Changes likely coming for Hope Village as city tries to make it self-sustaining

Longview pallet home community reaches a milestone, but state funding to operate it runs out this summer, leaving cash-strapped city hunting for new support

This story has been updated to include a statement from the regional office of the Salvation Army.

In its nearly 30 months of operation, the Hope Village pallet home community has found permanent housing for 110 chronically homeless people.

It continues to keep another 50 or so people off the streets, sheltered in one-room prefabricated “pallet homes.”

From December 2023 through last November, the adult-only community served nearly 40,300 meals and made 514 referrals for health care, 229 for employment and 351 for housing. Scores of residents have been enrolled in drug and mental health counseling.

Despite this track record of success, change is coming to Hope Village. One of them may be vital to its survival, but it also would end the involvement of the social service agency that has made it a success.

The Longview City Council Council is expected to vote Thursday night (April 24) on a request for proposals (RFP) from health and social service agencies to operate Hope Village starting next year.

The city’s contract with the Longview Salvation Army, which has operated the tightly controlled, adults-only community since it opened in December 2022, expires at the end of the year. At this point, it appears the Salvation Army would not even be eligible to submit a proposal to renew its contract.

With state funding to operate the project running out, the city is looking for ways to find money to continue running the community. Under the draft RFP, the city would require Hope Village to be managed by a licensed behavioral health agency (BHA), a designation that allows an organization to bill Medicaid or private insurance for services to the homeless. BHAs also can obtain grants.

The idea is to make Hope Village more self-sustaining at a time of a city budget crisis. The Salvation Army has told the city it will not seek BHA licensing.

The city also envisions two other significant changes in Hope Village management, though they are unrelated to finances.

One, mandatory drug testing will likely be a condition of entry. However, a dirty test would not necessarily bar a person from enrollment, but it may quicken development of treatment options. (Hope Village conducts drug testing and searches now, and the vast majority of the residents participate in substance abuse or mental health treatment. However, the Salvation Army does not now require pre-enrollment testing.)

Two, to be eligible for entry, applicants would have to prove residency in Longview for at least two years. Under current policy, Cowlitz County residency alone qualifies an adult to live at Hope Village.

The idea is that a city-financed program should benefit only city residents. But the condition is largely window dressing and nonsensical. Most Hope Village residents are from the Longview-Kelso area, and their residency between the two likely is very fluid.

Mayor Spencer Boudreau said he expects the council will go along with the changes.

These proposals have emerged from recent meetings among city staff , interested individuals and a committee of three City Council members — Kalei LaFave, Erik Halvorson and Ruth Kendall — to develop an RFP. Bids will be due by August 15 under the city’s proposed schedule.

The City Council launched Hope Village as an emergency response to a homeless crisis that gave rise to tawdry encampments at Lake Sacajawea, City Hall and, finally, to the wretched settlement on city-owned land on Alabama Street.

Hope Village and the Salvation Army have had critics. An early stabbing led to security concerns. Conservatives questioned spending millions of dollars of public money to build and operate the pallet home community, which is patterned after earlier ones built in Vancouver, Olympia and Tacoma.

There has been some grousing about the lack of specific goals and policies in the city contract. More recently, critics noted the Chelan County misdemeanor domestic assault arrest of Hollie Hillman, a Hope Village case manager who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in the case on March 31 (she reportedly is working from home.)

But the Salvation Army stepped in when no other social service agency was willing to run Hope Village, and the program is now widely regarded as a success, according to multiple sources.

“They stepped up when our community asked them to and provided an extraordinary level of service in the last three years,” said Chris Collins, assistant city manager.

“If Hope Village shut down it would be an immediate impact to the entire community by increasing crime and criminal justice costs and affecting parks, neighborhoods and business and the hospital,” Councilwoman Kendall said. “I think Hope Village has been accepted. The issue now is how to (continue) paying for it.”

Mayor Boudreau, who is part of the council’s conservative majority, said, “I do not he believe that anyone wants Hope Village to not operate.”

But the city needs to make the program more self-sustaining so “that it does not drain city resources and make us choose between helping the homeless and sustaining other essential services, such as the library,” he said.

Salvation Army management costs the city about $1.5 million annually to operate Hope Village, and so far state grants have covered operating costs. But the grants run out this summer, and starting in July the city will be on the hook for the cost of running the site.

The city already is trying to grapple with budget squeezes caused by inflation and tax limits and had to cut 10% percent and eliminate 13 positions from its 2025-26 budgets.

“We can’t continue going to the state with our hands out” for the program, Collins said.

He said he’s optimistic the city will get interest from local and regional agencies, especially because Hope Village has a proven track record.

Nevertheless, it’s uncertain just how self-sustaining Hope Village can become. The draft RFP under consideration does not set any specific standards for this or any other goals, which likely will have to be negotiated with the new operator.

While she supports the general goal, Kendall said it’s important to recognize that it will take time for Hope Village to become more self-sustaining. She also cautioned that there are high costs connected with “having unhoused individuals in the community” that Hope Village helps control.

“There is a cost to not doing it,” she said of running Hope Village.

Councilwoman MaryAlice Wallis said she is disappointed to hear that the Salvation Army would no longer run Hope Village if the council accepts the draft RFP.

“Some people on the council did not think they were a good vendor and the (Hillman) case sealed the deal,” though the arrest had nothing to do with Hope Village, Wallis said. “The Salvation Army did an outstanding job.”

Longview Salvation Army Manager Phil Smith declined to discuss the situation or explain why the organization will not seek a BHA license.

The Salvation Army’s Northwest regional office, based in Seattle, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon.

“The Salvation Army has been incredibly blessed to serve as the operator of Hope Village since December 2022. Since that time, we have helped 110 local residents achieve permanent housing. The program has expanded from housing navigation and case management to also include life skills training to sustain employment, healthy living, and housing,” the statement said

The statement did not address why the agency is not seeking behavioral health agency licensing so it could continue to operate Hope Village.

Wallis sad she understands the financial challenge that running Hope Village poses for the city. She also noted that the county commissioners refuse to use the city’s share of document recording fees — revenues that can only be used for homeless programs — to help the city pay for Hope Village. (The city’s share of those revenues would likely cover only a small part — roughly 10% — of Hope Village operating costs.)

Wallis also is somewhat mystified by the call for pre-admission drug testing, a requirement pushed especially by Councilwoman LaFave, who has opposed “low barrier” shelters.

It’s already known that a majority of the chronic homeless are afflicted by drug problems, Wallis notes. And they are monitored for it at Hope Village and are mandated to participate in case management and treatment to repair their lives. So what’s the point of testing them prior to entry, if a dirty test does not bar them from enrolling? Wallis asks.

I’ll add another concern, one often cited by social service workers and drug counselors: Mandatory testing often discourages users from seeking help.

Remember, we’re trying to reach out to a community of people who often are not well informed and are fearful of authority.

Wallis said she has reservations about the city's approach to changing Hope Village policies: “I would like to see what vendors have to offer. Let’s not tell them what they should have and be open-minded.”