Good morning everybody. Welcome
to the May 12th meeting of the
Clark County Echo, which is the
ending homelessness
organization. I'm Glen Yung. I
chair echo and serve on the
county council, and we'll go
ahead and go around the room
with introductions.
>> Jordan Jordan Senior Policy
Analyst I support the county
council and county manager's
office.
>> Good morning everybody. CSTE
Fany Jones, counsel for the
homeless.
>> Sunny Wonder Council for the
homeless.
>> Ty Stover, city of Vancouver.
>> Jamie Spinelli, homeless
response manager for the City
of Vancouver.
>> And McEnerny Ogle, mayor for
the City of Vancouver.
>> Online.
>> Introduce yourself. And we
will circle back. Kadee.
Marvella. You want to introduce
yourself?
>> Good morning, Katie Fevella
City of Ridgefield City Council.
>> Michael Torres.
>> Good morning. Michael Torres,
program manager at Clark County
Community Services.
>> Councilor Fuentes.
>> Good morning. Will Fuentes,
County Council.
>> Victoria Ferrer.
>> Victoria Ferrer, city of
battleground.
>> Andy Silver. Looks like
you're unmuted, Andy. We can
hear you.
>> Okay. Good morning, Andy
Silver, Vancouver Housing
Authority.
>> We also have County Manager
Kathleen Otto and Deputy County
manager April Firth online. And
that's that's all great.
>> Thank you Michelle. We'll go
ahead and move on to updates
and report back on action items.
And we'll start with the
systems analysis update echo
membership. And I will just
touch on one thing and then
I'll let Jordan speak to it is
we just have one remaining
jurisdiction at this point to
make a commitment. And we are
working on that. So Councilor
Perez is not here this morning,
but she will be along with who
is the other individual.
>> I know Councilor Perez was
going to talk to. I think both
Councilor and Councilor Fevella
to see if they might be
available. And I know Councilor
Fuentes had also offered to
support with talking to
jurisdictions. So I think we're
pinning that down. But the
center is who we're talking to.
And their council meeting is on
the 27th. And so I think the
plan is to attend that and and
debrief with them. And we've
sent some materials to the
mayor as well.
>> And, chair, do you want to
circle back to the minutes
after this part?
>> Oh, yes. Welcome and
introductions. We got approval
of minutes under that. My
apologies, I missed that. Yes.
So approval the minutes from
March 10th, 2026 and April 14th,
2026. Is there any thoughts on
that or does anybody have a
motion?
>> Chair? Anne. McEnerny. Ogle.
I'll abstain from both sets of
minutes.
>> Victoria Ferreira, City of
battleground. I'll motion to
approve both those meeting
minutes.
>> Kadee Fevella second.
>> Great. It's been moved and
seconded. Councilor Stober, did
you have any comments? Okay.
All right. All those in favor
say I, I. I any opposed? Great.
Motion passes. Okay, then we'll
circle back to updates again.
And severe Weather Council for
the homeless chair.
>> Do you mind if I one last
thing on the systems analysis.
I think the other thing I just
wanted to let folks know is
we're going to get started. I
think even, you know, assuming
we can get the folks in the
center up to up to speed as
well. But working on the draft,
Isla, that will need to go
around to all the cities. And
so I'll just be sending out an
email to folks probably in the
next week or two asking for
volunteers to review the draft
and to work on that to bring
back to the group. So if folks
are interested in being part of
that, keep an eye out for that.
When we send out the draft.
Isla.
>> Great. Thank you for that.
Any other comments on the RFP?
Go ahead.
>> Chair Stover, city of
Vancouver, two things. One is
Isla means interlocal agreement
and two, council member
president. I talked about I'm
I'm available to go up to the
center as well. Thank you.
>> Fantastic. Any other
comments? And thank you for
that. We often forget those
acronyms. Okay. Szczesny and
sunny.
>> Hello this is Sunny Wonder
Council for the homeless. So
for those who are unaware,
today is going to be close to
90 degrees. So severe hot
weather season is coming at us
pretty fast. We are going to
again be digging into that with
Corissa specifically, as well
as public health, kind of
trying to coordinate around
messaging, developing messaging
both for our community as well
as unhoused community.
Specifically, what is messaging
look like? Sorry, voice is a
struggle today. So messaging
with public health as well as
just coordination, planning
when there is a fire that is
threatening, in particular,
recognizing threats across our
county, but in specific
specifically focusing in on our
in-house community is really
crucial that we're coordinating
with Corissa, as well as
pulling in our severe weather
task force on what that
strategy looks like, as well as
our outreach team. So that's
the name of the game this month.
What we're digging into in the
packet Jordan did include thank
you Jordan. So provided an
overview of our winter weather
response as well as our severe
weather response during the
winter season. So two distinct
things. We have the winter
weather response, which is
roughly from the end of
November through March. And
that is recognizing that
nighttime temperatures and kind
of impacted with rain as well
can be very impactful. So
systems increasing shelter
response and then severe
weather is when we are saying,
hey, there's a higher criteria
of need. We're calling a severe
weather response that is set by
our severe weather task force.
We called severe weather during
the winter weather period,
including flooding, which was
new for us 36 nights. So that
was whether it was meeting
freezing temperature criteria
or if it was meeting a flooding
criteria. Flooding was new,
which I've shared here before,
but the freezing temperatures
is not new and is something
that we've kind of operated
under previously. Again, that
standard is set by our task
force partners and then Council
for the homeless will, based on
that criteria, call severe
weather. And then we're
coordinating to make sure that
we're getting the word out as
effectively as possible. So
there is an overview. Again,
these pieces are including the
success of the winter response
as well as the severe weather
response. So those 36 severe
weather nights would include
partners that opened warming
centers, overnight warming
centers. And in the summer,
what that would look like would
be cooling centers and
typically during the day. So
just to differentiate between
the two. I think that those are
the primary pieces. And just
noting, we have kind of broken
it down by the number of sleeps
that were provided, which is
really cool to see. There are,
of course, individual number of
people that were assisted, but
the number of nights that folks
were staying. So there were a
total of 694 sleeps that were
provided. So those are
individual nights that were
provided. And a total of 152
people, including 848 children.
