1/10/2023
####################################################
The Spokesman-Review
HOPE STREET RESTORATION IS ABOUT OPPORTUNITY
Thor-Freya contractor, claiming damage related to Camp Hope, receives $70,000 settlement
KXLY
####################################################
The Spokesman-Review
HOPE STREET RESTORATION IS ABOUT OPPORTUNITY
By James Hanlon
"I believe I was created on this Earth not to serve myself but to serve other people.”
Shelley Bacon, Hope Street Restoration owner
Photo by JESSE TINSLEY
Russ Ogg, left, and Shelly Bacon begin demolition in the basement at a large historic home in Colville, a project of Hope Street Restoration, a small real estate company run by Bacon and her husband, that is focused on hiring and training people who have experienced homelessness, addiction or prison and want to work back to something like a normal life. Bacon and her husband have been rebuilding old homes, then selling them and using the profit to buy more homes. Small real estate company in Colville hires, gives people who have experienced homelessness, addiction, prison a chance for normal life.
COLVILLE – Two weeks after leaving prison, Russ Ogg got a job restoring homes. A year and a half later, he has held the job longer than any other he’s had in his adult life.
Ogg, 51, was hired by a new company called Hope Street Restoration, which aims to employ homeless people. “I’ve learned quite a bit since I’ve been in this job”, said Ogg, who had no prior construction experience and has been homeless for more than 10 years.
Hope Street Restoration trains homeless crew members so they can eventually move to better paying jobs, owner and foreman Shelly Bacon said. So far, the company has restored three homes in Colville.
“I love it,” Shelly Bacon said. I feel called to do this. I believe I was created on this Earth not to serve myself but to serve other people.”
Hope Street’s current project is their biggest yet: a 3,800-square-foot, five-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath historic 1906 home in need of tender, loving care. When finished, it will sell in the $500,000
range, Shelly Bacon estimates.
Shelly Bacon started the company as an off-shoot of her husband Barry Bacon’s nonprofit Hope Street Project, which aims to build affordable housing for homeless people in Colville, the county seat of Stevens County with 5,000 people.
“Most of the homeless people that we serve in this area, more than 90%, have roots in rural northeast Washington,” he said. “So, this is home.”
As a physician, Barry Bacon got involved in the issue as he learned more about homelessness as a serious health disparity. He said lack of housing is a problem in Colville and addressing it is essential to ending homelessness.
Through grants, donations and volunteers, Hope Street Project has built or restored four modest-sized homes for local homeless families to rent or rent-to-own. Now the project is building a duplex. It also has provided no-interest loans for tiny houses and campers.
The other cornerstone of Hope Street is the Rest Stop, a day center where homeless people can shower, do laundry and receive services.
In the summer of 2021, Barry Bacon heard that some local law enforcement officials referred to the Rest Stop in a disparaging way, as “scrub-a-bum.” Because of that disrespect, he wanted to give homeless people dignity in the eyes of the community.
He pitched the idea of Hope Street Restoration to his wife: to flip houses and sell them on the market. Restoring houses made sense because both the Bacons have relevant experience. Shelly learned some skills from her father. Barry worked in construction while in college. Together, they built their own home about 10 years ago.
As a business, Hope Street Restoration can achieve four things at once, Barry Bacon said. Not only does it provide jobs for homeless people, it creates more housing for everyone and it beautifies the city by revitalizing former eyesores. With profits, they give back to meaningful causes, like Hope Street Project.
Ogg was Hope Street Restoration’s first employee. They find candidates through the Rest Stop.
Day-to-day, Shelly Bacon teaches her small crew the skills herself. Barry, who still works at his clinic, helps out once a week.
They created some ground rules. Employees have to be sober. No swearing on the job. Treat each other with respect.
“They understand that someone is taking a risk in providing a job for them,” Barry Bacon said. “It’s not easy, because we haven’t solved the issue. They’re still homeless.”
Almost everyone who has worked for them is recovering from addiction. They struggle with attendance, transportation and mental health.
