By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews.com
A Lincoln County non-profit organization will learn soon whether it’s been chosen to participate in a groundbreaking effort to both help dozens of families displaced by the Otis wildfire and, longer term, to ease homelessness.
Northwest Coastal Housing’s application for more than $3 million to buy a 41-unit motel in Lincoln City has already progressed to the second round of a three-step process. A final decision is expected within weeks.
“It’s a very competitive grant process,” said Sheila Stiley, the organization’s executive director. “But I’m feeling good about it. If we don’t get this, I’ll be stunned.”
The application is part of a much larger effort launched last month, when the state’s Legislative Emergency Board designated $65 million in federal CARES Act money to start “Project Turnkey.”
The project is modeled after a California’s Project Homekey, which allocated $800 million in that state to finance the purchase of distressed motels to ease crowding at shelters during the coronavirus pandemic.
In Oregon’s case, the money is split into two separate funds. The eight counties hit hard by September’s wildfires are receiving $30 million to help relocate victims. The state’s other 28 counties are receiving $35 million to provide shelter for the homeless.
Motels often used for emergencies
Using public money to rent motel rooms during cold weather or other times of crisis is not unusual, Stiley said.
“What’s novel here is that, instead of paying money for motel rooms, we’ve decided “Why not buy an entire facility?’ ” she said. “It’s a pretty significant departure, but given all we’ve been through these past few months, it seems to make perfect sense.”
Oregon Community Foundation, the state’s biggest philanthropic organization, is guiding Project Turnkey on the state’s behalf. So far, it has 10 applications from the eight counties affected by wildfires.
Megan Loeb, the foundation’s associate program officer, said she couldn’t comment directly on Lincoln County’s application. But she said initial feedback from her foundation’s grant advisory committee has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
If approved, the grant would provide $3.25 million for Northwest Coastal Housing to buy the Paradise Inn & Suites motel in Lincoln City. The 41-bed motel, located along U.S. Highway 101, currently is listed as for sale. The agents handling the listing did not return calls for comment.
The grant also would finance annual operational costs, which Stiley’s organization listed as $352,000 per year.
However, word from the state is that Project Turnkey is already over-prescribed, and that grant applicants are being asked to trim part of their proposed operating costs.
“For us, that’s not going to be a problem,” Stiley said. “We were very conservative in our estimates and we think we can get by with even half that amount if we win the grant.”
If approved, the facility’s first year would be devoted to providing shelter for some of the 180 Otis-area residents who still have not found permanent housing following the wildfire that swept through the area in early September, destroying 300 homes.
In its second year, the facility would transition toward providing shelter to a variety of potential clients, including rehabilitation patients from Samaritan Health Systems and people under supervision of Lincoln County’s parole and probation department.
One room would be set aside as a case-management area, where residents could get information about services in the community available to them.
Support by Lincoln County, Lincoln City
The grant has the support of Lincoln County and Lincoln City governments, including one-time pledges of $10,000 from each.
Lincoln County Commissioner Kaety Jacobson said the application is all the more impressive because, due to state deadlines, it had to be completed and submitted in near-record time.
“We found ourselves in a situation this year where we got an awful lot of lemons thrown at us, and we found a few opportunities to make lemonade,” she said. “We have some awesome community partners in this and I’m really proud of everyone involved.”
Jacobson also singled out the work by Commissioner Claire Hall, who has put extensive work into housing issues.
“I was absolutely thrilled to see the entire $65 million program funded,” said Hall, a long-time housing advocate. “As big a leap as this is, it’s not a total solution to the problem by any means. But it’s certainly a opportunity to break off a big chunk of it.”
If the grant is awarded, the property could be under the ownership and management of Stiley’s organization as soon as February.
“This is a one-time shot, a one-in-a-million shot that seemingly came out of nowhere,” she said. “We felt like we had to take this opportunity because it may well never come up again.”
- Dana Tims is an Oregon freelance writer who contributes regularly to YachatsNews.com. He can be reached at DanaTims24@gmail.com