This was at the Saint Saint
Andrew Lutheran who shelter
supported through share. And
then the next category is 3993
sleeps, or for a total of 54
people. That's through Saint
Paul's Lutheran Who Church and
is operated by outsiders in.
And then the SOS satellite
overflow shelter had a total of
282,846 sleeps, or 108 people
that stayed during. Again that
winter season. And then the
severe weather number is the
center one there, 815 sleeps or
211 people. So the that severe
weather response, it will often
be a large number of different
people that depending on if
they're near the area and that
different criteria. So it does
definitely look different. Are
there any questions, anything
you want to add?
>> Chair thank you sunny. Thank
you for the work and McEnerny
Ogle, Vancouver thank you for
this. A couple questions. Would
these. Locations be are summer
cooling shelters also?
>> So the summer shelters do
look different and I can put
out a plug for. We have a
couple of different approaches.
So we have a lot of actually a
fair number of churches that
are not included here that
actually provide summer
sheltering because it is a
little bit easier to
operationalize. You're not
doing the overnight stays and
instead it's during the daytime
or kind of those peak heat
hours. So it may go to like 8
p.m. for example, and is a
little easier for a church
community to take on. So we
have a few different churches
that respond around the county.
We are always a plug. We are
always looking for partners who
are interested, whether it is
thinking of different
jurisdictions, if you have
properties or if there are
churches that are interested,
or if you have any leads,
please let us know. We also do
misting stations, which are the.
I don't know if you were able
to see any pictures of those,
but kind of a tent and where
folks thinking of if you're not
able to go in or not
comfortable with taking pets in
and stuff like that, we do have
some locations, but you're able
to take your pets in. We've had
some of our safe stay partners
that have operated those as
well, a few other partners. So
during the summer, it has been
interesting. It looks very,
very different. And it is
because the response and need
is different. So it would not
be these partners, though they
most definitely do jump in or
continue to operate in
different ways throughout the
summer.
>> And when will we have that
list on the website?
>> When will we have the
partners on the website? So the
way that that works is
typically partners will. When
we call severe weather. So
during a severe weather event,
we're sending out that
information. So it can change
depending on during the winter
season. There might be things
if it is a church that is
responding, they might have an
event that is planned so
they're not able to open. So
they want to have volunteers
supported another location. So
it does change depending on the
capacity of those partners. So
when we call severe weather our
goal as much as possible and
recognizing we've seen some
pretty big changes in ability
to predict weather as early as
we would like to, but we do try
to get it out to the community
24 hours in advance on social
media, on our website, and out
to the severe weather Task
Force to be shared out as well.
One of those strategies, both
with Corissa and public health,
is also to be able to share the
information out as effectively
as possible with our unhoused
community through outreach
teams, but also through public
partnership, thinking of
businesses and stuff like that,
so that not everyone is going
to check our website or those
sorts of things. So we're
trying to make sure we're
getting the word out as quickly
as possible.
>> I was at Saint Andrew
Lutheran only on Friday
mornings, but thank you for
your help with the grandmother
that had five grandsons and
getting them housed was counsel
for the homeless at Saint
Andrew on a regular basis to
work with those families on
their housing assessments and
getting them housed before the
end of that winter.
>> Yeah. So the Saint Andrew's
with all of the partners most
definitely working to make sure
that assessments are happening.
That is during the winter
months. We do invest pretty
close that work really closely
with them to ensure that their
housing plans developed. And
they actually had some pretty
amazing success this year. A
lot of appreciation to the
shared team. Molly Hamstreet in
particular, who has worked
there for a number of years,
who had a lot of success with
getting families into housing.
>> So was it Council for the
homeless and Share at Saint
Andrew's this year?
>> So Saint Andrew's is
supported through this past
year. They share has for a
number of years been the
Staffing Support Council for
the homeless coordinates to
make sure that assessments are
done when they have a household
that is ready to move in or
they're needing support. We are
working really closely with
them.
>> Okay, so some of the
questions that came up from the
families is that they were
hoping to have more support.
And so maybe we need to look at
share and Saint Andrew closer
for this next coming winter.
>> Yeah, absolutely.
>> Great questions and good
conversation. I just had one
little thing and I don't know
when you you said 35 days were
severe weather day. They were
called for severe weather is
are do you have the ability to
track that year over year? It
would be interesting to see if
there's a trend with that. Just
kind of a side note. And then
the other question that I had
was, and, and perhaps Jamie can
chime in on this too, but we
had closures last year of some
of the normal facilities that
were open. Are we is everybody
that traditionally is going to
be open? Are they all planning
to be open this year?
>> Oh, I think.
>> I think I understand. So
you're saying are the
facilities that were open this
last severe weather going to be
open this next severe weather
season in the winter time.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I know that we
had I can't remember if it was
last year or the year before.
We had one facility that
normally was able to.
>> We had a couple facilities
that the city opened during the
winter time. But our
understanding is that that's
not happening. That didn't
happen this past year, and it
probably won't happen the next
year. But you never know with
particular facilities if there
are going to be available or
not. We hope that they will be.
And so, I mean, we're moving in
a direction of making sure that
we have enough facilities that
can help support the community.
>> Okay. And then are we
following the the number of
units, number of spaces that
are available to make sure that
we're, you know, not trending
the wrong way.
>> Doing the best we can. I
mean, of course, the numbers
are increasing and you never
know when a severe weather
event is going to happen and
how many days that's going to
happen.
>> Great.
>> And I think Jamie had
something to add.
