A pdf of the above image is available at https://friendsoftheunsheltered.org/wp-content/uploads/Rents-in-Clatsop-County.pdf.

During the February 13, 2023 Seaside City Council meeting Rick Bowers described this slide during the public comment period. Here is the link (opens in new window): https://www.youtube.com/live/NXPp3l1Dv9c?&t=4519

2-Minute Speech

I, Rick Bowers, want to share some information I tracked down that helped me to understand the plight of low- and fixed-income folks trying to find housing. I think we all know housing in general is expensive… I just wanted to see some examples for myself and that’s what I’m sharing.

I talk about retail apartment rents…; I’m NOT criticizing landlords. I’m just trying to share the plight of the low-income.

I found the incomes of four categories of renters:

• Fulltime minimum wage
• And three programs managed by the Social Security Administration – a Retiree getting Social Security (AVERAGE)
• Social Security Disability Income, SSDI (AVERAGE)
• Supplemental Security Income, SSI (MAXIMUM)

HUD recommends we spend under 30% of our gross income on rent… including utilities.

HUD considers a person RENT BURDENED if they spend 50% or more on rent.

I calculated the 30% and 50% for the four categories.

Then I looked at retail rents for studio and 1-bedroom apartments. I looked at the usual places: apartments.com, other websites, social media, and craig’s list.

The only person in these four categories who can afford an apartment is a fulltime minimum wage earner and he would be in a studio apartment and RENT BURDENED. Many potential landlords look for an income 3 times the rent so some landlords would not rent to this person even if he was willing to be RENT BURDENED.

None of the folks in the programs managed by the Social Security Administration can afford a current retail rate apartment.

Notes

• Housing & Urban Development (HUD) considers “affordable rent” to be within 30% of the renter’s gross income (before taxes). The 30% includes rent and all utilities (except for telephone).
• HUD considers an individual (or a family) to be “rent burdened” if rent is more than 50% of the gross income.
• HUD’s Fair Market Rent (FMR) is based on questionnaires sent yearly from the Census Bureau. FMR reflects what existing renters are currently paying. FMR does not represent currently advertised “For Rent” pricing.
• Four categories of renters were considered: All incomes are gross (before taxes) for 2022.
  • Full-time Minimum wage in Clatsop County: $13.50/hr ($2,340/month)
  • Social Security retirees: $1,676.53 average
  • Social Security Disability Insurance – SSDI: $1,364.41 average
  • Supplemental Security Income – SSI: $841 maximum (average $601)
• Of these four groups, only the full-time minimum wage rent burdened worker can afford a currently advertised  studio apartment (Nov 2022) in the county.
• Clatsop Community Actions maintains a list of affordable housing at https://ccaservices.org/housing/housing-list/. None of the complexes that have been contacted have a vacancy. One representative said they don’t maintain a waiting list because they haven’t had a vacancy in years. A personal friend was on the Gateway waiting list for five years before being accepted.
• Some landlords require showing proof of income that is three times the rent. In these situations even if the potential renters are willing to be rent burdened (50%) they would not qualify for the apartment.
• At least one retail property listing limits the maximum stay to 11½ months. It’s my understanding that Oregon law differentiates between one year and longer rentals. See ORS 90.427 Termination of tenancy without tenant cause at https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_90.427.
• If single individuals join together to rent a 2-bedroom apartment, some landlords require each individual to show proof of income that is three times the total rent.

Data Sources

Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Fair Market Rent for 2022: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html#2022.

Social Security

Retiree (average monthly): https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/.

SSDI (average monthly): https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/.

SSI (maximum monthly): https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-benefits-ussi.htm.

“The major difference is that SSI determination is based on age/disability and limited income and resources, whereas SSDI determination is based on disability and work credits.” See https://ncoa.org/article/ssi-vs-ssdi-what-are-these-benefits-how-they-differ.

Clatsop Community Action

Affordable Housing List: https://ccaservices.org/docs/housing/Affordable_Housing_List_04-16-2021.pdf.

Retail “For Rent” in Clatsop County (reviewed listings Nov 25-30, 2022)

Apartments.com: https://www.apartments.com/clatsop-county-or/.

Craig’s List: https://portland.craigslist.org/search/nco/apa#search=1~gallery~0~0.

Facebook’s Astoria (Oregon) Area Rental Resource Group (Aarg!): https://www.facebook.com/groups/426925654024995.

Cost of Utilities:

Electricity: https://www.electricitylocal.com/states/oregon/astoria/.

A pdf of the above image is available at https://friendsoftheunsheltered.org/wp-content/uploads/ACE-Homelessness.pdf.

During the March 13, 2023 Seaside City Council meeting Rick Bowers shared this information during the 3-minute public comment period. Here is the link to the meeting (opens in a new window): https://www.youtube.com/live/7tsqVsci1F0?feature=share&t=3972.

3-Minute Speech

Over the past couple of meetings, I, Rick Bowers, have described how unaffordable rent is for low- and fixed-income people and then tied rental prices to homelessness rates and briefly mentioned the lack of housing. Today I would like to talk about some of the folks who get left out in the housing shortage.

