Housing and Homelessness

If you need help with housing or homelessness, please visit the Community Services Consortium webpage for a list of community resources.

For homelessness data and statewide resources, view the League of Cities' resource page.

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

Subscribe to the HOPE News & Updates email list here

Attend a HOPE Advisory Board Meeting (and view previous meeting materials) here

Apply to join the HOPE Board with our online application

Check out our new HOPE Recommendations & Community Progress page to learn about efforts to address homelessness in Benton County!

HOPE Executive Committee

The HOPE Executive Committee decides who serves on the HOPE Board when there are vacancies, and they also set the agendas for the full board meetings. The 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.

Governing Documents:

• HOPE Bylaws (Approved)

• HOPE Advisory Board Members and Affiliation

• Public Records and Public Meetings:  Information for Boards, Committees, and Commissions

• HOPE Policy Recommendations - the complete document of adopted HOPE Recommendations and background.

  • Two-page HOPE Policy Reccomendations list 

HOPE Advisory Board Vision:

Everyone in Benton County should have the opportunity to live in decent, safe, and affordable housing. 

HOPE Advisory Board Values:

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.