Housing and Homelessness

For up-to-date information about COVID-19, please visit https://www.co.benton.or.us/coronavirus

If you are interested in volunteering with local service providers or if you are trying to find services, please visit the Community Services Consortium webpage with a list of community resources.

Home, Opportunity, Planning and Equity (HOPE) Advisory Board

The HOPE Advisory Board is a joint effort between Benton County and the City of Corvallis to facilitate a comprehensive, coordinated response from the county, cities, and diverse community partners, leaders, and persons experiencing homelessness.

Contact the HOPE Advisory Board here.

Apply to be on the HOPE Board:

Are you interested in helping find solutions to housing & homelessness? The HOPE Board accepts applications anytime with an online application at bit.ly/BentonCoGov-HOPE-Board

HOPE Community Feedback:

Between April 1-15, 2021, the HOPE Board collected community feedback on the draft recommendations to the City of Corvallis and Benton County. Visit the HOPE Community Engagement Page for more information.

The final adopted HOPE recommendations can be viewed here.

HOPE Executive Committee:

The HOPE Executive Committee meets monthly on the second Wednesday of the month from 4-5pm. They decide who serves on the HOPE Board when there are vacancies and they also set the agendas for the full board meetings. The HOPE Executive Committee is made up of seven board members from the 21-person HOPE Board: two co-chairs, one county commissioner, two city councilors, one business community representative, and the Director of Community Services Consortium, our community action agency for Linn, Benton, and Lincoln counties.

Upcoming Meetings:

Meeting schedules, agendas, and supporting materials will be posted to this page at least one week prior to each meeting.

The HOPE Advisory Board has an upcoming meeting on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 from 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. It is a virtual Zoom meeting and can also be accessed via the web or by calling in from a phone. The meeting agenda is posted here and on the county calendar and includes information about how to join the meeting.

The HOPE Executive Committee has an upcoming meeting on Wednesday, November 13, 2021 from 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. It is a virtual Zoom meeting and can also be accessed via the web or by calling in from a phone. The meeting agenda will be posted here and on the county calendar one week prior to the meeting and will include information about how to join the meeting.

HOPE Advisory Board Past Meeting Recordings and Documents:

2021 Meeting Materials:

September 22, 2021 Agenda, Recording, and PowerPoint Presentations on Legislation passed in 2021 and the Justice System Improvement Project.
- September 22, 2021 Minutes will be posted within 7 days from being approved at the October board meeting.
August 25, 2021 Minutes, Recording, and PowerPoint presentation on Job Access and Training.
July 28, 2021 Minutes, Recording, and PowerPoint presentation on Community Development: the role of the state, city, and county in developing affordable housing
June 23, 2021 Minutes, Recording, and 4 PowerPoint presentations linked below.
May 26, 2021 Minutes, Recording, and PowerPoint Presentation on investigating resource development and legislative advocacy for recommendations
April 28, 2021 Minutes, Recording, and PowerPoint Presentation on the final draft of Policy Recommendations.
March 24, 2021 Minutes, Recording, and Powerpoint Presentation on second draft of Policy Recommendations.
February 24, 2021 Minutes, Recording, and Powerpoint Presentation on the first draft of Policy Recommendations.
January 27, 2021 Minutes, Recording, and Powerpoint Presentation on All Community Feedback on First Four Priority Topics

Past Years Meeting Materials for HOPE Advisory Board:

2019-2020 Meeting Materials

HOPE Executive Committee Past Meeting Documents:

October 13, 2021 Agenda
- October 13, 2021 Minutes will be posted within 7 days from being approved at the November board meeting.
September 8, 2021 Minutes
August 11, 2021 Minutes

Governing Documents:

HOPE Advisory Board Vision:
Everyone in Benton County should have the opportunity to live in decent, safe, and affordable housing.

Our values are to:

Use data to drive assessments, prioritization and accountability. In order to best use scarce resources, we must understand the scope of the problem, evaluate the outcomes of our investments, evaluate progress and demonstrate accountability.

Take a comprehensive systems and multi-sector approach. Strengthen system capacity and increase leveraging opportunities across systems of care, such as domestic violence, physical, mental and behavioral health, criminal justice, and housing providers. To provide a home for everyone, we must increase coordination and collaboration of service providers and strengthen efficiencies in our current system and better align our resources.

Engage and involve the community, not just direct service providers. Policy makers and community stakeholders must understand the magnitude of the challenge in achieving the vision, the costs of not achieving the vision, and the strategies necessary to get there. HOPE will strive to ensure that the specific concerns and interests of local and county-wide stakeholders are heard and considered.

Prioritize vulnerable populations. While homelessness can be traumatic for anyone, there are those whose health and safety is at greater risk without a safe and stable home. For example, women fleeing domestic violence, children and people with disabilities, etc.

Promote community safety for all. This work is intended to be generally inclusive of all housing and services for people experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless in Benton County while acknowledging the limitations of funding and considering the impact on safety and livability. Hereinafter, this service scope will be referred to as Homelessness and Supportive Services System, or “System”.

Promote racial and ethnic justice. In order to ensure that our programs do not unintentionally favor one population over another population we will strive to provide culturally specific services, and use a racial equity lens across all program recommendations.