Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025 2-14 Needs Assessment - PGMData and Needs Assessment - HFB February 14, 2025 BIPOC/PGM and Immigrants Convened by: Data and Needs Assessment Committee, Joint City of Port Townsend/Jefferson County Housing Fund Board Present: Viki Sonntag – co-facilitator, Housing Fund Board Julia Cochrane - scribe, Housing Fund Board Michael Johnson, lived expert Cameron Jones – City of PT’s Equity, Access, and Rights Advisory Board Peggy Webster - Olycap James Holthaus - Bayside Tonia Burkett – co-facilitator, USAWA Consulting, Engage JC Natalia Duran - JCIRA Hannah Scoggins, lived expert Jo Blair - Native Connections Action Group Mary Childs - Dove House intern Cheryl Weinstein - Dove House Needs Assessment Purpose: To design effective programs and policies to address homelessness, we need to understand who is experiencing it, how they became homeless, what their experiences are, and what is preventing them from exiting homelessness. Summary Takeaways PGM/BIPOC experiences of racism in housing are pronounced and prevalent. Experiences are often ignored, dismissed and/or minimized by housing service providers. There is a substantial trade-off between getting help and the mental and emotional cost of this help. Designing services for the majority’s needs alone can perpetuate current inequities and exclusion. Specific attention must be given to grounding equity, transparency and accountability in the Homeless Response System in organizational practices. Training and practice is necessary to informed service delivery. By and For advocacy is one of the most successful means of supporting PGM navigate the housing service systems. By and For advocates need to be adequately compensated. Existing Conditions Lived Experience As military family had multiple experiences of unsafe and inadequate housing. Once bedding caught on fire because of faulty heater. In PT, rented a double-wide that was moldy. Landlord kept coming in without notice and while they were out. Single PGM mom with 2 kids and a dog faces significant barriers finding housing. Too much demand for too few units. Moved into an off-grid yurt w/o running water, heat, no wood stove, no flushing toilet. Auto-immune condition Moved into car because no [need to meet] qualifications Have been told that there are too many of you (3 people) Moved to OlyCAP’s tiny houses (7x11 feet) near the mill (CB) OlyCAP did not [impose conditions] but living situation was not dignified Allowed her to get back on her feet, [for which she is] very appreciative As BiPOC immigrant mother faces certain dynamics and challenges making it hard to access support [without mental and emotional burden] Applications focus on income No allowance for disadvantages for POC, including generational challenges Came to PT in 2017 from N Carolina Came having a place to live with friend who was a new mom; lived there for 2 ½ years Cost of housing is maybe 75% of their service sector income Found studio above a garage, not legally zoned for housing. Barriers around [being a] disabled blind person Walking up the stairs not ideal. Don’t have a real kitchen while need to prepare healthy meals Walking [in neighborhood ] does not feel safe from lack of safe pedestrian routes Accessibility issues. Uses Dial a Ride. As anti-racist activist, careful about not appearing hostile [since] people are fragile. After 5 years is able to have honest conversations Blessed by community and network here [that provides] resources A lot of anxiety about housing: constant worry about rent being raised or that landlords will die and children will evict them. Seeking for more secure housing, applied for Habitat twice. Qualified if work 10 hours a week but employer wouldn’t guarantee Owns business but [income] is not secure. Needs to keep balance with what is important. Health insurance, Apple Health, is priority. Intentionally kept income low to qualify but then not enough income to qualify for Habitat house. Habitat suggestions to apply for disability not welcome. No consideration of marginalization and legacy of trauma or the lack of access to resources Told by social services that because they have masters degree, “You should be able to take care of yourself”. [Social service assessments contain] forms of micro aggression. Lived here since 2017. Been in military, white, single, good credit score. When he moved here, he had 12 to 13 calls in 2 days from landlords through realtor. Owners treat him well; no rent increases. Moved out here in 2009. From military family and was in the military Light skinned; has privilege; activist Lives in a tiny house on his parents’ property Brother more precarious situation [with] darker skin From S. Carolina, dark skinned. Multiple experiences of being sanctioned in shelter system No recourse for appealing for fair treatment No spaces for asking for justice Structural Conditions The data for Jefferson County shows that there are still racial dynamics in housing inequality. Households with BIPOC people are more cost burdened. Homeownership rates are higher for White and Asian households. Service data show that indigenous black and Hispanic people are disproportionately homeless. For Indigenous people the disproportionality is very large at three times as many homeless as is their percentage in the population. PGM are also disproportionately renters. Biggest story is that low income renters are the people who are being displaced. Two tiered housing system is structurally racist. Homeownership support is 6 times greater than rental support nationally. While homeownership subsidies are considered “natural”, rental assistance is considered a hand out. Affordable housing (AH) costs the same amount of money to build as market rate. Need to have fed and/or state subsidies to build. AH is an industry, so end up paying more. Rentals conversion to home ownership is [a major cause of lack of housing]. Hamilton House HOA in 2020 had 23 rentals, now have 13. (700 rentals have disappeared in the last 13 years.) Existing Housing Service Landscape Dove House faces challenges in securing resources and government regulations that affect placing undocumented. Training for informed service delivery How different people’s experiences can affect outcomes Understanding how everything interrelates and bring [this understanding] to table. Responsibility of service providers to be transparent with our own issues. Sees the