Closed ‘emergency shelter’ residents find new situations, but ongoing ‘severe weather shelter’ doesn’t have any staffing lined up

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news

The city of Ashland’s emergency shelter which offered 24/7 shelter at 2200 Ashland St. is officially closed and all its final occupants were either housed or lodged in alternative shelter. But the city’s contract with Opportunities for Housing, Resources & Assistance has expired, leaving the city without an operator for its severe weather shelter, which offered a place to stay overnight during cold snaps and heat waves at the same location. 

Of the 73 people moving in and out of the emergency shelter during its six months of operation, 14 were housed and 26 were moved to the larger OHRA shelter at 2350 Ashland St., said Cass Sinclair, Executive Director of OHRA. Some guests moved into substance abuse treatment while 21 others chose to return to living unsheltered of their own volition. 

It was hard work but done well by staff to ensure all remaining guests had somewhere to move to when the shelter closed, she said. In the weeks before the emergency shelter closure, it stopped taking in new guests to ensure this process would be successful. OHRA will continue operating its laundry shower trailer at the 2200 Ashland St. site without charging the city of Ashland until April 16. 

Asked about severe weather shelter operations at 2200 Ashland St. previously operated by OHRA, Sinclair said there is no existing contract with the city of Ashland. 

Contracts to operate both shelters expired March 31. The city contacted OHRA 10 days before the end of the contract asking to extend for a month, Sinclair said. The temporary employees the nonprofit was relying on to operate the shelter understood that their employment contracts expired on March 31. Most had alternative employment lined up and some had already left by the end of the contract period. 

“We didn’t have the staffing,” Sinclair said. “We couldn’t do it.” 

Ashland Emergency Management Coordinator Kelly Burns confirmed an email was sent on March 21 to OHRA to extend the contract, in addition to prior phone conversations. Burns said he was informed of OHRA’s staffing limitations. 

Last April, the severe weather shelter opened six times when temperatures dropped into the city’s threshold for opening. Burns said he asked OHRA to ask its temporary workers if they could be available for the few nights when shelter may be needed and was told temporary employees had responded in the negative. 

Besides furnishing the staff and management, OHRA carried the liability insurance for the severe weather shelter, Sinclair said. Burns confirmed the city has liability insurance only for the building itself — similar to a homeowner’s policy — but does not have the ability to cover the volunteers who would now be needed to staff the shelter. The city is also not currently able to provide the necessary training for shelter operation and trauma-informed care for volunteers. Burns said he and city staff are working on an invitation for proposals for a third party provider to operate Ashland’s severe weather shelter. 

“With the closure of the 24/7 shelter, the building will now transition to serve as a severe weather shelter, aligning with its original intended purpose upon purchase,” according to a release sent by the city of Ashland on Monday. 

Burns will present a report on the severe weather shelter at the April 15 City Council study session and said he expects to receive direction from City Council on how to proceed with the  invitation for proposals and operation of the shelter. The severe weather shelter was open for 39 nights during the 2023-24 winter season, he said. Near the end of the season, the shelter began to bring in up to its maximum capacity of 28 people. 

At the close of the April 2 council business meeting, the City Council unanimously voted to create an ad hoc committee  to plan the future of 2200 Ashland St. The committee will seek to include individuals with perspectives from every side of the issue — including nearby residents and business owners, those with lived experience of homelessness and those who work to address housing and homelessness issues, Graham said at the meeting. 

The ad hoc committee “will soon convene,” and attempt to create a long-term plan for the building that, “aligns with the contractual obligations of the property and furthers the community’s goals regarding homeless services and affordable housing, while enhancing the experience of the surrounding neighborhood,” the release said. 

In a text Wednesday, Graham addressed rumors the city is being pressed by the state of Oregon to continue offering emergency shelter at 2200 Ashland St. due to stipulations in the grant funds used for its purchase. 

“We have known that the 30-bed emergency shelter side of the facility needed to close by March 31 since the beginning of the project because of building code issues. … We are in discussions with ACCESS and the state to understand timelines and to help figure out how to keep shelter bed capacity up through the end of the biennium,” Graham said. 

The city is looking to support shelter in the region because it is “the right thing to do,” but the city “is not required by the grant to maintain emergency shelter beds,” she said, adding that the contract’s long-term requirements are fulfilled by providing severe weather shelter for the site — particularly because Ashland’s temperature thresholds are lower than other regional partners, thereby providing a regional resource.  

More information on the city’s purchase of 2200 Ashland St. and its operation as shelter space is available on a city webpage.

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected].