PORT TOWNSEND — As the city of Port Townsend’s scheduled clearing of a homeless encampment approaches, a group of public servants and service providers are weighing their options.
In mid-September, the city announced its decision to disband the encampment behind the Department of Social and Health Services building on Nov. 3.
“We don’t have housing available right now,” said Viola Ware, Olympic Community Action Programs’ director of housing and community development, referring not only to OlyCAP’s available housing, but to housing providers in general. “We can assess people, we can prioritize them, but when there are no openings, there’s nowhere for them to go.”
One path being pursued is to locate a piece of land which would satisfy city or county code for a sanctioned encampment.
“My hope is that a piece of property is found that they can move to and not have to worry about moving any time soon after that, because winter is coming,” said Jim Novelli, Discovery Behavioral Health’s (DBH) executive director. “Rain’s coming. It’s going to get cold.”
Since city leaders made their decision, the Behavioral Health Consortium, a group of more than 20 Jefferson County service providers, has convened two meetings focused on finding solutions for maintaining services to the population living in the encampment.
The first meeting included the broader group of providers. At the end of the meeting, Jefferson County Commissioner Heather Dudley Nollette, the group’s interim lead, asked which providers had the capacity to extend the conversation further.
Those who have continued participating include DBH — both leadership and members of its Recovery Empowerment Advocacy Linkage (REAL) team — as well as Jefferson County Administrator Josh Peters, Sheriff Andy Pernsteiner, Public Health Director Apple Martine and members of the department’s harm-reduction team.
The city of Port Townsend has been represented by City Manager John Mauro and Police Chief Thomas Olson, alongside East Jefferson Fire Rescue’s FIRE CARES team, Bayside Housing & Services, Dove House Advocacy Services, OlyCAP and Michael McCutcheon of Reach Out.
The group will meet for a third time today to discuss three things: possible locations for a sanctioned encampment, hypothetical budgets for setting up and operating a site, should one become available, and the question of whether or not pursuing a sanctioned encampment is the right next step.
The county has utilized its Geographic Information System (GIS) to locate potential sites using several parameters: The property must be owned by the city, county or a faith group, it must meet conditions set forth by city or county code for sanctioned encampments, and it must be within 30 minutes walking distance of Jefferson County Public Health, 615 Sheridan St., Dudley Nollette said.
The noted parameters are just a starting point for what Dudley Nollette called a GIS exercise.
“The properties that meet those basic requirements gets us down to somewhere between 50 and 55 properties,” she said.
Mauro wrote in an email that city staff are working on compiling a list of possible sites as well.
If a site should be located, both city and county code require that a sanctioned encampment have an operator, Dudley Nollette said.
While she is the interim lead of the consortium, Dudley Nollette is representing the county, which is not a service provider, she said.
At the end of the first focused meeting, Dudley Nollette gauged interest in continuing to consider site location.
“They said, ‘Yes, we think it’s worth going through that, and we’re willing to participate in that exercise,” Dudley Nollette said. “So, to me, that’s optimistic. That creates optimism for me that we have so many providers in this community who are so deeply committed to creating a solution.”
Funding would need to be found for the site as well. Dudley Nollette said an operator could possibly find partial funding locally through the next round of opioid settlement funds.
Dudley Nollette characterized a common thought conveyed by those who question the idea of sanctioning an encampment.
“This very real but complex concern that there’s no end to the resources that we could pour into what is ultimately a small group of people,” Dudley Nollette said. “The ‘If you build it, they will come and come and come and come’ argument.”
It’s not smart to ignore that, Dudley Nollette continued. On the other hand, many who live unsheltered are simply victims of an extreme housing affordability crisis, she added.
“I just want to clarify that everybody that’s in that encampment might not necessarily have either a mental health disorder or a substance-use disorder,” Novelli said. “There are people that are homeless because of other reasons.”
Novelli said he believes that for those who are struggling with substance abuse or mental health disorders, living in supportive, structured and safe settings can make a huge difference. Lacking an option for living in a structured environment, the relocation could be unsettling to some.
Site selection and locating funding are time-consuming processes.
“I think it is really important to undergo this process when we’re talking about public resources,” Dudley Nollette said. “I hope that there are some solutions to add on to the mix that don’t require this level of bureaucracy.”
Meanwhile, the encampment’s scheduled cleaning is quickly approaching.
Ware said OlyCAP has trained additional volunteers to fill out coordinated entry forms.
The forms are meant to assess the level of vulnerability a person has by taking a number of parameters into consideration, including how long they have been unsheltered, known health conditions, if they have children, how many they have and the age of the youngest, among other things.
The most vulnerable are prioritized to get into housing when it becomes available, Ware said
“Even when someone’s at the top of the list, it doesn’t mean we have a door to put them behind,” Ware said. “That’s what’s hardest. We’re asking people to wait while living outside.”
Of late, 12 residents are known to have completed intake, though Ware said it’s possible that some residents have previously completed the process.
Ware did note some successful recent placements but said they are few amd far between.
For those who don’t find housing, relocating from the encampment may be deeply challenging.
“It’s exhausting,” Ware said. “It’s traumatizing. It really does a number on their nervous system. They’re already in crisis, so this just adds to it.”
Novelli said some are habituated to a more transient lifestyle and may not be as disrupted.
“It’s individual by individual,” he said. “Some people will probably really struggle with having to move again, especially those that have been there for the longest and have settled into a routine.”
While the living conditions in the encampment may not look appealing to an outsider looking in, many in the encampment have become somewhat comfortable, Novelli said.
Moving would mean rebuilding, he said.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.