Specifically, I want to share some information about Adverse Childhood Experiences, or the ACEs score. This score is the result of a Center for Disease Control and Kaiser study trying to figure out what impacts our long-term health. There is a short quiz that asks participants whether they have experienced any of about 10 different categories of traumas as children. These include:

• Physical, sexual or verbal abuse
• Physical or emotional neglect
• Separation or divorce
• A family member with mental illness
• A family member addicted to drugs or alcohol
• A family member who is in prison
• Witnessing a parent being abused

So what’s the impact of these experiences?

Toxic stress from ACEs can actually affect our brains as we develop. This can have a lasting impact on tools like decision-making and learning. This can impact our adult lives with things like struggling with depression, jobs, and managing life in general. [Higher ACEs impact long-term health issues like asthma, cancer, and diabetes in adulthood.]

Fortunately, most of us have a low number of ACEs. On a bar chart, the tallest bar is those of us having zero ACEs. I’m in that group. Those with one ACEs is a smaller group; two smaller still;… and keeps shrinking until very few of us in the general population have a score of eight Adverse Childhood Experiences.

A study in Washington state gave the “ACEs quiz” to about 6,000 residents and added an additional question asking whether they had ever been homeless. As expected, overall, the respondents matched the results I’ve just described. But when the subset of those who had ever experienced homelessness was examined, the results were completely the opposite of the general population… a mirror image. The largest bar of the homeless population was a score of eight Adverse Childhood Experiences. This was followed with the seven bar being somewhat smaller, then the six… and keeps shrinking until very few are in the zero category.

I’m going to repeat myself: Toxic stress from ACEs can actually affect our brains as we develop. This can have a lasting impact on tools like decision-making and learning. This can impact our adult lives with things like struggling with depression, jobs, and managing life in general.

My point… let’s be careful before blaming the victim.

Notes

• We may be “created equally” but some of us grow up in toxic environments that can impact us for life.
• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are just that… traumatic events during childhood. Like having a family member die by suicide; having an alcoholic parent….
• Most of us have very few traumatic events during childhood.
• However, those that experience homelessness tend to have many traumatic events during childhood.
• Toxic stress from ACEs can actually effect our brains as we development. This can have a lasting impact on tools like decision-making and learning. This can impact our adult lives with things like struggling with depression, jobs, and managing life in general.
• What’s your ACE Score? Find out at https://americanspcc.org/take-the-aces-quiz/.

Data Sources

Center for Disease Control https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/

A pdf of the above image is available at https://friendsoftheunsheltered.org/wp-content/uploads/Housing-First-HUD.pdf.

During the April 24, 2023 Seaside City Council meeting Rick Bowers shared this information during the 3-minute public comment period. Here is the link (opens in a new window): https://www.youtube.com/live/_StWI3xrj_Y?feature=share&t=4300.

3-Minute Speech

Today I, Rick Bowers, would like to share some information about HUD’s “Go To” program – Housing First. It’s important to understand this program because it frequently finds its way into news articles and discussions… and is frequently misunderstood.

The Housing First model is frequently compared to the Traditional Model that has many names. In the Traditional Model a homeless individual who is using drugs or alcohol might be offered space in a low-barrier warming center. Case management might be offered. If the client is willing to meet certain conditions, like quit using drugs and alcohol, he may be referred to a transitional housing program. With success in that program, she may eventually be offered permanent supportive housing.

In the early 1990s Dr. Sam Tsemberis pioneered supporting chronically homeless people with a Housing First model. His controversial model begins with permanent supportive housing… and has three major components: “(1) program philosophy… emphasizing consumer choice; (2) community based, mobile support services; and (3) permanent scatter site housing.”  Using the gold standard of research, randomized controlled trials, Dr. Tsemberis and others showed Housing First was more effective at ending long-term homelessness than the Traditional Model. In a landmark study “…individuals assigned to the Housing First group spent approximately 80% of their time stably housed compared with only 30% for participants assigned to [Treatment First] after two years.” Many studies since then, in many settings, confirm these results.

It’s hard to fully grasp how radical this approach is. First, when I say “chronically homeless”… these have been the frequent flyers into emergency rooms and jails… the most challenging. Second, consumer choice means no requirement to stop drugs & alcohol; no requirement to continue taking psychiatric meds. Instead, when requested by the client, mobile support is available 24/7. From a book on Housing First… “An absence of demands that… participants take psychiatric medications did not result in an increase in psychiatric symptoms.”

Another quote… “staff witnessed it happening, again and again: men and women leaving the streets and entering into their own apartment in a matter of days, living there as if they had never been homeless in the first place.”

I know of no program in the county that is based on Housing First and with extremely low vacancy rates, it’s probably not feasible without new housing.

