MCCAC Gives Housing, Shelter, Projects Updates
By: Kallen Hittner
Photo Credit: Noah Noteboom
For Columbia Gorge News, Dec 20, 2023
HOOD RIVER — The Hood River City Council received updates on housing and shelter assistance projects, including the construction of The Gloria Center in The Dalles, from the Mid-Columbia Community Action Council (MCCAC) during the Dec. 11 city council meeting.
MCCAC offers services in Hood River, Wasco, and Sherman counties. These services range from utility assistance, weatherizing homes, housing assistance and homeless services.
The Gloria Center is expected to open in spring 2024, according to MCCAC Executive Director Kenny LaPoint. The facility includes emergency pallet shelters, as well as multi-use offices for MCCAC and other agencies, such as The Mid-Columbia Center for Living, One Community Health, and the Columbia Gorge Health Council.
The emergency shelters consist of individual rooms, with access to showers and restrooms. Guests can access healthcare, employment resources, and housing services. The facility will also be equipped with solar panels and a battery system for community resilience.
Eventually, the pallet shelters will be replaced by stick-built tiny homes provided by the construction trades program at a local community college. The pallet shelters will be saved for emergency response situations such as wildfires.
A primary goal of MCCAC is to get people experiencing homelessness into permanent housing. This is done through a tiered system: Emergency housing, transitional housing, and permanent housing.
The Annex, which opened this October in The Dalles, serves as a longer-term transitional housing facility where The Gloria Center guests can potentially transfer. The Gloria Center property also includes 1.2 subdivided acres where the organization plans to develop permanent housing.
“Shelter is a band-aid to the bigger housing problems we are experiencing. Our goal is to get permanent housing completed,” LaPoint said.
Guests at The Annex look “physically healthier,” LaPoint said. This is due to the more dignified mode of living The Annex offers, including showers that can be accessed without going outside in the cold. Other services include access to a food pantry, food stamps, healthcare, jail diversion programming, and employment resources.
Six people have already transitioned from The Annex into permanent housing, including a veteran household.
The Hood River Winter Shelter opened Nov. 20. The 26 emergency units have been at full occupancy since, besides two units that opened up the same day as the city council meeting. The facility includes restrooms, showers, and a laundry room.
MCCAC is proud to have housed 95 people coming out of homelessness in 2023, LaPoint said.
When the city council asked how they can support MCCAC, he responded that, although funding is not currently needed, the council can support the organization by defending their services against public disagreement.
One way of doing this would be to share success stories, Councilmember Gladys Rivera suggested.