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Local homeless coalition asks county to champion 'Hope for Home,' seeks $300,000 a year
Summary
REACH and the Washington County Local Homeless Coalition presented the Hope for Home plan, saying homelessness rose sharply and asking commissioners to direct $300,000/year from the state Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund to support working families who fall outside existing funding definitions.
Jamie Asbury, executive director of REACH of Washington County and chair of the local homeless coalition, told commissioners that “homelessness in Washington County has escalated 340 percent since 2021,” and urged the board to back a new program called Hope for Home.
Asbury described Hope for Home as a countywide effort to secure stable housing for working families who do not qualify for other state or federal homelessness funding. The program would arrange 12-month leases, tailored wraparound services and partnerships with schools, health care providers and landlords to help families rebuild housing stability.
“The Hope for Home program is an innovative response to the humanitarian crisis,” Asbury said, listing five goals that include reducing childhood homelessness, creating stable housing opportunities for families with eviction histories and delivering 12 months of client-centered wraparound services.
Dr. Mark Sewell, the county’s continuum-of-care lead, said the coalition has identified initial landlord commitments — “I have identified 8 units, 4 landlords, 2 units each” — and emphasized that the program fills a gap for working families who “fall just outside the definitions” used by HUD and other programs.
Sewell asked the board to support a funding request of $300,000 per year from the Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund established under the Cannabis Reform Act of 2023. He framed the fund as a viable revenue source to pay for program services without adding to the county’s existing property-tax budget: “This does not add any additional burden on the county taxpayers.”
Commissioners asked for evidence of comparable programs and success metrics, and for more detail on participation rates and long-term outcomes. Asbury and Sewell said the initiative will build on the county’s coordinated-entry and permanent-supportive-housing efforts, reporting outcomes using the Homeless Management Information System and HUD reporting where applicable.
Lisonbee Palmer, director of the Housing Choice Voucher Program, spoke in support during public comment and told the board the county’s voucher program had a 44 percent lease-up success rate, a factor coalition members cited as part of the problem the new program targets.
The board did not take an immediate funding vote. Commissioners asked staff to study the proposal further and requested a follow-up briefing on available cannabis-reform funding and other possible interim grants.
