PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County commissioners are continuing to support the Caswell-Brown Village, aka the homeless encampment off Mill Road, by investing another $500,000 and considering a new funding mechanism.
During their meeting earlier this week, the commissioners added that sum to the $1 million it had already provided to purchase 30 acres of land and establish the village last fall.
All of this comes from American Rescue Plan Act funding: federal money to address the impacts of the pandemic. Jefferson County has “quite a bit of flexibility” when it comes to spending it, County Administrator Mark McCauley said in an interview.
The Caswell-Brown Village is named in honor of John Caswell and Victoria Brown. Brown, 23, perished outside her trailer at a homeless encampment at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds after a drug overdose on Dec. 29, 2020, and Caswell, 62, was unhoused and died during the extreme heat wave last June.
The village, where about 20 people currently camp, could be expanded to accommodate 50 according to county ordinance. It is in need of a septic system, electrical power, improved water and shower hookups and other infrastructure, Cherish Cronmiller, Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP) executive director, has told the commissioners.
For some six months now, OlyCAP has been operating the site and planning to make living conditions better there. In a lengthy discussion with the commissioners, Cronmiller spoke about a way to garner other funding, primarily from state sources.
Jefferson County, which bought the Caswell-Brown Village land for $602,000 in 2021, could turn around and sell much of it to OlyCAP. Then the agency, as the entity with site control, would be eligible for that other funding directly from the state.
In addition, the county could gift the sale monies back to OlyCAP, providing it with yet more support for operation of and improvements to the village.
Commissioner Greg Brotherton expressed keen interest in the idea, while commissioners Heidi Eisenhour and Kate Dean also are inclined to discuss it.
The possibility of selling the property — and how much of it — is on this Monday’s commissioners’ meeting agenda; the public can attend online via https://zoom.us/j/93777841705, or in person at the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St. To read the agenda, go to https://www.co.jefferson.wa.us/129/Agendas-Minutes and look under County Commissioners.
The county may hold on to a strip of land along state Highway 20 for future commercial development, McCauley said after this week’s meeting. So it wouldn’t sell all 30 acres, and the price would be lower than $602,000.
Cronmiller, however, told the commissioners that OlyCAP owning the Caswell-Brown Village land is a kind of emergency tactic. The installation work for the septic system and water hookups is at a standstill now that OlyCAP has run out of money, she said.
“It’s not my dream to have OlyCAP own this parcel,” Cronmiller said, laughing. Leaving it in its current hands keeps the legal liability on the county’s shoulders, something she would prefer.
“The only reason I’m willing to take that on is to try to get more money flowing,” she said.
At the commissioners’ meeting last Monday, Cronmiller brought in Korbie Jorgensen Haley of the Office of Rural & Farmworker Housing, a nonprofit consultant.
“We have expanded to doing all types of housing in rural areas,” Haley told the commissioners, adding the office has projects supporting formerly homeless people around the state, including in Yakima and Wenatchee.
She went on to talk about various state funders that could support OlyCAP, once it has site control of the Caswell-Brown Village.
Based on her experience, said Haley, “this is going to be a very competitive project. I feel very optimistic.”
The state Department of Commerce, she said, is allocating funds now for what is called “permanent supported housing” for people in need.
Cronmiller, for her part, mentioned OlyCAP’s 7th Haven project, a low-income apartment complex being built at Seventh and Hendricks streets in Port Townsend. This is evidence that OlyCAP can run a sound project, she believes.
A very different site, 7th Haven is “going so well, it’s a feather in our cap,” Cronmiller said.
She added that it may not “formally count” in the state’s funding criteria for Caswell-Brown.
To which Haley said: “It does formally count.”
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Jefferson County Senior Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz @peninsuladailynews.com.
