The opening of Grants Pass’ new homeless shelter, Parker’s Place Village, has been delayed by several weeks, pushing back its original June 1 launch date.
Under a lawsuit settlement reached last year, Grants Pass must provide space for 150 homeless people. People currently camp on public lots downtown.
To meet the requirement, the city awarded a $1.2 million grant to the developer Elk Island Trading Group to build a shelter site designed to house 150 people.
The site is expected to open in the coming weeks, allowing the city to close its downtown resting sites while still meeting court mandates.
On Wednesday, the City Council authorized the city manager to adjust the capacity of the downtown sites as the new shelter gets up and running.
City attorney Stephanie Nuttall explained the phased transition.
"If they give us 40 beds, we can drop down to 110 capacity for our resting sites and be able to slowly shift that capacity to the low-barrier shelter as opposed to the city unmanaged resting sites," she said.
Nuttall said delays involving site plan approval and international shipping disruptions pushed back the project timeline. The site plan was approved more than a month later than originally expected.
About 40 beds are expected to become available at Parker's Place Village shortly after June 1, with the remaining capacity added in phases to avoid overloading intake services.
Some city councilors expressed frustrations at the delay.
"Mr. Woodard [Elk Island's operations manager] stood at that podium ... and said 'I will have 150 beds by June 1,'" Councilor Victoria Marshall said. "And now we're not having that."
She questioned whether Elk Island is meeting the terms of the grant contract.
Nuttall assured the council that if there were a breach of contract, she would schedule an executive session to discuss it with them.
Other councilors defended the project.
"We need to make progress on this issue, and I think it's good for all involved," said Councilor Joel King. "We have an existing written contract that we're going to enforce and move ahead in a manner that is legal, socially acceptable and economically responsible."
The motion passed 4-3.
"We still believe every detail matters, and every day counts," according to the group's Facebook page. "Parker’s Place Village will be a community built on dignity, safety and practical solutions."
The site will house homeless people in converted shipping containers. Under the terms of the grant, the site must be managed around the clock and comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The site must also provide security, restrooms, trash disposal, handwashing, safe drinking water and parking. It needs to have on-site, or easily accessible, case management, substance use recovery or mental health support, workforce development, housing navigation and medical services.
The nonprofit MINT and other local organizations will help provide those services.
MINT Board President Scott Nelson said their familiarity with the homeless community will be a strength.
"We anticipate this to actually just run very smoothly because of our relationship with the people that are coming," he said. "There is a misperception that because you're unhoused, then therefore you're a lawless individual, you don't want to keep the rules. And that's just not true."
Currently, 141 people are on the waitlist for Parker’s Place Village. People who are medically fragile or disabled will receive priority placement.
The goal is for people to stay at the site for no longer than six months before moving on to more permanent housing.
Elk Island's Bernie Woodard serves as the general contractor on the project, and Nelson said he's hired homeless people to help complete the work.
Woodard "is from Roseburg, so he travels down on a daily basis to really keep the work moving," Nelson said. "He's really done a herculean effort to put all of this together, and he is a special man to work as hard as he does and to make this happen."
The shipping containers are being refurbished offsite and will be moved to Parker's Place Village later.
Nelson said they're also pursuing additional grant funding for laundry, shower and bathroom facilities at the site, since the project delays have resulted in higher-than-anticipated costs.
The city has faced a couple of lawsuits in recent years over its treatment of homeless residents, but Nelson is optimistic about the current situation.
"Grants Pass has a long history of trying to figure out how to manage the unhoused population in its community, and it's gone through a number of phases," he said. "I think we're finally getting it right this time."