>> Jamie does Jamie Spinelli
from the city of Vancouver
council member young. I think
what you're actually referring
to is beautiful Savior. Being
down a couple years prior,
which is why the city opened up
a couple facilities the season
before this most recent one. So
the city did not open up those
same facilities this past
winter. But Recovery Cafe
stepped in to work with
outsiders in and partner with
Immanuel Lutheran to be that
other that other location for
this past winter. It's my
understanding that beautiful
Savior is going to be ready to
go this next winter. Is that.
>> Word on the street is.
>> That is where.
>> I think that that is. I know
that it's been a long time
coming, but yeah, I believe
that it is.
>> I think I think that's
accurate. My question actually
is somewhat related to that,
which was that this past season
or and this coming, what is,
has been and is funded through
some additional or new dollars
from the county, the RFP that
went out that that kind of gave
everybody some dedicated
funding because there's not
historically been dedicated
funding for severe weather or
or weather response. Was it
included? I cannot remember for
part of that. I think for you
all in particular, to plan for
future for future funding or
needs or so that we would have
a plan moving forward for
funding, winter response or
weather related response
response or, or was it just the
two years? And then that's
that's it.
>> So I can say that that is
something that we have talked
about at the Severe Weather
Task Force meeting. I will let
the let Michael respond if he
has anything that he would like
to add. Per my understanding,
that is explicitly a two year
funding funding at this point.
So we shouldn't expect that
there would be additional funds
where those funds came from
that you're right, this is
historically been something
that hasn't been funded. So
relying on faith partners,
volunteers, kind of stretching
of the homeless response system
to be able to respond to
emergent need. There is an
element of planning involved in
it, and most definitely kind of
speaking to what Susan said,
we're continuing to explore
every potential option and to
acknowledge that with federal
funding shifts and cuts, that
it has narrowed the scope of
what we would be eligible to
apply for. We did apply for a
fairly small grant with in
partnership with Corissa, for
example. That funding is no
longer one that is feasible, is
not available for communities
to apply for. So that's just an
example of, you know, we
recognize a growing need for a
severe weather response while
also facing really historical
cuts to an infrastructure to
respond in kind. So that is one
of the challenges that we're
facing and trying to recognize
that it isn't sustainable to
rely on solely on a volunteer
basis response. It's really
important that we have a solid
structure to kind of be able to
increase and respond, and there
are fewer avenues for us to
access funding, but we are
nothing if not creative and
continuing to explore options
to be able to continue to
maintain the work and hopefully
continue to increase as we see
a more emergent need for a
severe weather response.
>> Yeah. This is Michael Torres
of the Clark County Community
Services. I'll add, you know,
there currently is no federal,
state or local funding that is
designated for severe weather
events, specifically, community
services has put aside some
community services funds and
and made it available in a
severe weather contract for a
period of two years, as Sonny
indicated at this time, because
there is no funding source
that's designated for severe
weather, we don't have
additional funds to add to that,
but we are planning to roll
those funds over and extend the
contracts, at least until they
run out. And in that severe
weather, contract planning is
an allowable cost. And looking
for other resources in in
planning for severe weather is
an allowable cost. So those
those efforts continue. And as
we have mentioned here at the
Echo, for everyone's awareness,
you know, having jurisdictions,
having localities identify and
set funds aside and resources
specifically for severe weather
is very helpful.
>> Thank you Michael.
>> All right. Well, go ahead
and move forward. Thank you for
that report. Member recruitment
update.
>> Yeah. So I just wanted to
give a quick update to folks.
We sent out a recruitment last
month for echo for those with
lived experience to participate.
We did not get very many
responses. And we did send it
out to the folks who had
applied the last time as well.
I know that had been a question
before, and so we've extended
again, I think that's that's on
the screen here. And so I just
would encourage folks to share
that with, with your networks
as well. We've extended that
deadline out to June 5th. So
we'll be looking again this
month for folks. So if you know
anyone or know anyone who knows
anyone, feel free to direct
them to the. Press release and
to Michelle to send their
information in. And hopefully
we'll have a bucket of folks.
Once we have kind of a critical
mass, we'll reach out to that
subcommittee who had offered to
review those applications and
then bring those forward to the
group.
>> So thank you for that. I
would say also that anybody
that manages any outreach
contracts, I think that would
be a great way to get that
information to folks that are
going out into the community,
talking to people. I think
outreach workers will really be
able to identify those that
might be a good fit for for
this. So just keep that in mind.
Any other thoughts before we
move on? Okay. All right. We'll
move on to a report on our
previous meeting, which is the
law enforcement panel debrief
and next steps. And just again,
I wanted to say that it was
very productive meeting, and I
appreciate all those that were
involved in the process and the
setup. It was a lot of work to
get all this put together, and
I think it was very successful.
And I know that the county is
working on, through social
media and other sources,
pushing for people to be able
to view this on CVTV. So
pushing that link. So all of
your organizations, please
consider doing so as well. I
think the messaging from that
meeting is really important for
the community to hear. But
Jordan, go ahead.
>> Thanks, chair. Yes, and I do
believe we've been able to put
that up on the county's YouTube
channel as well. So if that's
easier for folks, I know,
sometimes it's easier to embed
a YouTube link than to go
directly to CVTV. And so if
folks want to share the panel,
they can certainly do that.
Yeah. Just wanted to give the
group some time to debrief
about the panel, have an
opportunity for folks to kind
of share their thoughts.
Counsel Perez could not be with
us today, but she put together
this kind of quick summary
document that you've all got of
the law enforcement panel. I
would probably direct folks
maybe to page five for kind of
the the broader conversation.
Those are around
recommendations and next steps.
Some of the things that, that
we heard from the officers and
folks in attendance there and
those really relate to, you
know, expanding and sustaining
the CARES and co-responder
models. There was a lot of talk
about that. I know funding is
certainly a challenge, but one
of the the big takeaways I
think that we heard was that
that model is, is pretty
effective and that it's really
helping our law enforcement
folks connect people to the
right kinds of supports for
people who might be unhoused
and going through crisis. And
in particular, there's a need
for kind of ongoing funding.
You know, they've got some
funding to kind of spin it up.
