Courtyard Village’s crisis and beyond

o Sheltered 1,400 homeless people.

o Served nearly 90,000 hot meals.

o Helped an average of 100 households per month with housing subsidies, other support.

SOURCE: sharevancouver.org

Andy Silver, the executive director of the Council for the Homeless, said Thursday that his agency will join forces with Clark County, the city of Vancouver, the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington and the Vancouver Housing Authority to “start a really broad community conversation about affordable housing” in the wake of the Courtyard Village Apartments crisis that erupted this month.

Sixteen low-income families who live in that notoriously dilapidated complex of buildings at 2600 T Street have been notified by the new property owner, Parc Central LLC, that they’ll have to vacate by the end of this year. That’s because Parc Central LLC wants to renovate the place and raise the rents. It’s expected that the entire complex of 151 units will eventually get the same notices to vacate.

The notification appears to be legal and in order, but a backlash against the property owner — for turning out needy people who may have few other options — has resulted in just a little breathing room for the tenants. Parc Central LLC is now giving those families until Jan. 15, if they come in to discuss their hardship.

Meanwhile, Silver said, the council and the housing authority have already worked together to place a few of those first-wave families in VHA-owned properties.

Community support for the displaced residents of Courtyard Village has been swift and generous, he said, with nearly $10,000 in community donations for the ancillary costs of moving — damage deposits and first/last months’ rent payments — already amassed by the council, and still more pledged. And that’s before an informal fundraising run/walk scheduled for 9 a.m. Sunday in downtown Vancouver benefits the fund even more. Columbia United Providers, a local health insurer, has promised to match all run donations up to $2,000.

Questions to chew on

With generosity like that, is it conceivable that donations will outpace the need among residents leaving Courtyard Village? Not a chance, Silver said. Don’t forget that 16 families are just the first wave.

Silver wants more than charity from the concerned public, he said. He wants ideas and participation in that conversation about affordable housing in 2015. He and other housing advocates have spent the past year calling attention to the fact that the local apartment vacancy rate is very low — hovering around 2.5 percent — and that some landlords are able to leverage that into higher rents, leaving the neediest renters behind.

“We are very impressed with the community’s response at this point, but this is definitely the tip of an iceberg,” he said. “We need to get a conversation going quickly.

“What are the laws locally and statewide that are holding us back? What are the gaps in financing and capacity? What are the regional and national best practices, and how can we bring them here? What are our own strengths and weaknesses?”