C.E. John spends a lot of time working in Oregon, but the Vancouver-based developer felt the need to contribute to its local community.
The latest contribution comes in the form of $300,000 earmarked for Vancouver’s new day center for the homeless at 2018 Grand Blvd. that received final approval last month.
“Every year, we get together and talk about where we’re at and where we see needs in the community,” said Mark Osborne, C.E. John managing partner. “We all agreed we seem to have a real homelessness issue.”
But Osborne and the rest of the C.E. John family didn’t know which project most needed a little financial help. They were directed toward the day center by the Community Foundation, a Southwest Washington charity organization that connects donors with needy projects.
“We were initially apprehensive because whenever you talk about shelters or day centers, the community gets up in arms,” Osborne said. “We didn’t want to be a part of something we felt was going to be frowned upon, but the more we started looking at how the city was doing it, we got excited.”
The day center wasn’t without controversy, however. The monthslong approval process included public backlash from neighbors and an appeal that the city council rejected in late March. The conclusion allows the city to begin planning and moving forward with renovations.
C.E. John is donating $150,000 up front to help the city renovate the new center and $30,000 annually for the next five years to help with operating costs. The donation means the city can save funding that would have gone toward the project for other purposes.
“We need to not only maintain a quality of life for everybody but strive to have a better quality of life for everybody,” he said.
C.E. John issued only one caveat to the city of Vancouver: ensure the future day center is something everyone can be proud of.
“I think the community just thinks this is going to be a place people put down their tents and leave, but that’s not the goal,” Osborne added. “We want resources for folks.”
Tentative plan
Peggy Sheehan, Vancouver’s community and economic development programs manager, agrees. Sheehan announced the donation and presented a funding plan for the day center at Monday’s city council workshop.
“The generous donation from the C.E. John company allows us to move forward with the day center rehab at a much faster pace,” Sheehan said. “This donation is an expression of how caring our community is.”
The tentative plan puts renovation costs at $775,000, up from initial estimates of $500,000.
The remodel will add showers, bathrooms and storage for day center visitors to use. Funding comes from C.E. John, as well as $145,000 from state capital appropriation funds, $155,000 from either the general fund or Community Development Block Grant funds, and if the city’s request is granted, an additional $25,000 from BNSF Railway. The city is also waiting to confirm a second donor that will potentially donate $150,000.
“If something happens and that doesn’t come through we’d use additional CDBG funds,” Sheehan said.
To operate the day center once it opens — tentatively in September unless the city can find a way to expedite the process — it could cost the city more than $570,000 a year. Sheehan said they are hoping to allocate a little more than $240,000 from the Affordable Housing Fund to pay for operations. The funding would require city council approval.
Vancouver has locked in $200,000 annually from county deed recording fees, as well as C.E. John’s $30,000 commitment and an additional $100,000 annual commitment from the Vancouver Housing Authority.
A place to be proud of
Looking forward, Osborne said they hope the day center is just the first step.
“In the future it would be wonderful if the day center had mental health options for people, job options for people,” he said. “And the city kind of guaranteed us.”
A tentative commitment from the city to expand services at the day center in the future is what Osborne said gave them the push to commit to funding the project.
Chad Eiken, the city’s community and economic development director, said they want to make sure the building is an asset to the community.
“And make sure it looks like a building the city is proud of,” Eiken said.
But he stressed that there are no plans in place yet. There isn’t even funding to add any other services to the day center at this point.
“The city would certainly be interested in finding uses that complement the day center and add value in that respect but we need to really make sure everyone’s engaged in that conversation and that there’s at least some community consensus for what it should be used for,” Eiken said.
