A long shadow cast on the second floor hallway Feb. 8, 2024, at the Promise Inn in Pendleton.

PENDLETON — Part of the task of keeping the homeless sheltered in Pendleton falls on a busy public service agency.

“We provide several services for our homeless population, one people most know is Promise Inn,” said Claudia Limon, who is program director for housing, homeless services, weatherization and utility services for Community Action Program of East Central Oregon.

The Pendleton-based social service agency provides 34 rooms at the Promise Inn that can shelter homeless people for up to 90 days.

“Since it’s a noncongregate shelter, we see families, we see adults, single parents, we see all kinds of people and they are able to stay in rooms because everybody has their own space,” Limon said.

The Promise Inn, she said, is low-barrier shelter.

”As long as there is no drug and alcohol use or paraphernalia on site, we are OK,” Limon said. “So if a person comes in and goes to their room, and they are under the influence at that time, as long as they’re not causing any issues or breaking any of the house rules, then we are able to continue to serve them as long as they’re not using on-site, or paraphernalia is found during group checks.”

Still, the building is unable to accommodate the total need for shelter.

“We have a coordinated entry list of over 200 people and so we’re not able to serve all those folks,” Limon said. “Some of them are not super-in-need of that service but they are in need of other housing assistance. So I would say at any given time, we at least have 50-100 people that we’re not able to serve.”

Being admitted into the building is a triage process, Limon said.

“When a person comes in, they see one of our intake workers available during regular hours and do appointments as they need, but they make an assessment, which pulls out a vulnerability score,” Limon said. “The vulnerability score determines where they land on the list. It’s not done by first-come first-served. It’s done by the highest vulnerability.”

Limon said the guests must sign out of the room by 9 a.m. and check back in 5-6 p.m.

“We do make accommodations when it’s extremely hot or extremely cold, or this summer we had extreme smoke in the air that was unsafe,” Limon said. “We let folks stay in when it’s extreme weather.”

Limon referred to other CAPECO programs, the rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing programs as well as other subsidy programs in Umatilla, Morrow, and Gilliam counties, “So folks who are literally homeless are able to apply again through the coordinated entry list for that payment assistance. If they are pulled from that list, they are able to secure housing.”

Limon said CAPECO has case managers that help them through the process.

“They are able to subsidize, get them into the unit, provide case management and whatever the next steps look like for that household, whether it’s work, whether it’s reunification with family, whether it is getting on a Section Eight voucher for long term assistance,” Limon said. “Our case managers work on individual plans with folks who are in our programs.”

Limon said property owners and landlords are coaxed into the programs through open communication.

“We try to be proactive with our clients especially if we’re seeing that things may be going downhill, or there’s some issues that may arise,” Limon said. “I think the landlords that we have been successfully partnering with appreciate the communication and knowing somebody’s boots are on the ground with these folks working towards self sufficiency,” Limon said.

Limon said CAPECO also offers homelessness-prevention services.

“Those help folks who have not entered the homeless system,” Limon said. “Folks who are too unstable to be housed, or they’re behind on their rent, or they lost their job and now they can’t pay their rent while they’re looking for another job or whatnot, are those who without our services might enter the homeless system,” Limon said.

Limon said the homelessness prevention funding, “comes from Oregon’s Housing Committee services, as well as other funding through Oregon Housing and Community Services. So we are able to do a lot of eviction prevention so folks aren’t entering and adding to the homeless system.”

Limon said CAPECO intends to roll out a homeless meals program.

“We’re trying to figure out the best way to serve them to make sure they have access to meals,” Limon said. “So we’re in the in the early stages of that.”

“We have navigation programs where we partner with Department of Human Services for folks who are working with self-sufficiency households, and child welfare that are unhoused,” Limon said.

“We can help them find short-term rental assistance, work towards specific goals, and it’s all meant to increase their self-sufficiency,” Limon said. “We currently have about 60 households in that program. We usually have 50-60 folks in our rental subsidy programs. Since July 2023 It looks like we’ve served 176 households with eviction prevention.”

Limon said CAPECO also offers classes in how to rent a residential property through a rent guarantee program which can pay funds to a landlord beyond a security deposit.

“That has been amazingly successful for us, and our landlords have been very happy with it,” Limon said. “We’ve honestly not had to tap into it as much because our renters are learning how to be better renters through the program.”