On Monday night, the Ashland City Council reviewed its long-awaited Homeless Services Master Plan.
The city formed the Homeless Services Master Plan Subcommittee in January with the goal of identifying local strengths and weaknesses in addressing homelessness and guiding the city’s future actions regarding things like funding and public engagement.
The resulting 180-page report was presented on Monday. It includes topics ranging from student homelessness to the city’s lack of shelter beds.
The report found that Ashland has a higher percent of homeless students than the state of Oregon and a higher percentage of homeless students living on their own than either Jackson County or the state of Oregon.
A graph from the Homeless Services Master Plan shows results from a community survey of Ashland residents.
Courtesy of Ashland Homeless Services / JPR
Subcommittee member Echo Fields said Monday that survey results show some Ashland residents want the city to do more about homelessness than it actually can.
“A lot of the folks who live in Ashland don’t really have a good understanding of how government works and about what local government in particular can and cannot do, can and cannot pay for as a jurisdiction on its own,” she said.
For example, some solutions, like building more housing, would fall under the purview of developers.
Potential action steps in the report include advocating for federal and state funding, increasing financial resources through grant writing and fostering more public engagement.
Mayor Tonya Graham asked for city staff to prepare a list of what items the city is already working on.
People experiencing homelessness in Ashland who were surveyed said the three resources they found most valuable were showers, laundry access and community meals.
But the next steps to address homelessness in the city have yet to be determined. The plan is an advisory document, so the council will decide what steps, if any, to take. The Council will discuss this plan again at a later meeting.
Graham said in the future, the City Council will need to determine how to respond to each possible action step in the report.
“What is the city’s to do, what is the city’s role in a larger partnership to potentially do some of the other elements, what are these pieces that are issues that the city can influence but isn’t going to necessarily take on on its own, and which of these things are things that the city is simply not going to do,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Council is also waiting for a report from a separate committee focused on what the city will do with a former shelter building in town at 2200 Ashland Street. That report is expected this fall.
The small field behind the police station and city council chambers in Ashland designated as the overnight sleeping site for homeless campers.
Roman Battaglia / Jefferson Public Radio