situation [for unhoused populations] getting worse. Bayside going through a lot of frustration. Realizing the tiny homes are good but a lot of factors are not great. Needs laws that keep rents from going up Landlords’ response is “Because I can charge that.” Need to help people in community understand challenges. People believe we have all this funding. Housing vouchers require SS #. Because of the funding for different properties, there are categories that clients have to fit in [to receive certain services]. Coordinated Entry prioritizes the most vulnerable people. The question is how to reach out to get people on the list. Vulnerability includes race, gender lgbtq+, etc. Questions are intrusive. The gatekeepers decide who gets access Need Transparency Having BIPOC people in the room, on the boards. Need follow through and accountability Legal representation for vulnerable people needs to happen as an absolute must. In rental units, clients will be evicted for harassment. Existing By and For Community Organizations [By and For Organizations are operated by and for the communities they serve] Experience in deciding how to donate to support housing with team of people Surveyed landscape of existing housing providers, including meeting with different representatives Data on who needed services to secure housing stability helped with decision Immigrants are from everywhere and every race but Latin POC have a hard time melding into the community PGM have a hard time finding resources Learned that organizational leaders, whether they care, [can create change] WA laws are pro-immigrant providing protection for immigrants from housing discrimination but immigrants aren’t in a position to demand the laws are followed. Fight for rights [is not always possible. [Can feel] ashamed to be asked for documents Experience in assisting single mom with 4 kids and a cat find housing Landlords won’t accept the cat which was very important to them JCIRA advocate started calling places, tried the new apartments near Goodwill. Client’s barriers included difficulty in talking to landlord, lack of paperwork. When she said the client did not have a SSI #. Landlord said it’s against the law to discriminate because of this Also client was unable to provide proof of income. The landlord was determined to make it work Paying $2000 rent, JCIRA helping with upfront costs. People have the power to educate themselves, to break the barriers. Organizations have money from gov. grants and donations that they can decide to use creatively to help people find housing People are not begging for something they don’t deserve People trust us: give us their keys as housekeepers, we take care of the elderly, we are part of the community Get out of the box! Give immigrants the opportunity to make it here. Housing is a basic need and its one of the hardest to find. Let’s check within our organizations what we are doing to help these people. [In Jefferson County], there is reinforcement of the bubble. There is a superficial engagement in DEI but does not really affect the organizations practices. Lived experience is talked about, but not acted on BIPOC not reflected in decision making [Experience of] “Can’t do anything about it”. [As a result] BIPOC pushed out. Gaps and Barriers Need for increased equity, transparency and accountability. Need for POC gate keepers (gatekeepers decide who gets access) Assessing risk and vulnerability can feel icky and intrusive. Can be really painful. Can feel scrutinized and judged to have white women asking about quality of life [Prefer to] fill out their own applications. Historical trauma gets reactivated. Need leadership to address accountability. Follow through on complaints is needed. School district has a formal complaint process: there is an investigation, action, meeting, follow up. Takes a lot of energy and tenacity. Parents don’t have the energy beyond dealing with their kids. Closing the Rehousing Gap: Currently, there is no service for identifying and matching AH properties and people except through individual case management networking. This includes community-based rentals. PT feels safer than county Need for increased advocacy service. JCIRA offers advocacy for people accessing services. Since election, JCIRA has accompanied people to make reports on what happened [in experiences of discrimination] and provide legal representation, ensure right questions are being asked. Whether [services providers] are asking questions regarding legal status. If clients don’t speak English, there are even more barriers. People who speak English and can communicate have a very different experience than those who are not English as a First Language immigrants. People fear repercussions. Racism inside is showing because now it's okay. The racists are empowered. People suddenly don't want to pay for work that has been done. Seen 2 clients with that story. BIPOC, Immigrant advocate on call for these different interviews etc. Offered at the start of the problem. Did police report and got a restraining order with Dove House’s help. Advocates need to receive adequate compensation. Challenge of dealing with racism in service population How to make it less traumatic - gatekeepers of color - staff training [Need to establish universal core competencies in culturally responsive, anti-racist, and trauma-informed practices for providers, administrators, and leaders across sectors, and regularly provide the training needed to put those competencies into practice.] Process Evaluation The representation of service providers limited the shares from participants who have experienced housing insecurity. In essence, they took up more space than needed, preventing more shares from PGM participants. In response, we have restructured our conversations to let people with lived experience speak first to allow them whatever time they wish to share their stories. Secondly, in a post-meeting evaluation, we agreed that the invitation to share lived experience was misunderstood and that service providers, especially white service providers, need to focus on centering lived experience participants and listening. We will continue to assess our listening practices. The Data and Needs Assessment Committee will continue to advocate for compensation for lived experience participation. Engage JC compensates people with lived experience for attending Engage JC events and provided the compensation for this session.