Al Soderquist talks about keeping kids on the right track Tuesday afternoon at the Centralia Train Station.
More than 700 students in Lewis County lack adequate housing, living in overcrowded conditions, hotels, campgrounds, shelters or the streets.
One possible solution, according to a nonprofit group and county officials working on the issue, is host homes. These are friends, neighbors and strangers who offer to provide a stable living situation for students who lack adequate housing.
“There are a bunch of kids out there that are couch-surfing, living with grandparents, a different living environment,” said Al Soderquist, recording secretary with RISE Lewis County. “Some are homeless, some are living in a car. There’s a wide range that are out there living in the world. It’s probably better to have an organized situation.”
RISE Lewis County spun off as an organization from charity operations at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Chehalis. It formed four years ago, but has become more active in its poverty-focused efforts since receiving more donor funding in 2018.
On May 21, the nonprofit will be hosting a community discussion on creating a host home program for homeless youth. The meeting will take place at the church at 7 p.m. According to the group, its focus is on serving youth ages 13 to 23.
Meja Handlen, Lewis County housing program coordinator, will also be attending the event, providing details on the scope of the problem in this area. With Handlen out of the office this week, Public Health and Social Services Director JP Anderson spoke about the issue.
“Oftentimes, youth homelessness is fairly invisible, because they’re living in an age where they want to blend in with their peers,” he said. “There’s a lot of kids that don’t have stable homes, that teachers, faculty and other friends and students might not know they’re in that situation.”
The host home model is not a new invention.
“We hear that a lot of this is already happening,” Anderson said. “This is what goes on in every little community in Lewis County to try to meet the need of kids who don’t have a stable place to live.”
While many residents have stepped up to help kids they know, RISE Lewis County and Public Health want to talk about building a more formalized system with a coordinator. That will help ensure kids don’t fall through the cracks, and potential volunteers who don’t know a student in need may be able to be matched up with someone who could use support.
“We’re helping to find people who would be interested in organizing the program and people who would be interested in being host families,” Soderquist said. “It’s informational, but we’re also asking for input.”
Anderson said students eligible to move to host homes are not those with dangerous behaviors, high needs or substance use issues.
“It’s for kids who for whatever reason don’t have the support to succeed academically,” he said. “It’s similar to an exchange student that might come to a home for a school year.”
Host home situations are far less stringent than foster care, though adults who participate do need to pass a background check. While they don’t become the student’s legal guardian, they do have some responsibility to help them navigate situations that may require an adult.
Part of the conversation will be trying to determine if an organization is willing to take on a coordination role in creating the program. Neither RISE Lewis County nor the county itself are committed to taking that role. The nonprofit says its focus is on being the “instigators” who start the conversation, while the county is also unsure if it can facilitate the program — though it’s possible it will have grant funding available for an organization that can take the role.
“We’re trying to gauge the interest in the community that wants to address homelessness and want to do that on a volunteerism-type level,” Anderson said. “We’re still trying to build momentum on that. … It’s a totally exciting program.”
It has not yet been fleshed out how much commitment volunteers would take on — another likely topic at the meeting — but it’s possible both long- and short-term hosting opportunities will be part of the program.
Anderson said a host home program could fill a need in the county, as it lacks a shelter for unaccompanied minors. Similar programs have been successful in Mason and Grays Harbor Counties, he said.
“It’s gained some momentum in Western Washington the last few years,” Anderson said.
