HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Comment from Allison Arthur on 011325 Dear Board of County Commissioners
Here's what you probably know: Olympic Community Action Programs is one of 30
nonprofit CAP agencies in Washington state. Its mission is to is to help people achieve self-
sufficiency and serve as a safety net.
Here's what you may also know: Jefferson County is one of the oldest counties in the entire
nation. It is poorer than it first appears; a growing segment of the population has a
disability.
And here's what you need to know that relates to those facts: Rents are climbing faster than
funding OlyCAP has available to help. As Covid dollars have receded,the wave of people in
crisis continues to grow. More older woman and single mothers are at risk of homelessness
than they were six years ago.
How do I know that?
Because since May of 2018 I have served in a variety of capacities in the housing division at
OlyCAP, first as manager of the Consolidated Homelessness Grant that you now are
discussing, as well as the Housing and Essential Needs program,which is under that grant.
Let's take that HEN grant as an example:That grant has roughly the same amount of money
today as it did six years ago to help people who are living on $450 a month and experiencing
homelessness get into housing or prevent them from homelessness. People who are
homeless are prioritized.
In 2018, the average rent for a HEN client was$600 a month.Today, the average rent
landlords want for a single room occupancy in Jefferson County is$1,000. Realistically
fewer people today can be helped than in 2018.
I also served as program manager of the ESG (Emergency Solutions Grant) during Covid.
And I worked on an alphabet soup list grants that rained on OlyCAP during the pandemic-
TRAP, ERAP, and TBRA.
All of those grants above are gone. That's right, gone.They don't exist because Covid is over.
Just because the money is gone doesn't mean the need ended. It's still significant.Why?
Because not everyone has gone back to work. Not everyone can afford the higher rents that
landlords are now demanding.
Daily I see people coming into OlyCAP who are sicker than in 2018.
Covid impacted their access to healthcare. Covid impacted their ability to get on Social
Security disability.
Everything went Zoom during Covid.
But those people who are suffering from disabilities who are making do on $450 a month in
general assistance (and eligible for HEN) still often don't have access to phones or
computers to qualify for services.
Here's a few samples of the people I'm talking about:
• A caregiver who suffered an emergency health issue and was flown to Seattle and woke
up with unable to breathe on her own. She's homeless and had been living in her car.
• A program manager who ended up in the ER after a child threw a bottle that at her. Her
eyesight and hearing have been impacted. She will never have the job she had before.
. A carpenter who suffered a stroke and doesn't remember how to do what he used to do.
He needs help filling out paperwork.
The reality is that during Covid, OlyCAP was handed a lot of grants and a lot of money.
And there were plenty of people to do the low-barrier ERAP grant that that required only
four basic pages of information for people to qualify for help.
Today, the grants that are left, including CHG, have far more paperwork and each person
served takes longer to qualify.
And there are fewer staff to serve that need.
It is estimated that 22 people in housing have left OlyCAP in the past two years as the
funding ended and staff found jobs elsewhere, including at the state Department of
Commerce. Best those of us remaining can tell, all of them literally are making far more
money than they did at OlyCAP and most report their stress levels are non existent.
But it's the people in need that we need to talk about.
When I first started there were at the most a dozen people a year who qualified for the
limited CHG prevention dollars available back then. Most of the CHG funding was for rapid
rehousing—people moving from shelters or living in their cars and vans into housing.Today,
staff field requests for that many people in one week seeking help staying housed,
The OlyCAP of 2025 is not the OlyCAP of 2018.
The changes I've seen in the last six months reflect a realization that OlyCAP needs to
change how it operates internally. It needs belt-tightening,just as our clients have had to
do.
There is appreciation for the staff who were left to pick up the pieces after so many people
quit.
There's an understanding that accountability and transparency need to be up front and
center to build trust with staff as well as with the community.
Our housing director, Viola Ware, has implemented protocols for file review to ensure
compliance with grants. She's instilled group norms aimed at building professionalism and
camaraderie. She's provided more training, including joint training with partner
organizations.And she's focused on caring for the exhausted and often traumatized staff
who are truly in the trenches of OlyCAP's mission to be part of the solution to the War on
Poverty.
Here's a fact you may also remember: On July 31, 2017, the BOCC issued Resolution 35.17
finding that"an emergency exists with respect to the availability of housing that is
affordable to low-income households."
That emergency has gotten more serious since the pandemic and the funding that went
with it ended.
Thank you for your time.
Allison Arthur