Notes

• “Housing First” means radically different things to different people. The original researched, evidence-based variant is called Pathway’s Housing First.
• Pathway’s Housing First includes several components:
  • Program philosophy and practice values emphasizing consumer choice;
  • Community based, mobile support services; and
  • Permanent scatter-site housing (multiple clients are not housed in one apartment complex or shelter).
• Variants of Housing First have also been extensively researched. For example, in some situations scatter-site housing is not available so “centralized” housing is constructed. This has been shown to be effective.
• A major barrier to Pathway’s Housing First includes a lack of affordable housing.
• “In 2010, the Obama administration released Opening Doors, the first-ever comprehensive federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness…. Over the next five years, HUD will work with its partners to deploy the solutions that we know are effective… informed by a Housing First approach….”

Data Sources

A pdf of the above image is available at https://friendsoftheunsheltered.org/wp-content/uploads/Clatsop-PIT.pdf.

During the May 8, 2023 Seaside City Council meeting Rick Bowers described this slide during the public comment period. Here is the link (opens in new window): https://www.youtube.com/live/Xr5__DSGJ3M?feature=share&t=4197.

3-Minute Public Comment

Today I, Rick Bowers, would like to share some information about homelessness counts… specifically HUD’s Point-in-Time count. It’s important to understand this program because it frequently finds its way into news articles and discussions… and is frequently misunderstood.

The Point-in-Time count was started by HUD in 2005. The point-in-time count is an unduplicated count on a single night of the people in a community who are experiencing homelessness. It includes both the sheltered (e.g., couch-surfing and those in temporary shelters) and the unsheltered. It occurs in the last ten days of January… every other year.

At the federal level the counts are by Continuum of Care, regions of the country defined by HUD. Clatsop County is one of 26 counties in the Rural Oregon Continuum of Care… also known as the Balance of State Continuum of Care. Similar “by county” data is also reported to the state of Oregon which is what you see in the handout.

There are many legitimate criticisms of the Count. For example, many folks are homeless for a few days to a month… never to return to a shelter. The Point in Time would miss many of these folks. Another criticism… how do we possibly find all the unsheltered on one particular night? I’ve known individuals who sleep in the woods and others behind trash bins. How are these people counted? The handout has another example of “iffy” data. The 2015 Point-in-Time count reported just over half a million homeless across the country while another government entity says there were 1.3 million homeless children that same year. The HUD number represents all ages. The almost three times larger National Center for Educational Statistics is only children. How can that be? Another problem is year-to-year comparisons of data. Entities have learned lessons and developed better tactics for the counts throughout the years. Some part of increasing homelessness may be due to better counting practices.

Yet… the Point-in-Time count is really the only count we have. From my perspective I view it as a minimum count of the number of homeless who are in the county. There are probably more. And as shown in the handout, Clatsop County has experienced the highest rate of homelessness for many many years.

Notes

• Housing & Urban Development (HUD) requires each Continuum of Care (CoC) to do a Point in Time (PIT) count in early January every other year.
• The PIT includes counting both unsheltered and sheltered (e.g. warming center) homeless individuals and families.
• Clatsop Community Action is responsible for the count in Clatsop County.
• Clatsop County is in HUD’s Rural Oregon Continuum of Care (that includes 26 Oregon counties).
• PIT data reported to the State of Oregon is at the county level.
• The 2021 “count” is an estimate (due to the pandemic). See https://www.pdx.edu/homelessness/statewide-homelessness-estimate-2021.
• Clatsop Count has, and has had for years, the highest reported rate of homelessness among counties in the State of Oregon.
• Among states, Oregon ranks number 4 in the rate of homelessness (number of homeless per 100,000 residents).
• “Clatsop County is ground zero for the housing crisis in the country” (Leslie Ford is a housing strategy and development advisor for Columbia Pacific Coordinated Care Organization and Project CareConnect). Seaside Signal, January 6, 2023.
• “The PIT count is also the main data source for measuring progress on the goals of Opening Doors, the federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness.” See https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/point-time-counts-are-crucial-data.

Data Sources

Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Point-in-Time (PIT) Count Standards and Methodologies Training: https://www.hudexchange.info/trainings/courses/point-in-time-pit-count-standards-and-methodologies-training/.

Homeless Populations and Subpopulations Reports: https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/coc-homeless-populations-and-subpopulations-reports/.

The State of Oregon

Oregon Housing and Community Services – Point-in-Time: https://www.oregon.gov/ohcs/homelessness/Pages/index.aspx.

Portland State University: Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative: https://www.pdx.edu/homelessness/statewide-homelessness-estimate-2021.

Misc.

More information on the PIT count: https://friendsoftheunsheltered.org/research-pit/.

DON’T COUNT ON IT: How the HUD Point-in-Time Count Underestimates the Homelessness Crisis in America: https://homelesslaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/HUD-PIT-report2017.pdf.

Is There a Better Way to Count the Homeless: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-04/the-problem-with-hud-s-point-in-time-homeless-count.

State of Homelessness in 2022: Statistics, Analysis, & Trends: https://www.security.org/resources/homeless-statistics/.