Project Turnkey faces community opposition

Published 12:45 pm Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Grant County officials face community opposition as they enter into the final phases of a grant process that would allow them to acquire a local hotel and convert it into transitional housing for people impacted by wildfires, COVID-19 and those released from incarceration as they enter back into society.

Grant County officials applied for a Project Turnkey grant, a statewide program that converts motels and hotels to permanent transitional or emergency housing, earlier this year and formed a steering committee in March.

In a Friday Zoom meeting, Community Counseling Solutions CEO Kimberly Lindsay said the Oregon Community Foundation would provide $1.8 million to purchase the Dreamers Lodge hotel in John Day. Additionally, she said, the grant would provide $110,000 for startup operations, $39,000 for renovations and $36,000 for deferred maintenance.

Probation officer Mike McManus said during the presentation Friday that the referring entities would be Grant County Probation Office, Community Counseling Solutions, Families First and Veterans Services.

Rhiannon Bauman with Families First said the target population would be Grant County residents on parole or probation or those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic. In addition, there are homeless veterans coming out of drug and alcohol treatment, she said.

Opposition

Grant County resident Paul Sweany told the county court May 12 that he found out about the project during a Firewise meeting. He said what caught his attention was the location of the transitional housing a block from Main Street. Sweany said he is concerned about the transitional housing in the middle of John Day’s economic revitalization project.

“I’m looking at two projects, both that have a great narrative, but I don’t see them really lining up supporting one another,” he said.

He said he has spoken with others in the community who feel the same way.

Sweany said he wanted people to be aware that he worked at family treatment centers and a drug and alcohol detox facility, in addition to volunteering at a transitional housing facility in Eugene.

“I certainly don’t need to be sold on the need for transitional housing,” Sweany said.

Kati Dunn of Strawberry Mountain Law said she sees the need for transitional housing as a 20-year public defender.

She said it is nearly impossible for people to progress when transitioning back into society if they do not have a home.

“We need to make sure that we’re able to reintegrate them,” she said. “We can’t just give up on them.”

Charlene Morris, a Grant County resident who said she worked for the state court system, told Dunn that the criminal justice system is a “revolving door perpetuated generation by generation.”

Morris asked how many chances the system should give someone when they fail multiple drug tests.

Dunn said that is not the metric on which success should be measured. She said that is a question better left between a treatment provider and that person trying to get clean and sober.

Amanda Bogan, a Grant County resident who said she has been in recovery for two and half years, said one thing she did not have that is a “desperate necessity” was access to transitional housing.

Bogan said her mother passed away, and she did not have a family to move in with when she got out of treatment.

“Transitional housing made a world of difference for me, especially in a controlled environment where you’re still held accountable, you still have to be sober,” she said.

What now?

Bauman said the project would not move forward without the support of the community. She said the county could turn the hotel into permanent housing for people with vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program. Or, she said, it could be used as transitional housing for workers coming to Grant County to work for the Forest Service or the hospital.

Nate Conklin, an outreach specialist with the Fletcher Group, said they would gauge the support by their feedback in the public meetings.

Lindsay said the CCS board would decide whether to move forward at their June 7 meeting.

A public meeting to discuss the Project Turnkey grant will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 19, in Trowbridge Pavilion at the Grant County Fairgrounds in John Day.