This is the corner lot at Ninth and Jackson, one of three city-owned lots Helping Hands wants to acquire.
Helping Hands, the homeless shelter at 619 Ninth Ave. SE, still wants to buy three city-owned lots on the next block and is willing to pay $150,000 to get them.
That’s the message David Steele, executive director of the homeless shelter, gave the Albany City Council Wednesday.
The three lots are at Ninth Avenue and Jackson Street. The city bought them in 1990, thinking they might come in handy for a potential highway project that never materialized.
Last year the shelter submitted a $90,000 bid for the properties. Van Vleet Meat & Food Service, a business across Jackson Street, submitted the highest of four bids at $120,000, but that council refused to sell.
On Wednesday, the council agreed to hold a public hearing at which would-be purchasers can submit their offers. No date for the hearing was set.
Steele addressed the council Wednesday under “public comment” and said getting the three lots would put the shelter two houses away from owning the entire block.
He said the shelter wants to develop a low-income “transitional housing” project on the block, complete with health services for the homeless people it is trying to help.
The shelter already owns five houses on the block. Three are used as transitional housing for shelter clients, and two houses are rented.
Two other houses are owned by people not associated with Helping Hands.
Selling the city-owned lots now presents an added question: Does the council want to pave the way for a low-income housing project in that spot? (hh)
Lots shown in blue are owned by Helping Hands, which wants to buy the three lots outlined in red. (The graphic is from the city council agenda.)
I’m completely against this I’m not going to lie. People can dislike what I have to say all they want but helping hands is not something that I think is doing very much good in this community. Those lots should have been sold to Van vleet a long time ago.
If you are actually interested in how much good Helping Hands is doing the community take a trip down there and talk with the residence. Just a thought, maybe you’ll change your mind. Maybe you won’t.
Residence? Don’t you mean residents?
Since one is in the neighborhood, one could also ask the same questions to Van Vleet.
From their website-”
We believe in strengthening our local communities by partnering with a wide range of nonprofits and businesses to help where we can.”
It’s full of sex offenders. Check out our local sex offender registry map. I don’t support helping hands.
This is very concerning…it’s already a site of continuous problems with our homeless community and why the city closed the “Garden” lot.
I support giving opportunities to those in need, but between this area and, and Sympsons park/ Talking Waters paths it was never properly maintained by the city and the organizations responsible.
Within a few short months it became mayhem that our own police force had been overwhelmed and abused.
I truly hope Van Vleet receives the highest bid (yet AGAIN) and the city finally awards a viable local business!
If you build it, they will come………………….
You can choose to have Van Vleet kind of folks, or the kind that frequent Helping Hands. Your choice, this is an intelligence test. Pick wisely.
Exactly.
Let’s make Corvallis look more attractive to the homeless. They have more money to deal with them.
The bigger Helping Hands gets the more police in Lebanon tell the homeless that “you need to leave, they have help in Albany” they were caught doing that in 2018 and 2020.
Helping Hands will be a small city with a mayor & demand federal money….
I’ve had interactions with a couple of the Van Vleets — nice folks. I’ve also had interactions with lots of people who are homeless — generally nice folks as well. Hasso, just out of curiosity, what grade would you give to the city as far as its history of buying and selling real estate?
Wells Fargo Bank, Cumberland church…. Did they buy the property by the Amtrak Station for the “Transportation Center”? Now that is next to Target on Clay, illegally blocking the bike lane twice an hour.
Wonder what city government official put the idea into the non-profit’s brain to drive up the price to get this into a bidding war? An organization that was only a few years ago having financial issues…they somehow now are flush with extra cash.
I call BS…
An awful lot of tone deaf privilege in this city and comments section.
Hopefully, the council will remember the homeless camp that was an complete disaster.
We do think that the council wants to do the best for the community but their decision could snowball into a huge problem that will cost a huge amount of money when it does. I have lived in a city that had this type of housing and it was slum in a short while. The homeless just flocked to the area. They hung out doing drugs and selling them freely in the open and other crimes without worry because the police were completely overwhelmed. The cost of buying the properties does not include the future costs to the city and the people that live here. Does the city want to choose a huge money pit project, a few empty lots to maintain or a business.
Why doesn’t the city just move the shelter to other lots that have more space and less problems with traffic. Van Vleet can park along the street. They wouldn’t have to spend any money buying and building a parking lot. The area where the lots are were not a huge problem before the camp. The fences were not needed until they made the camp. A few weeks of police activity would stop the homeless from returning without the fence. Put plants there that need little maintenance and no place to hide. Saves time and money for the city and the business.