Congresswoman Tours Lebanon’s Affordable Housing Project

Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer took a tour of Crossroads Communities’ housing facilities during a brief visit with founder KJ Ullfers and his team on July 30.

Crossroads Communities is a housing and support services organization that partners with as many as 20 support services in Linn County to, as Ullfers likes to say, “provide a hand up, not a hand out.”

Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, at left, and Crossroads Communities found KJ Ullfers, at right, walk the grounds at Applegate Landing.

Understanding that Crossroads and other support services in Linn County are “doing this on (their) own,” Rep. Chavez-DeRemer indicated interest in seeing the need to determine how she might be able to help.

“Across the state, homelessness, addiction and behavioral health issues affect countless Oregonians who have been left behind,” she told Lebanon Local in an email.

Ullfers invited Rep. Chavez-DeRemer to tour the Crossroads facilities so she could see what can be done at a local level when the right people get together. Bigger cities, he said, simply “throw money” at the housing problem, hoping something will work, but Ullfers said he has data to show Crossroads’ system works.

It’s a system that brings together people from different disciplines – those with different knowledge and skill sets – to coordinate efficiently.

“We’ve gotten a lot of support from the federal government, and we’ve got an innovative idea we’re trying to spread the word about,” he said.

Crossroads broke ground in 2020 on its first housing project at Applegate Landing, a 48-unit complex developed as supportive housing for low income families, domestic violence survivors and veterans.

Crossroads Executive Director Michael Couch pointed out to the congresswoman that a good chunk of the $20 million-plus cost for Applegate was due to “bureaucratic expenses” associated with affordable housing.

“If you’re doing affordable housing, it’s affordable to everybody that lives there, but not to anybody else,” Couch quipped. “The cost of compliance drove up the cost about 40%.”

The original purpose for Applegate, in fact, was to provide housing for veterans, low income and people transitioning out of rehab services, but they soon found out that the housing need for veterans, low income and domestic violence survivors was so great that Applegate was unable to work in the folks recovering from addiction.

So they expanded.

In 2023, the nonprofit purchased Cascade Cottages, a 21-unit complex on Milton Street. The buildings are currently being remodeled and will be used for folks who are chronically homeless and those who have severe persistent mental illness.

Nancy Hudson, left, shakes hands with Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Hudson oversees the clients at Cascade Cottages. Nancey West and KJ Ullfers wait to the side, while US 5th District Director Rebecca Wright snaps a photo.

More recently, Crossroads purchased a former 10-bedroom group home with plans to use the space as housing for those transitioning out of rehabilitation programs, those who need “some place for short term to reinforce the positives they’ve experienced.” Ullfers added this will help them determine their next steps while also providing additional educational and skill training opportunities.

Additionally, some of the rooms may be reserved for “medically fragile” homeless individuals who are released from the hospital but not quite strong enough to return to the streets.

During their tour, Couch told Rep. Chavez-DeRemer, “Nationwide, affordable housing is about warehousing people. That doesn’t work. The people that are in affordable housing live vulnerable lives, they’re paycheck to paycheck.”

He went on to say that Crossroads’ programs are modified versions of programs that are already running elsewhere. Crossroads, he explained, runs something of “pilot programs” to prove they’re improved versions of older systems.

“We do very unique programs because we want to show the efficacy of not just housing first, but housing with supportive services,” Couch said.

Crossroads provides support services in the form of drug and alcohol support meetings, counseling, education advancement opportunities, financial wellness classes, health and dental screening, job training, social services and transportation.

The buildings at Cascade Cottages on Milton Street begin to show signs of a remodel as old siding is replaced with new.

Ullfers has worked years on developing a combined housing-and-services project for those in need. Now that it’s established, government leaders from multiple different counties are coming to him to see how they can duplicate the program, and Crossroads is expanding to West Salem with “Applegate Terrace,” as well as finalizing plans in the east Marion County area.

Crossroads is also developing plans for a Lebanon Community Service Center, which will be something of a one-stop shop for social services.

“I’m grateful for organizations like Crossroads Communities for working to uplift those in need by providing essential resources, support and opportunities for personal development,” Rep. Chavez-DeRemer told Lebanon Local. “To solve these problems, I’ll continue partnering with community groups on legislation like my DIRECT Care for the Homeless Act to ensure our most vulnerable are receiving the care they need.”