Plans are to upgrade site to permanent supported housing

PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County commissioners have opted to move forward on leasing the Caswell-Brown Village encampment to the Olympic Community Action Programs, which has been managing it since last fall.

Led by Commissioner Greg Brotherton, the commissioners voted unanimously Monday to negotiate a lease agreement to include a possible purchase option for Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP).

For weeks, OlyCAP Executive Director Cherish Cronmiller and Housing and Community Development Director Kathy Morgan have entreated the board to officially grant them site control — which a lease does. With this designation, OlyCAP can apply for considerable state funding to expand the village and serve more people in need, Cronmiller and Morgan have said.

The village, established in September as campers were moved to it from the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, now provides a place for 23 adults and one child, Morgan said Wednesday.

Yet a lease agreement and site control will not close OlyCAP’s short-term funding gap for infrastructure at the village. Although the commissioners allocated $1 million last year to buy the 28-acre site, move people in and provide the most basic of services, more help is needed, Cronmiller and Morgan have said.

The village began as an emergency measure after the fairgrounds encampment became untenable; now OlyCAP is seeking to upgrade it to permanent supported housing.

A septic system, electrical and water hookups and other improvements are necessary if the encampment is to decently accommodate its planned capacity of 50 people, according to the OlyCAP staffers.

All along, Brotherton has pushed for continued support of the village, saying its residents are part of the community, and that the responsibility to care for people in need does fall on the county’s shoulders.

Cronmiller, for her part, told the commissioners at their March 28 meeting that OlyCAP receives “nonstop” calls from people hoping to come and stay at Caswell-Brown. Morgan added that too many are living in cars or other places unfit for human habitation.

At their next meeting on April 4, the commissioners voted unanimously to allocate another $500,000 toward the utility improvements at the village.

Then, at last Monday’s session, Morgan noted that another $300,000 is needed for construction to continue.

The commissioners discussed what the source of that money might be, even as they look at funding other affordable housing projects and needs around the county.

Would it come from American Rescue Plan Act funding, they wondered, or is that all spoken for?

Commissioner Kate Dean wanted to know what the opportunity costs — the sacrifices of other projects — would be if the county sinks another large sum into Caswell-Brown Village.

In an effort to move things forward, County Administrator Mark McCauley spoke up.

“You could direct your county administrator to find the $300,000,” he said, adding that he’s likely to be successful.

In past meetings, McCauley has said funding can be moved around from project to project depending on urgency of need.

The commissioners accepted that approach; “beat the bushes” for that money, Brotherton said.

The Caswell-Brown Village is named after two people who died in the past year and a half: Victoria Brown, 23, who was found dead outside her trailer at the fairgrounds in December 2020, and John Caswell, who was 62 when he perished in the extreme heat wave last June.

The village is an effort to prevent more suffering and death among those who are unhoused, Cronmiller has said.

When the commissioners asked her on Monday whether she preferred to lease the village site or purchase it, she replied that either option could work.

“You have entrusted us to go forward,” she said.

Jefferson County Senior Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or [email protected]

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