But, but the ongoing funding is,
is continually a challenge
talking about, you know,
creating multidisciplinary
working groups at the regional
level. One of the things that
we heard from the chiefs in
particular is that they hadn't
all been in the same room
together. And so they, they
enjoyed the opportunity to, to
talk with one another, to kind
of engage in that dialog. And
one of the next steps that they
were talking about sounded like
was trying to get, get the
right, right level folks
together that are kind of
working on these issues more
directly to maybe have some
standing working groups, maybe
a little bit similar to what
you all are all doing at the
policy level. And so thinking
about how, how we can support
that regionally, thinking about
a regional contact management
information system, you know, I
know we have the homeless
management information system.
I don't know if law enforcement,
you know, maybe they have their
own system as well or can, can
develop something like that. Or
it sounded like there was a
need to try to develop a
searchable shared database. So
what does that look like? That
was certainly part of the
conversation. You know,
something that comes up a lot
in these conversations,
reducing service silos and
improving information sharing.
I think that's, that's kind of
part of potentially having some
of that information systems,
but just making sure that we
are working together, thinking
about the barriers that lead
people to not access services.
One of the things that came up
certainly was, was pets, you
know, not being able to bring
your pet into, into treatment
with you or, you know, family
members or things like that.
Investment in upstream services,
you know, how do we help folks
before they really get into
crisis? And then some
conversation about policy and
funding advocacy, thinking
about how are there
opportunities for state level
funding streams to help, help
support some of that work, and
then some clear guidance around
the 908 crisis response funding
to coordinate with 911. And
then just the final item is,
you know, sustaining the
momentum from the meeting,
which I think we're trying to
do now here, which is how do we
take what we've heard,
operationalize it, help that
become actionable both in each
of your individual communities
and then as, as well as a
county in each of our
individual jurisdictions within
it. How do we work together to
continue to improve services
and help folks get the
assistance that they that they
need when they need it? And so
those are those are just some
of the high level takeaways. So
would open the conversation for
folks about what they heard,
what they see as, as next steps,
and then maybe have a little
bit of a conversation about
what the group would like to
prioritize in terms of, I know
we've had some previous
conversations about having
future conversations with the
jail, with community courts,
with the hospital system, with,
with some other entities. And
so if there is a sense of how
you all would like to
prioritize that, we can start
getting those conversations
with those groups as well in
future meetings. And so, so
I'll, I'll stop talking and let
folks let folks go from there.
>> Vancouver, just a very. To
me, not unimportant, but under
the create the multi
disciplinary working group, it
it's great that says a heart
officer but we need what I
heard was officers from from
police forces throughout the
county, not just the cities and
that. So I think that's an add
to that that list of people
that need to be in that meeting.
Oh, and then pet barrier pet
barriers is bigger than just
people being able to take pets
in. It's also, I recently came
across somebody who's needing
to give up pets right now, and
we don't have resources for
that either. So pets is a
bigger than just being able to
bring them with them someplace.
>> So my, my question to
everybody here would be, we
have the RFP and process.
That's probably going to take
some time, but I think that all
of the information from this
meeting can be, you know, a
tool that we can give to
whoever ends up working with us
on, on that. But is there
anything that was identified
during the, the, the panel that
we as echo want to take a role
in or feel we should take a
role on? And it's within our
our line of duty, if you want
to call it that.
>> Chair.
>> Sure. Go ahead.
>> Excuse me. Thank you. Will
Fuentes County Council, I you
know, I think that what
councilor Perez and through
through Jordan Boger was red
was encapsulated everything
that was I think was captured
at this forum. What I would say,
since you are asking, you know,
what can we do as a committee?
And I think that the most
important thing and they
brought this up, a lot of the
law enforcement panelists that
were there that day, that it's
important to really have an
open line of communication with
law enforcement, be more
communicative, you know, engage
with them more often, as well
as engage with people on the
ground, with community members
on the ground to ensure that
we're we're really capturing,
you know, what the challenges
are. So I think that just, you
know, keeping that open
communication, law enforcement
is going to be essential and
figuring out how we can better
collaborate with them.
>> Sure.
>> Go ahead and. McEnerny Ogle,
Vancouver chair I watch this on
CVTV, and I know you're working
on moving forward with the
study, but that's going to take
a while. And I think your last
H on this, sustaining the
momentum is extremely important.
I would suggest that echo. Take
a look at the opportunity to
bring a body together on a more
regular basis. Several people
pointed out they needed
information in a timely manner,
reliable times and and who
comes when and where. This echo
group may be that organization,
but every four months or
something along those lines,
that group come back to this
particular body and have some
of these conversations while
you're preparing your survey,
your study so that that body
can actually add to the
recommendations that might come
out of it. You had a great,
interesting group. They may not
all send their chiefs the next
time, but as. This study is
going to take time and you
don't want to lose that
momentum, I would suggest you
talk to your group to figure
out how to make that happen.
But this group is on a routine.
It would be nice if you were
able to keep it and add to it.
I know they have different
opportunities to talk about
individuals, but the open lines
of communication are extremely
important and the help of
everyone, especially because
everyone is setting their
budgets. So just something to
consider.
>> What do you see that looking
like in terms of structure, or
is that they're going to meet
with the entire group each
month or form like a committee
that's subcommittee that's
working with them.
>> Well, this is Jamie from the
city of Vancouver. The thoughts
that I had that I had shared
with the City council members
from Vancouver were really more
about that kind of regularly
meeting working group with more
of the boots on the ground, law
enforcement. I know there were
there were a couple who had
mentioned, you know, that group,
including essentially what is
like the makeup of our heart
team. And the reason that that
is effective is because it
includes enforcement and
outreach and, you know, other
other city resources that that
interact with with homelessness.
