At the end of 2023, Deschutes County purchased a triplex along SE Wilson Avenue to help address the disproportionate number of homeless men paroled from prison.

Its nine bedrooms were more than enough for the Community Justice Department’s vision to help the men, who form the demographic most at risk for homelessness in Deschutes County.

Now, less than three months after the first resident moved in, the County Commission has decided everyone living at triplex must leave. Where they will go, no one yet knows. But the decision will likely cost the county the $1 million in state grant funding used to purchase the property.

Since the triplex was purchased, the Wilson Avenue Housing Program, which serves men on supervision with Deschutes County Parole & Probation, has drawn a variety of objections. At a hearing Wednesday, the County Commission listened to a summary of complaints compiled by the Community Justice Department.

Some residents are concerned about the possibility of sex offenders living so close to parks and schools. Others feel community outreach for the project was inadequate. Still others are concerned that the location perpetuates economic segregation in East Bend.

The County Commission’s decision to seek alternative locations alleviated these fears in a way earlier public outreach did not.

But the decision also left questions unanswered about the future of the project, said Commissioner Phil Chang, who voted against the decision.

“We didn’t discuss what’s going to happen to the two people who are currently transitioning out of there. We didn’t discuss whether — in this interim period before they find this new location — the full nine bedrooms in the triplex will be used,” said Chang. “I feel like my fellow commissioners need to explain how we are going to pay for this, and they need to demonstrate that they can find a site where there’s not going to be neighbor opposition.”

Why the Wilson Avenue program is important

Also looking for answers is Deevy Holcomb, the Deschutes County Community Justice director. Like Chang, she also was unsure about what would happen to the current residents or how Commissioners Patti Adair and Tony DeBone plan to proceed.

But she was sure that the need for this program would not go away, no matter how loudly neighbors protested.

“Change is possible. We see it every day. And change comes about when there’s a variety of things that happen. Some are structural supports, like housing, like a job, like mental health treatment. Other things are about that person’s engagement in building the skills to make the changes that they need to make. That is the same for people who are sexual offenders as it is people as it is for anybody who wants to change anything about their life,” Holcomb said.

In Deschutes County, the highest rate of homelessness is seen among parolees and recently released inmates, which includes sex offenders, said Holcomb.

While it is illegal for landlords to discriminate against applicants based on their criminal record — except on the basis of the sex offender registry — that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. And when parolees lack housing, not only are they experiencing the trials of homelessness, but they also become a greater risk to society, Holcomb said.

“People become a public safety risk for reoffending when they are not supported,” said Holcomb. “Nobody’s really looking out for them … When you provide that housing infrastructure and positive living environment, there’s just a number of eyes that can be on a person. And that’s for encouraging and seeing change, and it’s also for addressing things that are challenging.”

Facing fears and stigmatization

The fear of convicted sexual offenders — and the lack of understanding that surrounds their re-integration into society — has been a battle since the county purchased the property along Wilson Avenue, Holcomb said. Not every applicant to the housing program will be a sexual offender, nor does the high-barrier screening process for applicants allow admission of anyone deemed a risk to public safety.

Even so, some community members have become so impassioned in their opposition to sex offenders being admitted to the program, that the community justice department is now implementing safety precautions.

“If you follow any of the social media on this, some of the statements are pretty inflammatory and violent in nature,” said Holcomb. “Being in the business of public safety, and being in the business of taking these things seriously, even if they’re anonymous and online, we don’t overreact, but we don’t also ignore that.”

Making matters worse, there is a lot of misinformation underlying residents’ fears. A prime example, Holcomb pointed out, is the misconception that sex offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of a park or school. It’s rare, she said, that a judge would be so specific when dictating a parolee’s restrictions. Even if they were restricted by distance, the parolee would automatically become ineligible for the housing program.

There have also been rumors, Holcomb said, that the Community Justice Department didn’t follow through with promises that the housing project would be more than 1,000 feet from a park. That was never a requirement for the Wilson Avenue Housing Program, she said. It was merely that the 1,000-foot buffer would expand access to the program, but was identified early on as a potential difficulty for finding a suitable property.

A new property on the Westside?

An undercurrent in many of the public comments that convinced Adair and DeBone to relocate the Wilson Avenue Housing Program was a concern that the project puts an undue burden on the surrounding community, which already faces economic segregation from the westside of Bend.

“I feel incredibly responsible that the parole or probation housing was right next to families and right next to parks,” Adair said. “And there are so many other things that are in that neighborhood … Everything has been concentrated over in that side of town, and right now, people are having such a hard time. Inflation is really challenging for everyone, and to think that now they have to worry about leaving their family in their apartment. I just feel that we need to do something better.”

However, selecting a new property poses many challenges. The biggest is that the county will probably have to return the $1 million in grant funds awarded through Gov. Tina Kotek’s executive order to address the homelessness crisis.

Even if the county decides to change the Wilson Avenue Housing Project to serve only women, the program might still be too different from the original grant proposal for the county to keep the money. And any additional property for men will have to be purchased through existing county funds or another grant proposal.

Another challenge will be finding a suitable property that won’t cause neighborhood pushback. During the vote discussion, DeBone suggested selecting a location in an undeveloped part of the city where the county can construct a building suitable to the county’s needs. The feasibility and availability of funds for this remains to be seen.

More discussions on how the commissioners plan to proceed will begin in April.