HomeMy WebLinkAbout092320vikisTFFrom:Carolyn Gallaway
To:Julie Shannon
Subject:FW: Public Comment for Task FOrce Meeting 9/23/20
Date:Thursday, September 24, 2020 4:25:36 PM
From: lizanne coker <shelter4JC@outlook.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 3:33 PM
To: Carolyn Gallaway <carolyn@co.jefferson.wa.us>
Subject: FW: Public Comment for Task FOrce Meeting 9/23/20
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From: vikis <vikis@ecopraxis.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 7:43 AM
To: Shelter4JC <shelter4jc@outlook.com>
Subject: Public Comment for Task FOrce Meeting 9/23/20
To: The Joint Task Force on Affordable Housing and Homelessness
Dear Task Force Members,
The failure of the negotiation to temporarily lease the fairgrounds for a
supported encampment indicates the need to better define who is
responsible for securing transitory housing for the unsheltered homeless
and what their responsibilities are.
If efforts by community partners to identify and propose transitory housing
locations are continuously undermined and blocked in favor of competing
interests by individual task force members as was the case for the
proposed fairground encampment, then the Task Force does not appear to
have the leadership, capability or authority to carry out its intended
functions.
Specifically, the Homeless Crisis Response and 5 Year Housing Plan calls
for exploring transitory housing accommodation and establishing
guidelines to support transitory housing operations by the task force and
community partners by December 2020 (P. 32, Homeless Crisis Response
and 5 Year Housing Plan). What progress the task force has been made
towards completing this action may have been seriously compromised with
the publication of the Leader article (“Neighbors angry at homeless shelter
at fairgrounds”, 9/16/20). In particular, the partnership between
engaged community members and the Task Force is in question.
It would be hoped that the task force will now outline a plan (or at least
next steps) towards securing (not just identifying) locations for transitory
housing to meet the urgency of the situation under COVID. This must
include establishing clear Task Force guidelines for supporting transitory
housing operations so supported transitory housing proposals will not
again be misrepresented as they were in the Leader article.
respectfully, Viki Sonntag,
community housing activist