Sean C. Morgan
Members of the community’s homelessness committee kicked around ideas Thursday afternoon, Jan. 17, on how to go about assisting the local homeless population.
They discussed where to host the Linn County Adult Service Team’s quarterly meetings in Sweet Home as well as ideas for long-term facilities for a new organization dedicated to assisting individuals with mental health- or substance abuse-related issues.
Police Chief Jeff Lynn, who pulled together the informal committee at the end of the year, recapped recent activity.
Members of the committee visited an Adult Services Team last month to observe how that group interacts with homeless individuals. AST works with individuals to create an action plan to help the homeless and those at risk of homelessness to get housing, insurance, help with mental health and more.
Its members, who are able to interact and coordinate with each other, offer different resources that can be used based on an individual’s particular needs. Members include public agencies and private organizations.
The AST has been working with individuals in Lebanon and Albany. Lynn said members of the group were enthusiastic about the opportunity to come and work with the homeless in Sweet Home. AST members will meet in Sweet Home the third Wednesday of every third month beginning in March.
“It’s a stepping stone in the right direction, and it does get new resources to east Linn County,” Lynn said.
While it isn’t set yet, Lynn said that the United Methodist Church and its pastor were supportive of possibly hosting AST meetings. Local churches operate the Manna program, a free meal that attracts some local homeless, at the United Methodist Church.
Lynn said it would be up to the committee and others around Sweet Home to reach out to the homeless to put them in touch with the AST.
Jeff Blackford, executive director of CHANCE (Communities Helping Addicts Negotiate Change Effectively), said his organization could help do that. CHANCE is one of the organizations at the table during AST meetings.
CHANCE recently began operating in Sweet Home, Blackford said, although it doesn’t yet have a long-term location for its office. It currently has offices in Corvallis, Albany and Lebanon
Individuals apply for AST services, Blackford said. Those applications go to Linn County Mental Health and then to the coordinator of the AST program. The coordinator sets a date for the meeting. Some 10 to 20 different organizations attend the meetings.
CHANCE will come out two to four times a month to do outreach, Blackford said. He would like find one or two people embedded with the local homeless community and walk with them to the camps. While he has to check with his staff on resources, he could get it going as early as February, he said.
In the meantime, CHANCE itself is looking for a home.
“Our endgame goal, we’ve been looking out here for a location for awhile,” Blackford said. Ideally, CHANCE would move into an old house or church and start offering services a couple of days each week. “We don’t need anything fancy.”
Members of the committee are attempting to collect and list all of the agencies and organizations with services and resources to help the homeless.
“My officers run across people all the time that need assistance,” Lynn said. The Police Department has volunteers updating a list of resources. They’re calling and finding out whether they serve east Linn County, what services they have available and when is the best time to contact them.
That project is going well, but it’s slow, Lynn said. When it’s done, he wants to push the results out to the officers, the city’s website and social media to provide access to the community.
Other members of the committee also have lists and suggested cross-referencing and combining the information.
Dick Knowles, who serves on health committees in Linn County, said it would be helpful to get all of the agencies and organizations together in a common place and moving in the same direction, so they can address whatever individual needs different people have, such as someone who needs a foot injury treated or a place to live.
“I had no idea they (CHANCE) existed,” said Kristi Walker, who works with Sweet Home’s homeless students.
Now that she has opened a clothing closet in the School District, she has families coming in for help. She has developed her own list to help make sure everyone involved knows what resources might be available.
The committee discussed a need for transitional housing in Sweet Home.
Sweet Home’s only current shelter, the Hope Center, houses women and their children except for boys over the age of 10, Walker said. She does refer children to shelters in Albany and Corvallis.
Following the closure of Avamere Twin Oaks, that facility is for sale for $1 million. Lynn said there has been some chatter about what purpose the 16-room, 48-bed facility could serve in the community.
“I think it’s a fantastic location,” Lynn said, suggesting it could serve as transitional housing or a treatment center.
In other areas, George Medellin, who is working with a pastoral group called One Sweet Home, said volunteers are moving forward with planning for a warming shelter for use when the temperature falls below freezing.
The winter is over soon, in March, he said, but he is hoping that facility will be functional by fall.
Attendees at the meeting were Lynn, Blackford, Walker, Knowles, Medellin, Kevin Greene, Rose Peda, Gina Riley, Bob Dalton, Henry Wolthuis, Lisa Gourley and Mike McCoy.