I heard very clearly that, you
know, this probably comes as no
surprise to, to anyone there in,
in every jurisdiction, there
are a smaller number of folks
who utilize these systems a
great deal, whether it's crisis
systems, health care systems,
law enforcement, and, and those
tend to be kind of repeat
utilizers that are kind of, you
know, baffling, I think, to law
enforcement. Like, I don't know
what, you know, I don't know
what to do with these
individuals who've got needs
that are not for law
enforcement to meet. So my kind
of high level thought was
essentially creating a group of
some of those officers from
across jurisdictions that
actually do that interacting
and including, you know, like
some outreach, not every single
outreach team that can get very
hard to manage, but essentially
kind of a. Maybe like a
different version of like the
by name by, by name list
meetings that, that counsel for
the homeless facilitates and
including like maybe the PA's
office, some folks from
behavioral health outreach, law
enforcement, like CARES team
type folks to really kind of
talk about what folks they are
experiencing that they don't
know how to help law
enforcement in particular, how
they do not know how to help,
how to serve somebody in a
meaningful way in, in hopes
that that that group could kind
of maybe try to problem solve
together around some of those
high utilizers. It's, it's not
a fully formed concept in my
mind yet, but that was kind of
the thought.
>> Sesame Council for the
homeless. Jamie. Well, Jamie
and Jordan, I'm gonna say this.
When we did our brainstorming
session, I think one of the
things that came out of that
was having like subcommittees
from echo. And so maybe this
can be connected to a
subcommittee that we create
that could also link up
outreach, law enforcement, Echo
members as a subcommittee, and
they can meet regularly and
then come and, you know, report
out or, you know, give us more
information about what their
needs are.
>> Victoria Ferar. Here. I do
like what he just mentioned
about maybe doing a
subcommittee. Sorry, I should
have waited for you, chair, to
agree that I can speak.
>> Go ahead.
>> Okay. Thank you. Yeah, I do
agree with the the idea of what
you just said about maybe
forming a subcommittee, because
what I would like to see echo
do, and I know we're very
specific on what we do, and I
don't want us to get lost into
all of these other areas, but
also don't want to lose that
traction that we were able to
gain from last month's meeting.
I was very hopeful and very
thankful to be able to attend
that meeting. I know I bring it
back to my municipality, and I
asked everybody to watch the
video so they could see what we
got to see, and it was very
informative. And I would love
for us to just kind of
piggyback on what mayor, the
mayor said and, and others in
the room is maybe just help
facilitate maybe with this,
these meetings to help solve
the, you know, the repetitive,
I hate saying that word. That's
that sounds very ugly. People
who are needing these
wraparound resources that are,
you know, experiencing
homelessness, maybe get an
CARES team in the room, the
heart team in the room, because
it's one thing for us to go to
the meetings and bring it back
to our group here today. But
then they're the ones who are
on the boots on the ground.
They're the ones who are seeing
these issues. They're the ones
who need responses quicker than
you know what the mayor said.
It's like this. What we're
trying to achieve is it's going
to be very timely. And so how
do we not lose momentum and
still still provide, you know,
these tools to help our our
different groups, whether it be
police, like I said, the heart
team cares team, because I
would really, to be honest, I,
I see the, the, how do I put
this? I see echo as you know,
we're focusing on homeless, but
I really have a hard time not
looking at wraparound services
for mental health and trying to
help these people. It's great
that we want to provide a place
for them to live and get them
off the streets, but that's not
enough. So how do we look at
what we're doing and achieve a
long term goal, which is to see
people process out and get the
care that they actually need so
they can get out of their the
homelessness that they're
experiencing.
>> Thank you. Go ahead. Katie.
>> Thank you so much.
>> So as I do agree with having
an ongoing meeting, but as I'm
sitting here listening to this
conversation, it sounds.
>> Like the.
>> Need really matches up with
a meeting that is already held
in Clark County, that I'm
wondering if we could reach out
and see if we can merge with
them, which is the Clark County
Crisis Collaborative. The
Crisis Collaborative is very
much the same work. It's
developing that communication
strategy with key community
partners to understand, like
the crisis and opportunities
for upstream interventions and
some of the same people that we
would be asking to attend this
meeting, also attend the Crisis
Collaborative, such as managed
care, law enforcement, hospital
behavioral health providers,
individuals with lived
experience, housing and
homelessness providers. The
regional crisis line crosses
there, the school districts EMS
is there. So I wonder if this
would be an opportunity for us
to kind of blend into something
that's already happening and
make that a more robust meeting,
instead of creating something
that would almost seem a little
duplicative.
>> This is Jamie from the City
of Vancouver, Kadee I
appreciate that I have
historically attended that
meeting. I haven't been in a
while. There used to be two
similar meetings, I think. I
think I think maybe we're
talking about two different but
related things here. I think
it's a good idea to for those
systems to get together and
talk about system change system
needs. Et-cetera. And I think
what I heard from the panel
last month was really less
system stuff and more
individual stuff, like we
should always be working on, on
improving collaboration,
coordination across systems and
just improving, improving our
systems in general. And at the
same time, we've got
individuals with immediate
emergent needs that need to be
addressed in the best way
possible. And it seemed to me
like that's what a lot of the
the officers or the chiefs that
were here last month were
expressing a desire to kind of
roundtable with colleagues who
do similar work and can support
their efforts so that they're
not having to utilize an
enforcement as the only tool
does that. Does that make sense?
Katie.
>> Oh, yeah. Big time. And I
agree with you. I just in the,
in the sake of time and making
sure that there's nothing
duplicated, that this could
also be something that we could
look at if we don't want to do
a whole subcommittee looking to
see if there is a partnership,
and maybe that is not the best
avenue to do, but making sure
that everybody is aware that
those meetings are already
happening. And sometimes it's
nice to speak to people who are
already doing this so that when
if if we were to decide to have
a subcommittee, we very much
have a good understanding of
what our lane is and how to set
that up and not do something
that's already being done in
the community.
