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Local advocate outlines ‘Columbia Care Capsules’ pilot to pair housing with jobs and food-waste reuse
Summary
A nonprofit advocate urged the council to study a pilot combining tiered capsule housing, a municipal logistics program and food-to-feed processing to move people experiencing homelessness into stabilized housing with job training; council agreed staff would follow up.
Kay Moore of the More Charity Group presented a multi-part proposal to Columbia City Council proposing a feasibility study for what she called "Columbia Care Capsules," a tiered housing concept tied to workforce creation and food-waste integration.
Moore outlined three components: a municipal logistics service to create entry-level jobs (transporting hay, small livestock feed and produce), a "cow's lunch" initiative to convert collected grass into hay for local farms, and a food-integration program that would redirect surplus produce into livestock feed. Moore said the pilot could create 10–15 jobs initially and scale to 30–50 positions as it grows, prioritizing residents moving off the streets.
"The goal is simple: move homeless residents from the streets into stabilized housing while providing job skills and community impact," Moore said, asking the council to review the written proposal and consider next steps.
Council members thanked Moore and said staff would follow up; the mayor noted similar pilot models in other cities and asked staff to explore connections.
This public comment was recorded during the meeting's public-input period; no formal council action on the proposal was taken at the session.