“If you are trying to go to work but you are still living in your car or a tent, it’s hard to get a good night’s sleep,” Barry Bacon said. “It’s hard to be able to come to work refreshed and ready to put in a full day.”
Some relapse.
The result is that it has been hard to keep employees for long. They have had between two and five employees at any given time.
“Every hire is a gamble and very few of them come with any skills,” Shelly Bacon said. It is not about offering gig work, it’s about helping them maintain regular employment, even if that means part-time.
For Ogg, this opportunity has transformed his life. It has taught him stability, he said. With his tax return last year, he was able to buy a small camper.
During his most recent time in prison, serving a year on drug charges, he decided he had enough and determined to change once he got out. This job has kept him on track.
“I kicked it myself,” Ogg said. “I gave my own self treatment, and this right here is my treatment, this job. That’s what keeps me away.”
James Hanlon can be reached at (509) 459-5467 or by email at jamesh@ spokesman.com.
JESSE TINSLEY/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Shelly Bacon helps run Hope Street Restoration in Colville, a real estate flipping business, where she and her husband refurbish homes and sell them, hiring and training people who have been homeless, addicted or in prison. She is standing in front of a Colville mansion that she and a handful of homeless employees are working on.
Thor-Freya contractor, claiming damage related to Camp Hope, receives $70,000 settlement
By Emry Dinman
Crews are seen working on the Thor and Freya reconstruction project in this June 2022 photo. On Monday, the Spokane City Council agreed to pay the general contractor in charge of completing the reconstruction of Thor and Freya streets, Cameron-Reilly LLC, an extra $70,000 as compensation for damages and other claims blamed on Camp Hope. (COLIN MULVANY/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
The general contractor in charge of completing the reconstruction of Thor and Freya streets will receive a $70,000 settlement from the city of Spokane as compensation for damages and other claims blamed on Camp Hope.
On Monday, the Spokane City Council voted unanimously to approve the settlement agreement with Cameron-Reilly LLC.
The contractor had raised concerns the homeless encampment located near the roadwork, which did not exist when the company bid for the contract, had been the source of vandalism, thefts and threats to the business and its crews.
“We made our Proposal based upon the conditions that were in place at the time,” wrote Mike Reilly, an owner of Cameron-Reilly LLC, in a July letter to Mayor Nadine Woodward and the Spokane City Council.
“Unfortunately, when we started the project in mid-March, we could not imagine the conditions in which we would be putting our employees and other subcontractors and their workers.”
The Camp Hope encampment is located just off of Thor Street, along the path of the $8.9 million reconstruction project.
Cameron-Reilly LLC had leased land owned by the state Department of Transportation for a locked storage yard, which Reilly said had been the subject of numerous break-ins.
Portable toilets also were reportedly damaged.
The company originally asked for more than the $70,000 settlement agreement, Spokane Risk Manager Mike Ormsby told council members during Monday’s briefing session, but the city negotiated the claims down.
Cameron-Reilly LLC did not respond to a request for comment.
####################################################
KXLY
Posted: January 9, 2023 5:24 PM by Will Wixey
Councilmember Michael Cathcart, Councilmember Karen Stratton, and Mayor Nadine WoodwardCredit: City of Spokane
SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane City Councilmembers and the Mayor want community feedback on rental housing in the area.
Councilmembers Micahel Cathcart, Karen Stratton and Mayor Nadine Woodward are hosting a town hall listening session on Tuesday to discuss community rental housing.
Some of the questions that will be asked at the meeting include:
How do rental housing issues affect you as a landlord or tenant?
What types of housing choices would better meet the community’s needs?
What are the most important steps our City should take to improve rental housing availability?
What policies should be considered by local government to improve rental housing for all stakeholders?
The meeting will include a brief summary of the City Council’s proposed Landlord Tenant Ordinance, followed by opportunities to share feedback on rental-related topics.
Community members can attend the meeting at the Northeast Community Center, at 4001 N. Cook Street. It will begin at 5 p.m. and end at 7 p.m.
If you can’t make the meeting but want to participate, you can attend via Zoom, or provide written feedback on the City Council’s website.