First in a series of columns by Ashland City Council members
By Tonya Graham
As I make my way across Ashland and Southern Oregon, I am struck by what has become a constant — people sleeping on sidewalks, in tents along the highway, and in old RVs on residential streets. As I travel across the country, I see the same thing. The crisis of homelessness is featured as the headliner sessions at local government conferences. They are always standing room only. The issue dominates conversations I have with fellow mayors and is currently dominating the Oregon Legislature’s short session.
While we have had some level of homelessness in this country for many decades, it wasn’t always like this.
The Perfect Storm
Much has happened over the years to create the perfect storm of homelessness that is now landing on the doorstep of local governments like ours. As I have learned more about this crisis, I have come to understand that homelessness is a housing problem. It’s an understanding that wasn’t intuitive because I grew up understanding that homeless people were simply too lazy to get a job and make their way. But I cannot ignore the facts, especially when people’s lives are riding on them. And the facts tell a different story.
It’s true that our mental health and addiction care is abysmal across the nation, and that Oregonians have a higher prevalence of mental illness and lower access to care than people in most other states. Mental Health America ranks Oregon 49th among 50 states (plus Washington, D.C.) for 2022. Clearly it is its own crisis and must be addressed.
But mental illness and addiction isn’t what is driving this crisis. It’s lack of housing. In Oregon, we are 140,000 housing units short of what is needed. In other places with equal or higher levels of mental illness, but more housing, homelessness isn’t the problem it is here.
Oregon ranks behind California as having the second highest percentage of homeless people in the nation and, when it comes to homeless families, it’s Oregon for the win. We are also seeing a significant increase in homeless elders who were managing to get by on a fixed income until their rent increased and they were forced onto the street.
A structural issue
While there are layabouts in all segments of society, it is not true that most people experiencing homelessness are unwilling to work to better their life. Instead, we are faced with a structural issue, brought on by forces in our housing market, that make it nearly impossible for someone who has fallen into homelessness to claw their way out on their own. (For a good overview of these structural issues, check out this presentation by Bryan Guiney from the Department of Housing and Urban Development: youtube.com/watch?v=X6sLv9t3DBc&t=11s).
The city of Ashland is making its way through these challenges by working to address the short-term shelter, long-term housing, and livability needs of our community. Over the past two years, the city has:
- Used federal funding to support the development of OHRA’s shelter in the old Super 8 motel
- Updated our thresholds for the severe weather shelter based on public health guidelines, including sheltering options for extreme heat and smoke
- Developed the first Housing Production Strategy in Oregon, which creates a roadmap for the city to protect existing low-income housing and develop partnerships to create more
- Funded the management of the severe weather shelter, which used to rely entirely on volunteers
- Streamlined our process to allow properties to be annexed into the city with a requirement for affordable housing in the development
- Partnered with the governor’s office to purchase the property at 2200 Ashland St. for an emergency shelter and partnered with OHRA to run the facility
- Created the night lawn sleeping space at the Civic Center behind the police station as a last resort sleeping space
- Updated our Camping Ordinance
None of these efforts are perfect, but strategies developed in a crisis rarely are. But we are clear about one thing — engaging in magical thinking doesn’t help. Ignoring this problem will not make it go away. Instead, it will make it worse — for young families, elders, teens, and people with mental illness who find themselves surviving on the streets, as well as for the quality of life in Ashland.
Moving forward
Along with partner cities across Oregon, we must continue our local efforts and consider further steps where needed. We are already making good progress in 2024. We have already started implementing our Housing Production Strategy and tasked our Housing and Human Services Advisory Committee with developing a Homeless Services Master Plan that integrates with regional efforts, so the City Council knows where to invest our limited resources. We expect that to be completed by June.
We have developed an online permitting process to make it easier to build in Ashland and are working to move the large housing and commercial/industrial development forward at the Croman Mill site. Staff is working to develop preset plans to allow faster and more cost-effective building of accessory dwellings. The city is investigating the best way to use several surplus properties and develop partnerships that will result in more affordable and workforce housing.
An Ad Hoc Committee will soon be created to develop a long-term site and program plan for the 2200 Ashland St. property. It will include shelter neighbors so that we make the very best use of that property for the neighborhood as well as the larger community. There is more in the hopper in terms of housing production that I hope we will be announcing soon.
When we do this work well, it will have ripple benefits. Not only will it ensure that people who need housing, including children, have it, but it will help our schools with enrollment, and ensure that our businesses have the employees they need. But it will not happen overnight. So, we must continue to work hard and together as we partner with cities across the Rogue Valley and Oregon to address this escalating crisis.
Email Ashland Mayor Tonya Graham at [email protected]. Email letters to the editor and viewpoint submissions to [email protected].
