Lewis County Housing Program Coordinator Meja Handlen, left, and Public Health and Social Services deputy director JP Anderson discuss the county's upcoming 5-year plan to combat homelessness.
As Lewis County finalizes its plan to address homeless and housing issues over the next five years, it’s asking for input from the community — both to help craft the county’s strategy and to be part of its efforts going forward.
“In order for us to address housing successfully, we are going to need a coordinated effort from the business community, municipalities, county government, service providers and the faith-based community,” said Public Health and Social Services deputy director JP Anderson.
Public Health has spent months working on its plan for the next half-decade, both to meet a state mandate and to set common goals for all the stakeholders involved in addressing the issue. The agency gets funding for housing-related work from local document recording fees, as well as state and federal grants. For the most part, the department acts as a conduit for that money, distributing to contract service providers who have demonstrated they can meet the needs outlined by the county.
“We don’t provide direct services here,” Anderson said. “Our job is to figure out where the resources have the most impact and do the most good, and get (funding) there to do the most good.”
Leaders at Lewis County Public Health say their vision to address homelessness goes beyond just the funds they’re charged to distribute. They want to establish a community-wide strategy to promote things like affordable housing — needs beyond what the agency can financially support. Convening local leaders will also make help make it simpler to coordinate the complex labyrinth of state and federal agencies, healthcare providers, mission and charity groups that homeless people can sometimes struggle to navigate.
“We want people’s input,” said Meja Handlen, the county’s Housing Program Coordinator. “We can’t just be sitting in our office saying, ‘Hey, this sounds great.’”
The agency is convening a comment session May 17 to hear from the community about its plan, which it has posted online. It’s scheduled to run from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office training room. Anderson said the county is hoping to hear from a variety of stakeholders, and it wants to get a wide range of opinion and civil debate.
The first step, of course, is understanding the scope of the issue. The county estimates it has 132 homeless households, though that number doesn’t come close to capturing those who have inadequate housing, are vulnerable to eviction or haven’t shown up in the county’s homeless counts.
Despite what many believe, the vast majority of homeless in Lewis County are not transients who have arrived here from elsewhere.
“Overwhelmingly, the homeless people we see in our community are from this community,” Anderson said. “It is a universal sentiment that the homeless people we see in this community are being bused here. That is a very common claim. .... Overwhelmingly, the population we see needing services is from Lewis County.”
Another common misconception, that many homeless people choose that lifestyle or prefer it, also does not hold up to what those on the front lines of the issue are reporting, officials said.
One root cause of the problem is that the county has a vacancy rate of less than 1 percent in its rental units, a sign of a shortage of affordable housing. Meanwhile, other issues — such as addiction, mental health and trauma — can exacerbate the hurdles of those already struggling to find safe, affordable housing.
With that in mind, the county’s first goal is to bolster funding and awareness of the coordinated entry process. That system is currently led by the Housing Resource Center nonprofit, with county funding. It exists to provide a single point where those with housing issues — from homeless people who need food or shelter to those struggling to make rent — can come and be directed to the agency, provider or charity that best meets their needs.
“Coordinated entry is meant to be the no-wrong-door, the single conduit,” Handlen said. “It’s really the quarterback. You have that person with you. You assess them, their situation, and then you warmly hand them off to the agency they need, so they can be housed if they’re not housed.”
The county is also seeking to better engage with the homeless population, identifying services that locate homeless people, reach out to them and update partners. Handlen noted a recent example, where the state cleared an encampment under a bridge, and outreach allowed many of the homeless people affected to be directed to resources at the Union Gospel Mission.
Another objective is to prioritize those with the highest risk and need. Getting help for other issues, Handlen said, is much easier for those in safe housing situations.
“If you had more housing options, people who are experiencing substance use disorder or mental health would have a place to go to become more stable,” she said. “If someone’s in a crisis and doesn’t pay rent, they become homeless very quickly and getting back into being housed is very difficult to do.”
Perhaps the most tangible goal outlined by the county is increasing its shelter capacity, including the creation of a request for proposal for the funding of new facilities.
“We need to have adequate emergency shelter capacity,” Anderson said. “We need to have a conversation with the community to define what that is. … Communities are not wanting to have homeless camps. We need to figure out a way to provide adequate services for people. Saying people shouldn’t camp there isn’t a plan to solve it.”
The biggest challenge may be the county’s final goal, increasing the availability of affordable housing. The county does not have the budget to construct housing units, and Anderson said the role of the agency is to educate the community about the need, as well as available grants and tax incentives to promote solutions.
“We bring the data, we convene the conversation, we show what the options are, and let the community weigh in and decide,” he said.
With so many factors contributing to the issue, and a complicated web of groups that have various responsibilities, it’s important for everyone to see homelessness as a problem they have a stake in, Handlen said. It’s easy to have a NIMBY (not in my backyard) approach, viewing homelessness through the lens of how it discomforts local businesses or community image. But it’s crucial for everyone at the table to address the root of the problem, rather than trying to remove the symptoms that affect them.
“Not in my backyard happens when people don’t see other people as people,” she said. “When you see them as an other, that’s the biggest issue.”
Still, Anderson noted, he’s found Lewis County to be a place full of compassion.
“Something I think this community has in abundance is a real desire to help,” he said. “The identity of Lewis County, its sense of place and self, is its desire to care for its neighbors.”
