PSAC supports Nome Community Center’s Housing First project

In their Dec. 6 regular meeting, the Public Safety Advisory Commission achieved a quorum with all but two members virtually present, whereas several members of the public and City Manager Glenn Steckman were at Council Chambers in person.

The commission heard from Nome Community Center Executive Director Rhonda Schneider and NCC housing coordinator Liz Johnson about the organization’s Housing First project. Schneider and Johnson argued the case for a Housing First project in Nome based on successes of the same concept in Anchorage and Juneau. The premise of housing first is that people need to get off the street first before drug and alcohol treatment can be successful. “The Housing First practice came from decades of trying to determine who was ‘housing ready’ or the premise of housing was used to reward people for achieving a pre-determined goal such as drug or alcohol abstinence. These outdated approaches led to high failure rates and the false notion that homeless people like living on the streets,” said Johnson. According to Nome Community Center’s data through operating the NEST shelter, 225 people used NEST in 2020 and 23 people had stayed at the shelter for 100 days, fitting HUD’s definition of chronic homelessness. Add that overcrowding in relatives’ homes creates a hidden homelessness. Schneider reported that NCC have a permanent supportive housing program and although more of these sites are needed, she reported success of a young couple who transitioned from street life to a safe and successful life in a home, holding jobs and now even raising a baby.

On a daily basis, there are 25 to 30 people homeless in Nome, seeking shelter. Many have physical and mental health needs, substance misuse problems and undiagnosed disabilities, Johnson said. This leads to a lack of employment opportunities, making it extremely hard to afford a place to live, even if there was housing available.

NCC proposes to build its own Housing First project, envisisioned to be a 15-studio apartment complex at a cost of $10 million and annual operating costs are pegged at $300,000.

Schneider said the project has been approved for housing vouchers. She added that 30 percent of the operations cost would come from the tenants themselves as they would have to contribute a percentage of their PFDs, dividends and other benefits received toward the housing.

She said NCC has about 13 potential funding organizations or agencies in the project’s portfolio. Commissioners expressed support for the approach and passed two motions to draft a letter of support to prospective funders and a letter of recommendation to support the project to the Nome Common Council which is slated to meet next week and address homelessness in a work session prior to their regular meeting.

The commission had a light agenda and heard from City Manager Steckman a brief update on his efforts to find out the costs involved in getting the Nome Police Department accredited with the Oregon. He said he reached out to Soldotna – their police department went through the process of accreditation with an Oregon – and once he has an idea of the cost, would bring the information to the PSAC and the Nome Common Council.

Currently there are two open seats at the commission.

Also, commissioner Justin Noffsker requested to put on the next meeting’s agenda an action item to appoint a permanent commission chair. Commissioner Carol Piscoya has filled in as acting chair.

The next meeting may be postponed to February due to conflicting schedules of the city manager and chief of police who can’t make the January 3 meeting.