Helping Hands seeks south side property

By Katherine Lacaze

Seaside Signal

A plan to use the Hyak Building for rehabilitating the homeless is no longer an option in Seaside. But representatives of Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers see a new prospective site for its re-entry program.

The Northwest Oregon Housing Authority gave Helping Hands permission to build a relief facility on a piece of its property off U.S. Highway 101 north of Avamere at Seaside, formerly Necanicum Village Senior Living.

The property south of Seaside off U.S. Highway 101 “seemed like a much better fit than that location we were trying for,” Helping Hands Executive Director Alan Evans said.

Originally Helping Hands hoped to use the Hyak Building, a multi-unit dwelling on the corner of Edgewood Street and Avenue S owned by the Clatsop County Housing Authority. The social-service group planned to use part of the building to house men in the last phase of their re-entry program.

During the past couple of years, that plan ran into multiple obstacles: a lack of funding, resistance from some neighbors and, most recently, a potential zoning issue. Use of the Hyak Building as a multifamily dwelling in the residential medium-density zone had lapsed, and would no longer be allowed.

While the group could have legally fought the zoning interpretation, the cost to do so would have been prohibitive for either organization, according to Todd Johnston, executive director of Northwest Oregon Housing Authority.

Helping Hands determined it wasn’t worth the time or cost to go through a strenuous legal process, especially since there was another option, the new location off Highway 101.

Johnston agreed, adding even if Helping Hands scaled down the scope of the project so it wouldn’t violate the Hyak Building’s zone designation, “there was a feeling the neighbors still were giving a lot of resistance.”

In response, Helping Hands changed its focus. Rosemary Baker-Monaghan, a former Seaside mayor who lives in the neighborhood near the Hyak Building, initially suggested the new location at an April meeting of the housing authority.

To proceed with building a facility at the new location, the city of Seaside will need to pursue a community development block grant for Helping Hands. The program is run through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and grants are awarded to communities, not organizations.

Helping Hands has approached the city about hosting the grant and will formally make a request at an upcoming council meeting.

“We’re not going to sit down for a planning session without knowing the city will host the grant,” Evans said.

Once the organization gets a commitment from the city, the partners can begin to draw up a budget. The housing authority’s property would either be transferred to Helping Hands or purchased by the organization through the grant program, Johnston said.

“Our involvement mostly would be providing the property,” he said. “I think the main partnership would be through Helping Hands and the city of Seaside,”

Evans believes this is a good solution, since it means Helping Hands likely “won’t get resistance from neighbors and other things we have dealt with.”

Helping Hands also plans to extend its reach into Tillamook County. Last year, a group of citizens, community leaders and professionals approached Helping Hands about the homeless problem in Tillamook.

Helping Hands challenged Tillamook County civic leaders to raise $50,000 as startup money. In late July, the organization made an offer on a 21,000-square-foot former naval command center with the goal of transforming it into the state’s first, fully functional homeless relief center.