Homeless ideas aired at summit

McGlothlin has chaired an ad hoc committee that has worked on the matter since last fall, but he wants to further formalize that effort.

About 30 people attended the summit, including representatives from the criminal justice system, mental health treatment and medical and social services. (See related story)

Patrick Ashmore, new police chief for The Dalles, described a program he saw in Newberg, that was run by volunteers and served as a clearinghouse to direct the homeless to available services.

McGlothin said there are “pockets” of help for homeless in the faith community and for veterans, but the efforts weren’t coordinated. He liked the idea of a clearinghouse.

The option of training volunteers to work with the homeless was seen as a way to give them confidence to deal with them.

On another front, McGlothlin said the ad hoc committee has made progress on converting a former motel, Speedy’s, on West Second Street, into housing.

One woman was placed there, after living for a year and a half in a tent, and McGlothlin saw how having a home brought her back to life. “I saw her beginning to wear makeup again and combing her hair.”

The homeless summit broke into subgroups to discuss various aspects of the issue, including housing, mental illness and the judicial aspect of homelessness.

The group that discussed housing was by far the largest.

In that group, Jenny Curtis said an elderly friend in her knitting group lost her home when her landlord died. She got a housing voucher, but lost it when she couldn’t find a place.

“She sat in her room and cried and lost a lot of weight,” Curtis said.

“Personally, I felt she was going to kill herself,” she said.

So Curtis took her friend into her own rental house.

Curtis suggested creating a type of foster home system for certain homeless people.

Jessica Wheeler is working to build a tiny homes community in The Dalles called Spruce Village. While people can’t figure out why homelessness has spiked in recent years, she speculated it was the economic downturn, and the town’s location on an interstate freeway.

She said helping programs focus on women and children, but single males slip through the cracks.

She said with increasing automation and technology there is an “era of joblessness approaching.”

She said, “We don’t have the jobs we had 100 years ago … what we’re seeing is just the tip of the iceberg.”

The tiny homes project would build shed-sized, weather-tight, non-degrading dwellings with no plumbing or electricity. A community space would have a kitchen and showers. The tiny homes, which cost $3,500 to build, would rent for around $300.

She noted people with mental health issues have a hard time in communal spaces, and they prefer to be alone.

Another group that deserves housing, she said, are sex offenders. They often can’t get work so they can’t get housing. She suggested they could have their own tiny homes village.

Beverly Erickson said buildable land in The Dalles is a rarity, which adds to the challenge of building a tiny homes development.

Dave Cornell, who helps at the Warming Shelter, said a lot of homeless don’t want anyone to know how much money they have.

Others refuse to get jobs because their wages will get garnished because of child support or other debts.

While Cornell described people who didn’t want to work, but also had iPhones, Nan Wimmers contended that the people who “work the system” are the exception.

“We need to focus on the ones that want help,” Wimmers said.

Wheeler said self-sufficiency could also be achieved by accessing the agricultural bounty of the gorge.

Patrick Erickson said an aspect of addressing homelessness has to be re-employment. He saw a Mormon program in Idaho that offered classes to help people develop job interview skills.

He also noted how meth users can lose their teeth and therefore, their self-esteem. His family bought dentures for a person who lost their teeth, “and it was amazing how it changed that individual.”