>> Yeah, I can't this is Jamie
again. I don't know if a full
subcommittee other than, you
know, maybe just a couple of us
who actually are more connected
to direct service just kind of
commits to reporting back on,
on outcomes from, from maybe
that work. That to me makes
sense because I also don't, I
cannot envision. No offense,
but having electeds in a room
when we're talking about
people's private information,
can, you know, confidential
information. That's something
that has to be worked out even
with the law enforcement
component. Prior, prior to
having those discussions,
there's a reason it's difficult
to put these kinds of groups
together because of that
information sharing.
Particularly related to, you
know, health care, behavioral
health, things like that.
>> Absolutely.
>> Yeah. But I did use I don't
know if you ever went to that
meeting. One bunk previously
attended. And at that meeting,
there was there was a need for
that kind of case conferencing.
And so Tyler and I used to have
to kind of just hang back after
the meeting ended for bunk and
me and Tyler to case conference,
very specific people. And so I
think, I mean, it's essentially
like a larger, more intentional
version of that that seems to
be needed.
>> Yeah. Thank you.
>> Ty Stover, Vancouver. I just,
I want to really echo that
information sharing portion of
it. So still in my mind is when
Mr. Ashby was killed, that,
that I came to the
understanding and I brought to
this group and or whatever
integration of this group there,
there is this divide between H.
I'm HMIS and police records.
And we need so we need, we need
the people in the room that can,
you know, the, the people who
have access to HMIS have to be
in the room with the people who
have access to police records.
And it would be great if
somebody had access to the. And
could. Somehow provide the
medical perspective or that
gets even more tricky. But but
if we're going to be able to
solve these individual. The,
the, the challenge that some of
our individuals have, we need
to be able to cross those
information divides somehow and
whatever. And for this group to
support the formation of
whatever group that can make
that information sharing happen,
I think is, is important.
>> Go ahead.
>> Mayor Anne McEnerny Ogle.
Vancouver. And perhaps tie the.
If the chair created a
subcommittee with a couple
short responsibilities, one
could be the study of. See the
building of that information
system because I can imagine
the number of public records
requests that we get on
everything. I don't know if
HMIS is open to public records
requests, but I don't. I
wouldn't want this document,
this spreadsheet, whatever
database that is being created
here to be open to public
records requests. So that would
need a legal chat. So maybe
this subcommittee could take a
look at a searchable shared
database. What that would mean
short little task, get it done
and bring it back for the next
conversation. And then use it
from there to move on with next
pieces.
>> This is Jamie. There are CWS
that protect the personal
information from people who are
connecting with services,
receiving benefits through the
state, people, you know,
indigent defense kinds of
things. So I don't think that I
think that we would be safe
there. Yeah, it just needs to
be built out. The process, the
whole structure needs to be
built out in a way that the
appropriate kinds of
information can be shared, and
the appropriate information
kept private.
>> Well, who, what, where, when,
why and how.
>> Any other thoughts on that?
Well, I feel the same way. I
feel like at this point, if we
could find folks that were
willing to, we could create a
subcommittee. And yes, its
purpose initially is very short
term to kind of go through some
of these issues and bring back
a or at least one, but
hopefully maybe multiple
recommendations to the body
that we could look at. And
perhaps that subcommittee or we
form a different one continues
on with some work, or basically
we can evaluate as a group what
we would like to participate in
and what we feel like is within
our realm of authority and
responsibility. And then we can
work with legal to evaluate
some of those things as well.
Does that sound reasonable to
everyone here? All right. Do we
need to have a motion to create
a subcommittee at this point? I
don't know what our rules of
procedure are here. The chair,
the Chair okay. All right. So
who who would like to serve on
that committee?
>> I'd be interested. This is
Katie Faville.
>> Great. Katie, thank you.
>> For your career. I would
also be interested.
>> Okay. Jamie? Yeah. Jamie.
>> You don't both need to be on
it.
>> Anyone else?
>> This is sunny, counselor for
the homeless I can join.
>> Great. Okay. And I probably
won't officially join the
committee, but I may join in
when I can. All right, so we
will exchange emails after the
meeting and see if we can get
those meetings scheduled
scheduled up. Between all of
you, thank you for volunteering
for that, and I look forward to
some upcoming recommendations
to the the body of the group.
Is there anything else that we
would like to discuss that
relative to the panel that we
held? All right.
>> I'll add from counsel for
the homeless, I heard that
there is a need to educate
community on what the law
enforcement can and cannot do,
and I'm not for sure if where
that vehicle is that we can do
that. But I, I mean, multiple
people from the panel talked
about, you know, that, you know,
the community often wants them
to solve or fix or remove
someone who's experiencing
homelessness. And that's just
not what they can do. So I
don't know if it's an echo.
Thing for us to figure out ways
to educate community, but it
sounded like they were
desperately needing someone to
educate community on what they
can and cannot do.
>> So any thoughts on how that
can be accomplished? I would
ask, first of all, if anybody
is aware of any mechanism or
way I know periodically on
Facebook, I'll see things from
VPD, for example. I don't know
if I've ever seen it on that
particular subject, but their
Facebook page does come up in
my feed periodically. So, I
mean, I'm certain that they
could maybe it's at this point,
you know, all of us here are
elected officials from our
various jurisdictions. Perhaps
we could go back to our our
staff or in our case, in the
county. We would need to
communicate with the sheriff,
of course. But is that a
jurisdiction specific goal or
is that something that we feel
that echo should take a formal
role in?
>> Taste over Vancouver? So.
This. This is a marketing
campaign. It would be great to
start with an interview format
on CVTV. Law enforcement with a
a moderator kind of talking
through a few of these general
things, and then then it that
being turned into. Social media
clips that can be shared out.
The question is, who has money
to do any of that? Obviously,
we we own CVTV. So that part of
it's easy. But the processing
and creating the social media
campaign is the, is the
challenge here. But it. And it
needs to be. And then it needs
to be promoted on social media.
It has to be a paid campaign on
social media. So it's showing
up on people's feeds
continually.
>> I don't know if our other
police departments have
Facebook or social media. Of
course Vancouver does. But do
we know if battleground Kamea
Washougal Ridgefield how do
they get their information out?
