Goldendale Hosts Town Hall on Houselessness

Photo Credit: Mike Salsbury

by Cole Goodwin

Goldendale, WA, December 5, 2023 – The City of Goldendale, Klickitat County, Washington Gorge Action Programs and representatives from Recovery Cafe held an in person and virtual town hall on homelessness, drugs, and mental health at the Klickitat County Services building in Goldendale in the Mt. Adams room on December 5, 2023. Over forty community members attended the meeting.

Photo Credit: Mike Salsbury

Public testimony varied widely.

“It’s not against the law to be mentally ill. They have to be a threat to themself or others in order for us to call that in,” said Mike Smith, Goldendale City Police Chief, fielding a question about the handling process for mentally ill individuals in the public eye.

Photo Credit: Mike Salsbury

Smith also noted they’d had thirty-nine calls related to drugs, violence and public disturbance to Ekone Park in the last year

Photo Credit: Mike Salsbury

Leslie Naramore, WAGAP Executive Director affirmed comments from the public about being willing to get involved and to speak to people who are in need. “If you’re aware of the services in the community and you can be that connection point for that person, you may well change that person’s life,” said Naramore. 

Naramore shared information about WAGAP’s services with the community. 

“We have food banks, we provide shelters, we do housing, we have domestic violence specialists, we do intervention and prevention,” shared Naramore. 

“One of our important responsibilities in this City is maintaining our public spaces,” said one attendee, pointing to safety concerns about finding needles, garbage, and human waste in public spaces. 

“I’m not against trying to help somebody, give them a hand up, not necessarily a hand out. They have to be responsible for our lives. If society is going to allow this to occur we’re not going to have a safe community,” said Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer. “We do not want to be a Seattle area or a Portland area. Period.” 

Photo Credit: Mike Salsbury

“This is not a new problem in our county,” said Sunday Sutton, a prevention worker with the Coalition for Preventing Abuse in Klickitat County, she urged attendees to take a wide lens. “I remember when the discussion was about meth houses. The problem is ongoing. The problem is systemic. The problem is multifaceted…It’s not bussed in from other regions…I hate that substance abuse disorder and homelessness are being linked. There is a correlation but one does not necessarily cause the other.  We don’t have housing in Goldendale, even if people can afford it, we don’t have it. I would love to continue this conversation with a wider view and not just link one to the other.” 

Photo Credit: Mike Salsbury

Service providers shared with the community that the drying up of federal covid dollars will dramatically impact their ability to provide services moving forward. 

Attendees also raised transportation as an issue facing those who need to seek treatment for substance use disorder and mental health issues. Recovery Cafe said that they are willing to help work on the transportation issue. 

The County Sheriff’s Office shared that EMS has refused to provide transport to other facilities and often it is County police officers that are being paid overtime to personally drive people to Kirkland and Colville hospitals for treatment. 

A first responder spoke to the issue as well, noting that an ambulance is to be used in the instance of life threatening emergencies and not psychiatric transfers, and that using an ambulance as such would deplete local resources' ability to respond to emergencies. 

One attendee called for a more coordinated effort between agencies. 

Katie Brickson, who works fo the White Salmon Valley School District read a letter from the White Salmon Valley School District, CultureSeed, The Next Door, Bingen White Salmon Police Department, Our Klickitat Coalition, Skyline Health, WAGAP and several other partners which voiced support for WAGAP and  Mid-Columbia Housing Collaborative and advocated for supporting evidence-based and equitable housing solutions. 

Photo Credit: Mike Salsbury

Kenny LaPoint and Kelli Hovrath of Mid-Columbia Community Action Council also spoke at the event about how they are tackling the issue of homelessness in Wasco and Hood River County. Horvath also spoke to some of the ways they are working to try and address unhoused service resistant populations. 

The City Council thanked all those in attendance for their testimony.