It’s been more than a month since Columbia River Mental Health Services approached the Clark County council with what at first appeared to be a relatively simple request.
But that request became mired in political theater and social media bickering this week, as the nonprofit butted heads with the Clark County council.
Columbia River Mental Health Services is selling 13 homes — 12 units at Forest Creek Condominiums on 7300 N.E. 16th Ave. and a house at 2718 N.E. 99th St. — that the nonprofit has owned since 1997. It purchased those homes in part using federal funds loaned to the organization through Clark County.
That means the Clark County council must approve the sale in order to keep the units designated as affordable housing. Nine of the 12 condos, which could be opened for affordable homes in the midst of Vancouver’s ongoing housing crisis, sit vacant pending a sale.
Beth Oliver, the organization’s chief financial officer, said the sale is part of the organization’s effort to sell property and focus instead on its core mission of treating people with mental illness.
“We serve 4,000 people a year, and we have fewer than 20 units of housing,” Oliver said. “Being a landlord is not what we do best.”
But the sale faced unexpected scrutiny after Republican Councilors Jeanne Stewart and David Madore peppered the organization with questions about whether it’s wise to sell to a private entity.
“I can see how this could be to the benefit of a private development company,” Stewart said at a council meeting last month. “I don’t see how it can be in the long-term best interest of providing affordable housing for people that are mentally ill and have such a difficult time finding housing and maintaining housing.”
Madore’s frustration over the sale bubbled over to social media this week, with him publicly accusing former Democratic County Commissioner Craig Pridemore, the executive director of Columbia River Mental Health Services, of preventing the county from seeing financial details about the condos.
“Shouldn’t good government expect transparency, forthrightness, and accountability?” Madore said on his Facebook page.
Also fueling the fire is the fact that Columbia River Mental Health Services is considering selling the 12 condo units to David Clinton Campos, a landlord facing charges of making unwanted sexual advances toward a tenant at one of his properties.
While Campos’ case is still moving through the courts, Oliver downplayed the charges.
“(Campos is) pushing back really hard is my understanding,” she said.
Pridemore later publicly apologized over what he called a “dust-up” between him and Madore, and told The Columbian he thought his organization was providing the county with the information Madore requested.
“In fact, we hadn’t,” Pridemore said. “That’s what I was apologizing for.”
The future of the properties will go back to the Clark County council in the coming weeks. The council will hold a work session on the proposed sale at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Public Service Center at 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver, but will take a vote on whether to approve the sale at a later public meeting.
