Document text
Group pursues four-point plan to ease housing crunch Monday Jan 16, 2017 at 6:29 PM Jan 16, 2017 at 6:29 PM By Julie Akins For the Tidings A group of about 50 community leaders who work in the field of housing and emergency shelter turned out Wednesday at Temple Emek Shalom in Ashland to discuss possible solutions to a lack of affordable housing in Ashland. One key topic of conversation was the city of Ashland Housing Trust Fund, which was, according to the city's website, "established (in 2008) to provide a stable and steady source of funding for affordable housing." Trust funds enable jurisdictions to design housing programs and provide housing developers with a dependable source of funding to support projects. Ashland is presently working on the development of a funding source for the Housing Trust Fund, which received some funding when the council directed repayments of a prior community development block grant program go into the fund. At the meeting, Rich Rhode, who sits on the Ashland Housing and Human Services Commission, said the $166,000 supposedly in the fund was no longer available, sparking outrage among many in the audience. Rohde said he discovered this when the commission requested money to assist with shelters and emergency housing and they were told by a staffer that the money was not available. However, Mayor John Stromberg, contacted by the Tidings, said there apparently has been a misunderstanding. “I just checked," Stromberg said Friday. "The $166,000 is in it right now. That money has not been moved. It’s always kept in the general fund.” The mayor said he suspects it was a miscommunication based on accounting methods. “The Housing Trust Fund has always been part of the general fund," he said. "It’s not broken out separately.”  Rhode expressed his belief that the fund is essential in going forward. “It’s flexible. We can listen to builders and the homeless community. The free market system is not going to solve the problem. Cities have to step up. We can get federal dollars to match what we put in.” Rhode urged those present to push for greater and continued funding of the Housing Trust Fund as an essential tool in helping people avoid homelessness in Ashland. Mayor Stromberg has said he agrees the city struggles with economic refugees and that the trust fund can be a tool in assisting securing shelter for them.  “The most you can afford with two people working full time at $10 per hour," Rhode told the those at the meeting, "is $1,000 per month (rent). Forty six percent of Ashland residents are at that income level of $40,000 dollars per year (per household). Twenty-two percent cannot afford more than $500 per month in rent.” He said as a result of this more families are becoming homeless. Many are having to leave the area to avoid homelessness, he said.  “The broader context is that those on the edge are displaced," said Evan Lasley of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). "Single mothers and people of color are most at risk of becoming homeless. ... In the Medford area, rents in proportion to income have risen to the point of being the highest in the country.”  There is currently a vacancy rate of less than 2 percent in Ashland. This lack of housing drives up prices and makes rentals difficult to find. Southern Oregon Housing for All, the group that organized the meeting, has listed its priorities as being four items which they will be encouraging city leaders and the community to support: Creating a 90-day, no-fault eviction process, rather than the current 30- or 60-day process; Offering 24-hour per day, seven days per week, shelter for those on the homeless spectrum, including those who sleep in cars or temporary shelters; Supporting a tiny house community for homeless and low income residents with an emphasis on mothers and children; and adequate funding of the Ashland Housing Trust Fund. The group plans to meet regularly to work toward these goals. A petition asking the city to support public land for a tiny house community was passed around at the meeting and organizers say they eventually plan to present it to the City Council. Email Ashland freelance writer Julie Akins at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/@julieakins.