We can look that up, but you
have battleground, Camas,
Ridgefield, Vancouver. You had
the Clark County sheriff, you
had Clark, Cowlitz, Fire and
Rescue. I like the idea of
sitting down, having a an
interview, short conversation,
taking the talking points from
those and simply doing
headshots. 30s from each of the
chiefs. They can have time to
prepare. They can be in uniform.
We can loop it all together,
put it in one, and send it out
on all of ours. And I would
hope that the different cities
have some social social media
of some sort. So the county and
the city own CVTV. All we need
to do is get the first person
to help us do the interview,
write it short clips, and again,
that shares with the momentum
that they've already started.
They already came. They're
already on CVTV. It might be
that there's enough. There are
enough clips in that last.
Video, but if someone wanted to
expand on that, all you need is
that first person who could
lead it off. Paul Harris from
our staff does a wonderful job
of putting them together and
getting it done.
>> So, chair, I'm willing to
take on something here.
>> That was going to be my
question.
>> Yeah, I'm willing to take on
something here. And. Maybe
Jamie and I can brainstorm.
>> Sure I can, I can help with
that.
>> Okay.
>> Okay. I don't think we need
to form a subcommittee for this,
but perhaps if you could report
back to us next month, that
would be great. Thank you for
being willing to do that. Thank
you for the idea and bringing
that up. I know if we were to
go through and watch that video
right now, we would have hours
worth of conversations. But
it's been a month now already.
And a lot of those things
escape our our thought
processes. But I think we got
two good action items out of
this that we can work on. Any
other good ideas before we move
on? Okay. All right. Thank you
for that. All right. We will go
ahead now and move forward.
We'll turn the time over to
Jamie to give us the homeless
situation report and bridge
shelter update for the City of
Vancouver.
>> Okay. I actually only
prepared like a few minutes
worth of stuff because I
figured that conversation would
last a lot longer. I don't know
if anyone got the photos that
could potentially go up onto
the screen. I'll give the
bridge shelter update first.
That way you can just look at
those pictures so that
everybody can see where we are
with the bridge shelter. It's
actually very exciting. Walls
are going up, buildings are
being constructed. We're on
track to have that opened thus
far before the end of this year,
which is very exciting.
>> Jamie. Michelle, do we have
those photos? Do you have those
photos? Oh, okay. Okay, great.
All right. Thank you.
>> Okay. I guess just as a
reminder for anyone who does
not know that shelter is going
to serve up to 120 people do
good is going to be the service
provider on site. We are
working to solidify our
operational contract with both
them and Cowlitz, because
Cowlitz will be providing the
opioid treatment, the
medication assisted treatment
on site, which is also very
exciting because we don't have
another shelter in town that
does that. So people will be
able to access their medication
and behavioral health services
every day on site. Pets will be
allowed. It'll be for single
adults and couples. There are
three individual dorms serving
men, women and couples
separately. Showers and
restroom on site. One of the
buildings, which we're kind of
right now calling the Commons
building. We'll have a
commercial kitchen, some dining
space, and then some additional
office space for Cowlitz. There
we go. So actually, more of
that building in the front is
built, is is erected currently
than is in that photo. But that
was the the best aerial we
could find. This is the
backside of the Commons
building, I believe. So
there'll be kind of a covered
eating area. So it's it's very
exciting actually. I hadn't
seen it in the property in like
2 or 3 months. And then I saw
all that and I was like, oh,
wow. It's no longer just a
blank slate. I think that's
updates on the bridge shelter
largely, but I'm happy to take
questions if anybody has any. I
also uploaded the situation
report for March. I'm. I didn't
actually intend on going
through every single data point
here, but I did want to because
Councilmember Young and
Councilmember Perez had asked
for just kind of some trends.
These. The situation report can
be found on the city's website,
which. The link was provided to
everybody on the emergency. The
homeless emergency declaration
page. But we are, you know, as
of March, we the heart team had
cleared a little over 100 tons
of solid waste from encampments
around encampments on public
property. Our law enforcement,
the interactions with law
enforcement. So calls for
service and the amount of time
that enforcement is, is
spending on issues related to
homelessness have remained
pretty steady over the last few
months, which is I know people
get very excited about what
looks like a decrease in the
leveling, but a lot of that has
to do with whether people in
colder months, there's just a
lot less interaction. So TBD on
whether or not those numbers go
back up again. But those are
those. And then I thought it
might be more worthwhile to
talk about the actual like 2005,
like annual data so that you
can. 2025 is that what I said?
2000? I said 2005. Don't listen
to me. It's still early. I
haven't finished my coffee. So
in 2025 at the safe Stays and
Safe park across all five sites,
we served 487 total people and
42% positive exits across all
four or across all five, which
is pretty significant actually,
because it's shelter. Shelter
exits in general tend to be
fairly low ish, kind of
nationally, usually somewhere
around 2025 ish percent
positive exits out. So that was
we're excited about those. The
heart team removed 352 tons of
solid waste. The Encampment
response coordinator
coordinated all of that from
Public works, 352 tons, which
actually was a 15% reduction in
the year before. So even though
we've the work has kind of
remained the same ish,
generating less solid waste,
which is a good thing. We did
close down two large
encampments in 2025. So along
the mill plain Sound Wall and
Burnt Bridge Creek, which is
probably part of that reduction
in solid waste removal and in
the heart team count. So we do
an unsheltered count in just
Vancouver city limits, similar
to counts for the homeless
point in time count that's
countywide. We do ours in the
summer. Usually ours lasts at
least a couple of weeks. We
also utilize information from
folks who are in jail during
that same time period, who we
know are experiencing
homelessness and would be
outside otherwise. So it's
we're trying to get as close as
we can to like, who is actually
experiencing homelessness and
would be outdoors or are
outdoors in Vancouver. And even
with all of that, we had a 6%
reduction in unsheltered
homelessness in Vancouver from
2420 24 to 2025. So not a
massive change, but a change in
the right direction nonetheless.
