By: Ashley Swofford
Hope Village which is run by the Salvation army has been open for roughly a year and half and yet still has many in the area wondering if the small pallet home community is creating enough change to validate the hefty price tag.
As discussed in part 1 of this blog series Hope village is a tiny pallet supportive housing community in Longview Washington. Hope village was the city's solution to their homeless crisis and the dangerous tent city that was called Alabama camp. Hope village costs between $80,000-$100,000 a month to run depending on the fluctuating needs, or roughly 1 million dollars annually. However, the money is running out and funding this homeless shelter through the city's Homeless Housing Response program is no longer a guarantee as the new mayor and council look at disabling the program and rejoining the county program which refused to fund Hope village when the project was first presented. It is important to note that the city is hoping to be granted 1.5 million dollars a year from the Washington state operational budget but there is high concern that Longview will not receive the money for Hope Village and be denied like they were the year before. If these solutions to funding Hope Village do not come to fruition the question remains how well this supportive housing community stay open.
It seems Hope Village is trying hard to change the community's negative opinions about the homeless shelter in hopes that they will gain their support and intern receive the needed funding. Since Hope Village opened its gates crime in the area has gone down which is reflected in the decrease of police calls.
The streets have less litter and some business owners who were once considering moving locations have decided to remain open because the neighborhood feels safe once again. Yet, the lower crime rate and happy neighbors does not seem to be enough to gain the support of the majority of the city. In order to continue to gain the support of the community, employees of Hope village along with residents take to the streets on community clean up missions. So far they have spent time cleaning up garbage down Commerce Ave, up in the Highlands neighborhood and civic circle.
While community clean up is a great way to give back to the community, the residents of Hope village have some pretty strict rules to live by, which leads to many being removed from the small community. In order to stay a resident there are daily room checks as there is a no weapon or drug policy in place and they must meet with a case manager and be engaged in mental health services and substance use disorder services if needed. Hope village has a goal of helping all residents find permanent housing within 90 days of entrance and they believe that is done through helping the residents become healthy and stable first. While Hope village does have to remove some residents they have also found permanent housing for 50 residents in the first year. The case managers of Hope village do find the current housing crisis poses a barrier for the residents as many receive SSID and do not receive enough income monthly to afford rent. Those who can afford housing often get looked past because of the bias landlords have for those who are homeless.
It seems that if the community gives Hope Village a chance and their support, the good of Hope Village outweighs the bad. Still the question remains: is one community of 50 tiny homes enough to truly help the homeless crisis in Longview? Currently Hope Village has a wait list of 150 people on it and for now those people are most likely living on the streets or in empty lots throughout Longview. When I started my current job in December of 2022, I worked with the outreach team. In January when Hope village opened we spent a couple weeks searching the streets, known homeless camp locations by the river and in wooded areas by the railroad tracks looking for residents from Alabama camp that did not receive a spot in Hope Village. As we expected they were scattered all over Longview and constantly having to move their home sites.
It will be interesting to watch how the community reacts to Hope Village for the rest of its second year in action. Will the city/county/state decide to fund the small community going forward and if the outcomes from Hope Village remain positive will the residents of Longview Washington embrace a second small supportive community or will they fall back on to their strong held belief of nimbyism?
To follow the journey of Hope Village on Facebook click here
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