Issues

The issue of homelessness is perhaps the biggest and most complicated facing the City of Vancouver. Many factors contribute to this problem: lack of access and inadequate mental health care, substance use disorder, rising housing costs, and inequitable economic opportunity.

For some in our community, homelessness is a temporary condition brought on by a medical emergency, unexpected bills, or loss of employment. These people need shelter, food assistance, or other help for a short period of time while they get back on their feet. While we can always do better, our system usually works well for those experiencing temporary homelessness. This group is responsive to help and wants to transition back. The County through its non-profit service providers have programs that can often intervene before these individuals become unsheltered. Research has shows than early intervention to prevent homelessness is far more cost effective than trying to help someone after they have lost shelter. When dealing with families, early intervention also reduces Adverse Childhood Experiences that can have long-term negative impacts on youth.

Others in the community experience homelessness on a prolonged basis. Underlying issues like drug and alcohol abuse or mental health conditions are often a key factor. Across the nation, our mental health care system is in crisis. The number of inpatient beds has dropped significantly, resulting in many people who need care ending up on the streets or in jail. We need to continue to advocate in Olympia and Washington DC for improved access to mental health care.

Vancouver also needs to continue to invest in and expand response teams that can proactively go out into the community to help connect individuals experiencing homelessness with behavioral health, housing, and other supportive services. These teams can also work alongside law enforcement professional when responding to certain calls. 

The homelessness crisis also has an impact on businesses and neighborhoods, and that cannot be ignored. Vancouver needs to find effective ways to clean up areas, especially when drug paraphernalia and human waste create health risks. Doing this also means having a place for those individuals to go. I am supportive of the Bertha Cain Baugh Place, the joint project with the City of Vancouver, Vancouver Housing Authority, and Clark County.

Everyone has the right to feel safe in our city. As a community, however, we need to have serious discussions about precisely what that means.

A victim of domestic violence needs to know that if they call for help the police will be able to respond quickly to intervene in that situation. The victims and their families of violent crime should be able to have confidence knowing the detectives working their cases have the tools and resources they need to solve their crime. This requires adequately funding our police department.

However, we as a community also need to recognize that the police department is not a one-size fits all answer. We should be looking at alternative response teams, trained in medical and behavioral health to respond to calls in partnership with our law enforcement professionals. We also need to look at the criminal justice system as a whole to find and implement best practices that reduce recidivism.

Finally, we need to ensure that all in our community feel safe when interacting with law enforcement professionals. The City of Vancouver is in the process of reviewing and updating its use of force policy. I will continue to support that effort to make sure that our officers use every other tool at their disposal to diffuse situations and only use force when their own lives are truly endangered.

The best deterrent for crime are healthy neighborhoods where people have opportunity to live, provide for their families, have educational opportunities, and connect with their community.

Our transportation system is at the foundation of everything we do. Investing in our road infrastructure creates opportunity for Economic Development. We have seen examples of that, with the expansion of Mill Plain Boulevard from 164th Avenue to 192nd Ave that preceded the construction of Banfield Pet Hospital Corporate HQ, thousands of square feet of additional office space, new restaurants, a hotel, and apartments. Looking forward, the planned expansion of SE 1st Ave will have a similar effect, starting with the construction of the new HP Facility.

Another critical project for economic development is replacement of the I-5 Bridge. A new bridge is important for the movement of freight in and out of Vancouver, which benefits not just the Port of Vancouver, but all our businesses that rely on shipping goods along the I-5 corridor.

Our transportation system is more than just roads. It includes C-Tran, which will be breaking ground on a new Bus Rapid Transit line along Mill Plain within the next two years. With the completion of that line, C-Tran will be in a position to evaluate the entire system to improve access for all of Vancouver. I served four years on the C-Tran Board of Directors and look forward to the possibility of continuing to shape our transit system. Transit also needs to be a component of the I-5 Bridge Replacement, and I will strongly advocate for our Bus Rapid Transit system to be that component.

Transportation also means serving pedestrians. I live in an area of the City that does not have consistent sidewalk access. The city needs to have a long term plan for providing pedestrian and bike mobility, both to encourage outdoor activity and to provide connectivity for those who rely on transit for getting around. I know from my time on the Clark County Council that sidewalks are expensive, so the City needs to prioritize key areas, such as those near schools, parks, or with high pedestrian traffic.

Our transportation is also the greatest producer of carbon emissions in Vancouver, and should be an area of focus as we work to address climate change. The City can lead by example by buying electric or hybrid vehicles for its own fleet, as C-Tran did recently with the purchase of several electric busses. As a previous owner of a hybrid vehicle, I know how difficult it can be at times to find charging stations, so increasing the number of charging stations in commercial and multi-family development will also help prepare our city for the future.

Finally, Vancouver needs to continue to work closely with the Regional Transportation Council, our legislative delegation in Olympia, and our Federal representatives to keep bringing in grant funds. Without state and federal funding, the city cannot keep up with the growing demand on all aspects of our transportation system.

The COVID-19 pandemic did incredible damage to the US economy: but the impact did not hit all sections of the economy equally. White collar office workers simply shifted from going into the office to working from home, while those in the hospitality and service industry instantly lost almost all of their income.

Federal PPP Loans and the potential for those loans to be forgiven kept many businesses afloat and provided income for their employees, but despite this aid the pandemic still had a disparate impact across our community.

I was thankful to see the City of Vancouver extend the Parklet program for restaurants. In addition to helping those businesses, which were some of the hardest hit during the pandemic, I think the outdoor eating options add to the quality of life for Vancouver citizens. As the City looks at how to spend the final wave of Federal COVID Relief funding, I would hope to see economic recovery for our local, small businesses at the forefront of those budget discussions.

Looking at things like extending the business license fee waiver for an additional year along with the employee surcharge fee, advocating the County Public Health Department to waive the health fees for restaurants and breweries, and prioritizing any direct spending of those funds to projects that keep those dollars in the community would be high priorities. The funds lost from the fees can easily be backfilled with the Federal dollars.

Climate change is a critical issue facing society. This summer we saw a record number of days over 100 degrees locally, wildfires are become more frequent and more devastating, and many areas of the west coast are experiencing severe water shortages. 

As we deal with this issue, it is important for government and business to look at ways they can reduce their carbon emissions and also build greater resilience within our community.

The City of Vancouver can do this by moving as quickly as possible toward electrification of the city's vehicle fleet. As more people drive electric vehicles, the demand for charging stations in multi-family and commercial development will increase. The City needs to be forward looking in making sure new developments have an adequate supply of charging stations.

Washington already has very high energy standards built into the state energy code, which is good. Almost all new homes are required to use an electric heat pump for heating and cooling as opposed to natural gas, which will reduce carbon emissions from future residential development.

Responding to climate change can also create economic opportunity. Although not in the City, within our region the Goldendale Energy Storage Project will provide storage for renewable energy and create 100's of high-paying jobs in the process.

The City of Vancouver can also help build resiliency through planting street trees and working with the P.U.D. to continue providing loan and rebate programs to low-income households to convert their gas furnaces to heat pumps. These are not only more energy efficient but also provide cooling during the summer. Recent research done in Portland has found the presence of street trees can help lower ambient temperatures in neighborhoods, which can be vital during extremely hot days like we had this summer.

For a document with all the Vancouver City Council Questions and how John Blom responded to them, click here