And then 329 individuals were
cited into community court. And
those citations are largely
done by the city's heart heart
officers. And those citations
have actually, like, I think
they've doubled year over year
since community court opened.
So a lot of folks engaging in
those services through their.
What was the other one that was
most important? The. I have
been actually most excited
about the. Having the
combination of community court
data and information paired
with, you know, kind of our,
our typical, our typical data
collection. And when I was able
to kind of look at the two, the
two kind of sets of data, what
we realized is that there were
like 44 people, at least 44
people who had been cited in
the community court for issues
related to camping or very low
level stuff while camping, who
had never connected to any part
of our homeless crisis response
system, and to be cited into
community court by one of our
officers, our officers. It's
they don't they're not citing
people who they've met for the
first time who have. You know,
have not who are connecting to
services, who are not having
issues with a lot of solid
waste or, you know, maybe
criminal activity at their camp.
Typically, people being cited
are those who we have tried to
engage, tried to get into
services, tried to transition
into shelter, tried to offer
housing and, and there's still,
there's still kind of in a
space of not not prioritizing
that kind of forward movement,
I suppose, getting off of the
streets. So I thought it was
interesting that there were
that number of people who had
just never connected to any
part of our system at all. Not
all that surprising given is
largely in Burnt Bridge Creek,
but interestingly, nonetheless,
and I think that's probably.
That's probably the the main
updates o mobile health, mobile
health and the mobile. I
already mentioned the mobile
OTP, but Columbia River's
mobile health team is back up
and running. They had a like a
year of not being operable just
due to some organizational
things, but they are back up
and running. They are providing
services in the fourth lane
corridor at encampments, at the
safe stays. I know that they're
still doing some hiring for
some of their positions, but
they do have enough filled that
they can be operating. They
support Community Corps a great
deal. And in addition to the
mobile health services that
they provide, they also are
providing some training very
specific to working with folks
who are unhoused. And some of
the some of the more complex
challenges because it has been,
I think, system wide and
probably community like
statewide, it's been
challenging staffing up some of
these programs or services to
meet the more complex
challenges that exist in the
homeless community these days.
And so it seems like if we
can't hire enough people, then
maybe we can also build the
skill of those we have, you
know, as we're trying to
increase capacity. So they have
been providing training and
will continue to provide
training for all of our safe
stay and safe park staff, the
heart team and, and, and some
others in the area if they need
it. So that's been that's been
very, very cool to see. And I
think that's it.
>> Thank you for that. Jamie. I
just had one question for you.
I think when you mentioned that
two camps were closed, can you
elaborate a little bit on the
process of how that went and
what happened to the folks that
were in those camps?
>> Sure. So when we are looking
at decommissioning encampments,
those larger encampments,
typically we only do that when
conditions at an encampment
really reach a threshold level
where public health, safety,
sanitation just cannot be
managed with our typical kind
of resources. For example, if
you remember, back in 2022, we
actually closed the encampment
over off of Chekhov and and
Mill Plain. And one of the
reasons that that just could
not remain there was because we
can we could not bring
sanitation services to that,
that location. We could not
bring porta potties. We
couldn't get a dumpster there
because the property was
completely landlocked. So there
was no way to service anything
that we put there. So things
similar to that, we also look
at crime calls for service
vulnerability of the folks who
are who are living in the
encampments, fires, how close
they are to a high traffic
corridor. So that's, that's
part of what what occurred with
the mill plain sound wall,
particularly with just like the
number of pets, people and pets
that we had right near the
roadway. So what we do, this is
a months long, many months long
process where we create
essentially a by name list for
that encampment. So we open
that list up for an amount of
time. My team creates a list of
everybody who's living in that
space. We look at what their
needs are. Have they connected
to to coordinated entry, do
housing assessments. And then
we at the safe stays, we kind
of pause entry from everyone,
everywhere else into those
sites. And all of those, all of
our site entries come from the
encampment that we're working
to decommission. Not everyone
goes into, into shelter. To be
very clear, some people don't.
I think at both sites it's been
about 50%. 50% of the people on
the list on each list have gone
into shelter. But we pick a
date and we, you know, by this
date we have offered, we have
at least offered everyone on
that list a shelter space. And
then we clean that, we close,
then we close it, we clean it.
That day. Everyone's given a
warning. Everyone knows well in
advance of when the camp's
going to be closed, so they've
got time to pack up their
things, find somewhere else to
go, accept a shelter space.
That's pretty much it.
>> And so everybody is offered
a space shelter.
>> Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you. Any other
questions for Jamie? Okay.
Thank you. Appreciate you
giving that update. Okay.
Takeaways. Recommendations.
Next steps in closing. So far,
we have a new subcommittee
that's going to. So we need to
send email starting emails.
Jordan, are you able to
facilitate that?
>> Yes, I've got the list of
folks who want to participate
in that subcommittee, and I'll
send out an email to everyone
asking about schedules for
calendaring.
>> Great. And then we have
Councilor Stober that's taken
on the marketing campaign. So
he'll report back to us on that.
And the other takeaways. I
missing anything.
>> Chair, just to go back and
close out last. March. So last
time we had a regular meeting.
So. What what's the final
outcome on funding for this for
the the study. So is every it's
down to just the center.
>> Yes. Every jurisdiction at
this point has agreed.
>> Okay, great. And then we're
working on that. That's due at
the time. Correct. So and then
where are we at with renewing
the interlocal agreement for HB
2060 document recording fees?
>> Yes. Thank you. We that
draft should be getting
circulated in the month of June.
We have been delayed on that.
Thank you.
>> Great. Any other last
thoughts or anything? Good for
the good of the order. Sounds
like there isn't. So we'll give
everybody a few extra minutes
back into their day. Appreciate
all your work and all the
comments and, and all the
efforts that we make to try to
make this horrible situation a
little bit better. So we'll see
you all next month. Thank you.