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KFalls tries new solution to homelessness Construction crews Tuesday work on the Klamath Falls Gospel Mission's new dormitories, an anchor of an 18-acre campus devoted to services for the homeless. [Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch] Sunday Dec 24, 2017 at 12:01 AM Damian Mann Mail Tribune @reporterdm What started as a community feud over a proposed shelter for the homeless in Klamath Falls has morphed into creation of an 18-acre campus that will offer one-stop shopping for those in need.  "Our goal was to reduce the magnets in the downtown for the homeless and create a big magnet in a different part of town," said Alan Eberlein, who is a board member for Klamath Works, a newly formed job training program. Other communities around the U.S., including Medford and Ashland, struggle with homelessness issues, but Klamath Falls community leaders hope their campus idea will lead to fewer people living on the streets, fewer problems for the downtown area and more people off the welfare rolls. Eberlein and five other community members put on their thinking caps three years ago after the Klamath Falls Gospel Mission proposed moving into a bigger space at the First Baptist Church near the Ross Ragland Theatre downtown. The Gospel Mission had put together a plan to spend $2 million to renovate the church. "While we were doing that, the downtown people rose up in arms," remembers Kent Berry, executive director of the Gospel Mission, which is currently a few blocks from the downtown. "As a result of the meeting, people came together and figured out there was a greater need than just providing shelter." The local "think tank" was made up of Eberlein, a partner in the Southtowne Commerce Center; Ted Abram, retired Klamath County Circuit Court judge; Heidi Biggs, executive director of the Klamath Community Foundation; Randy Shaw, broker with Coldwell Banker Holman Premier Realty; and Mark Wendt, owner of Diversified contractors. <p p> After talking to more than a half dozen organizations that deal with the homeless over a four-month period, they proposed creating a centralized location for services that could become a model for other communities struggling with issues surrounding homelessness. They wanted to have a shelter, a job-training program, a sobering center, an Oregon Department of Human Services building and other services all on the same campus rather than spread out over town. The centralized location got a boost when Sky Lakes Medical Center provided the 18 acres next to the railroad tracks about a mile from the downtown, just off busy South Sixth Street. Last year, Klamath Works opened its doors in the Sky Lakes Medical Center building, becoming the first organization to move onto the campus. Klamath Works helps people learn life skills, including everything from cooking their own food to organizing a closet. So far, Klamath Works officials say they've placed 112 people in jobs, and they believe the life skills they've taught their clients will make them more successful at keeping a job. Joy McInnis, job program manager for Klamath Works, said, "It's kind of parenting for adults." McInnis said many of the people come right off the street and have no idea how to balance a checkbook or run a household. "We're not trying to teach them job skills," Eberlein said. "We're trying to teach them life skills." Besides a kitchen, computer room and even a mock closet, Klamath Works also has a contract with the Oregon Department of Human Services for a work program that teaches people how to recycle mattresses, including turning them into dog beds. Klamath Works operates under a budget of $400,000 this year from grants, state contracts, the mattress recycling and other enterprise programs. One of the goals of providing all the services in one place is to avoid sending homeless and low-income residents to multiple locations. Sometimes a person working with DHS will be scheduled for appointments at five different locations, and the person will end up going to only two because of the difficulty of getting around town. While the estimate for a full build-out of the campus runs in the tens of millions of dollars, work is already underway. By March 2018, the Gospel Mission expects to complete a new 18,500-square-foot, $2.7 million complex to serve the homeless. It will include a 44-bed men's shelter, a 16-bed women's shelter and a dining hall, chapel and commercial kitchen. The Gospel Mission raised the money over the past four years. "It's going to help the homeless get back on track," said Johnny Saris, a 44-year-old who had lunch at the Gospel Mission Tuesday and said he has struggled with homelessness. The shelter offers short-term dormitory beds and long-term bedrooms shared by two adults who are going through a recovery program. A separate room for a family is also offered for emergency situations. In the works is a sobering station on the campus, which will provide a place for police to take inebriated people rather than the more expensive option of a hospital. Once these people sober up, they can go next door to the Gospel Mission for rehabilitation and then to Klamath Works to get housing and a job. In this fairly conservative community, the end result is to turn most of the homeless and low-income residents into productive members of society. "We're focused on getting them off welfare," Eberlein said. In Medford, community leaders have faced similar challenges over homelessness issues. An early proposal by the nonprofit organization Rogue Retreat to create a tiny house village for the homeless near the Randall Theatre was met with significant opposition. As a result, Rogue Retreat and the city agreed to move the location off McAndrews Road in west Medford. Rogue Retreat also opened a warming shelter for the homeless in Medford last winter. Other services for the homeless are available but are spread out in the city. Klamath Falls leaders hope a centralized campus will avoid duplication of services, improve coordination among organizations and change perceptions the public has of those on welfare. Eberlein said he's seen locals shake their heads when they repeat a story of someone abusing welfare, such as buying bottled water using food stamps, then dumping the water out and getting the deposit back for the bottles. Pulling the Klamath Falls campus idea together has faced a number of challenges, particularly in finding building materials for the gospel mission's new facility. "Everything has gone south because of the disasters in other areas," Berry said. The contractor had trouble finding roof trusses because local lumber was being sent to other parts of the country stricken by hurricanes and other disasters, he said. Despite the obstacles, Berry said the end result will be worth it, especially because the number of beds available for women will triple in the new facility. The new dining hall will seat 144, double the current capacity. And the new kitchen will make it easier to provide meals year-round. "We'll be in a much better position to provide more housing," Berry said. One of the key features of the campus might be a DHS building. Linda Riddell, facilities director for DHS and the Oregon Health Authority, said DHS is in the process of reviewing proposals for a building somewhere in Klamath Falls, including at the Sixth Street campus.  Currently, DHS is talking with a couple of developers on different proposals, and Riddell anticipates an announcement will be made in the next 30 to 60 days.  The state doesn’t build the facility itself but works with a developer on a contract to lease the building.  “DHS has not made any commitments to any property owners yet,” Riddell said.  She said the building requirements are 52,000 to 55,000 square feet, either one or two story, and the cost of the project would be determined by the developer.  Transferring Klamath Falls' campus idea to Medford, while appealing to some homeless advocates, might be a difficult undertaking. "The problem is, in Medford, that we just don't have any place to do that," said Chad McComas with Rogue Retreat. McComas said it's difficult to carve out that many acres in Medford that aren't earmarked for other projects. However, he said the concept of clustering services in one area is something he's thought about previously. "That would be amazing," he said. He said other communities throughout the country are trying different approaches to deal with homelessness and low-income issues in their community. Mobile Loaves and Fishes in Austin, Texas, for example, offers a variety of services including a mobile food truck, RV camping area and job programs, he said. Rogue Retreat has clustered some services next to Hope Village, the 14 tiny houses for the homeless off McAndrews Road that opened in November. The campus in Klamath Falls doesn't have any plans for tiny houses or tent cities, which are a feature in many cities throughout the U.S. By giving the residents a place to live and then working closely with them, Hope Village already has been successful at getting people back on their feet, McComas said. "We've already had six individuals who have found jobs," he said. — Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on www.twitter.com/reporterdm.