Salinas presents Tigard with $300k for homelessness community service officer

U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas recently delivered $300,000 to Tigard officials, money that will be used to hire a full-time community services officer to aid the city’s houseless population.

“Addressing the homelessness and affordable housing crisis is my top priority, but it’s going to require an all-hands-on-deck approach,” Salinas, a Tigard Democrat representing District 6, said in a statement. “The funding I secured will be used to pay for a full-time Homelessness Community Service Officer (CSO) who will help get folks off the streets and into stable housing.”

The new community services officer will monitor encampments, escort community outreach coordinators from different agencies to and from those encampments, patrol the area and attend community meetings. That person also is expected to provide information to the unhoused community regarding available resources and affordable housing.

That new employee will aid a city that already has several other positions focused on addressing issues involving unhoused individuals. They include a city position whose main job is responding to homeless individuals. In addition, the Tigard Police Department has a focused patrol position where an officer connects between the downtown business area and the homeless community.

Finally, Washington County is working on an intergovernmental agreement with Tigard, Tualatin and Sherwood to provide a joint coordinator to deal with issues involving the unhoused. Similar positions in Hillsboro and Beaverton are planned as well.

The money Salinas secured for the community service officer is part of $460 billion federal package signed by President Joe Biden last month.

Meanwhile, Salinas also received funding for two other major Tigard projects including:

$1 million to construct two enhanced crossings along Hall Boulevard in Tigard that will help reduce pedestrian injuries and fatalities. The project includes installation of two new enhanced pedestrian crossings, made up of rectangular rapid flashing beacons, across Hall Boulevard. Those will be installed at the intersections of Southwest Hemlock Street (in unincorporated Washington County) and Southwest Spruce Street (within Tigard city limits). Spruce Street is several blocks north of Lucille Court where an adult mother and daughter were stuck by a hit-and-run driver while crossing Hall Boulevard in March 2022. The daughter died and her mother was seriously injured. A suspect was arrested.$500,000 to make needed repairs and heating, ventilation and air conditioning upgrades to the Tigard Emergency Heating and Cooling Center, which acts as an emergency shelter inside the Tigard Public Library and provides indoor services for unhoused people during extreme weather. Tigard expects to begin work on the repairs sometime in early 2025.