they’re homeless.”

Smith Johnston also pointed out the concern that providing services to the homeless population will attract more people to come to use those services.

Mayor Susan Luond suggested that more people go out into the field instead of waiting for those in need to come to the organizations that offer the services.

“I really appreciated the emphasis tonight on caring for folks who are in crisis. I always want us to have that compassion when we are working in government and it’s been enriching to hear about what’s happening,” said Smith Johnston. “I also know that the folks that I talk to are struggling with their own hearts because many people are not in crisis, they are wanting to go through their lives and they are finding that they are impacted by it as well by being about to live work and play, earn a living, have a home that they like and use the public area.”

Anderson spoke about working together with businesses and creating a way for business owners and other citizens to call LCPHSS and connect the homeless people that they see with the available services.

“We do need to work with businesses to say ‘okay we’ve all got a seat at the table here and if it’s going to work we all have to pull the rope at the same time in the same direction,’” said Anderson in response. 

Anderson started his presentation off by defining some terminology around homelessness that is used by the state including chronically homeless: Person with a disability who has been homeless continually for 12 months; literally homeless: lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence; at risk: annual income below 30 percent of median income and does not have support networks to potential prevent becoming literally homeless; and diversion: strategies that utilize connections, formal and informal, to help a person stay housed or become housed.

“We are working on moving away from talking about the problem and on to starting to take some action on it,” said Abbarno.

The Lewis County Public Health and Social Services receives funding from a variety of sources for homelessness services, including $741,000 from the Washington State Department of Commerce, $520,000 comes from Lewis County, $151,000 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development often referred to as McKinney-Vento money. 

Anderson gave an overview of the county’s 5-year Housing Homeless Strategic Plan which includes quickly identifying and engaging people experiencing homelessness, prioritizing housing for those with the greatest need, operating an effective homeless crisis response system, projecting the impact of the fully implemented local plan, addressing racial disparities among people experiencing homelessness. 

The local programs that are being funded by the LCPHSS include the Housing Opportunity of Southwest Washington which administers tenant-based transitional housing, Housing Resource Center which provides case management services, Community Action Council that focuses on diversion services, the Salvation Army who work on diversion services and runs day shelters, Centralia School Districts to support homeless students and case management, the Hub City Mission to support the severe-weather shelter, Lewis County Gospel Mission for providing a day shelter and hygiene services, and Hope Alliance who provide domestic violence services.

“I wanted to say thank you to the Centralia City Council for having us here tonight. I think this is a really important issue and I think that the City of Centralia definitely has a lot of this issue within our city limits and so we’re happy to come here tonight to talk a bit about some of the plans… We want to hear from the council and we want to hear from the community,” Martin said. 

Abbarno added that the city will be holding more workshops on the topic of homelessness in the future to hear more from the public.