Speech: At the dedication of Prairie House

Speech delivered at the Dedication of Prairie House,
An Affordable Housing Project for the Chronically
and Persistently Mentally Ill, Prineville, Oregon
Delivered by Crook County Judge Scott R. Cooper
October 21, 2004


Good afternoon, and thank you for turning out an a wonderful fall afternoon to inaugurate a wonderful new project in Central Oregon and Crook County. I’m pleased today to welcome you in my several capacities: as county judge, as a member of the Oregon State Housing Council and as one of five commissioners who are jointly responsible for providing mental health services in Central Oregon. All these responsibilities each of which I care passionately about come together today in this single project: the groundbreaking of Prairie House.

Little did I imagine four years ago when Crook County took a leap of faith and joined the Central Oregon Regional Housing Authority what a difference that organization would soon make in our community. Almost immediately after joining, executive director Cyndy Cooke asked for a personal tour of Prineville’s housing stock . So I gave her one—the good, the bad and the rest. We drove through some nice additions with spacious lots and brick facings. Cyndy mostly nodded and smiled. We drove through some middle-of-the-road subdivisions, offering reasonable space at a reasonable price. Cyndy looked slightly bored. Then we drove through a couple of Prineville’s most notorious trailer parks--and Cyndy came alive!

“Omi Gawd, Omi Gawd,” people actually live in those?” she shrieked in a sort of excited tone that those who know Cyndy have to recognize. It’s a tone that 500 years ago would have served as some medieval king’s call to arms—an announcement to everyone that the battle is about to be joined.

And joined it was. Cyndy and her troops, particularly our Crook County Housing Commissioners, Bobbi Young, Ken Nelson, Mike Warren and my wife, Laura Cooper, swung into action. They identified sites in Crook County for future housing projects. They lined up funding. They brought in experts to provide supportive services. They marshaled the political forces in such a way that we could never remember a time when we weren’t the region’s biggest fans of affordable housing projects.

All of this they accomplished through the sheer force of reason, for when put to us in simplest terms, the need for every community to invest in affordable housing is a concept that sells itself. Hear for yourself the statistics:

It was the respected New England Journal of Medicine, not CORHA, which found that homeless people spend an average of four days longer per hospital visit than comparable non-homeless people.1

It was researchers in Hawaii who uncovered the fact that the homeless are 100 times more likely than their non-homeless counterparts to require pychiatric hospitalization.2
The University of Texas calculated the annual cost of overnight incarceration of homeless persons at an average $14,480 per individual per year.5

The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department found that emergency shelter beds cost an average $8,067 more per year per bed than the cost of providing a federal housing subsidy. 7

And let’s not kid ourselves about who qualifies as homeless. If that word conjures for you the image of an individual too unmotivated to get a job or a convicted felon whose prior deeds have led to his present condition or someone unwilling to make a new life that doesn’t involve bottles or needles, think again:

· One in five homeless people has a job, but isn’t paid enough to make ends meet.
· A quarter of the homeless are children.
· More than 1 in 10 homeless people is a veteran, who was probably honorably discharged.
· 22 percent of homeless people suffer from some sort of mental illness, which with access to healthcare and minimal supervision, can probably be treated.
· Another 22 percent of homeless people are fleeing from domestic violence.
· 70 percent of the homeless need only temporary assistance and with only a little help can go on to function without ongoing support from government and society.
These statistics to me are compelling. Because when we talk about the homeless, those who at risk of homeless, we are not talking about bums and deadbeats.

Every homeless person is someone’s child, sister or brother and just as you and I hope that someone would care for our child, sister or brother if we were unable to do it ourselves, so a parent or a sibling somewhere out there is counting on us to help.

Every homeless person is to some degree a victim of circumstances, trapped in a downward spiral from which he or she probably cannot escape. After all, if you don’t have an address, a telephone, a wardrobe, a shower or access to healthcare, what are the chances you can pull yourself out of the hole into which you’ve fallen.

Places like Prairie House offer one thing: They offer Hope: Hope for change, Hope for a better, brighter tomorrow.

This facility is a wonderful addition to our community. Thank you Cyndy and staff for putting it together. Thank you CORHA commissioners for making it happen in Prineville. Thank you City of Prineville for making the land acquisition possible. And thank you most of all citizens of Crook County who were willing to open your hearts and embrace a facility like this and say, “Welcome home. Hope is just around the corner.”