Lacey councilman boils over, blasts amended agreement with Regional Housing Council
Lacey City Council voted 4-2 on Thursday to approve an amended interlocal agreement with the Regional Housing Council, a body of elected officials and others who make recommendations on homelessness-related housing issues in Thurston County.
But the vote was preceeded by a 40-minute conversation in which council member Lenny Greenstein blasted details of the amended agreement and the process associated with it. He also defended Lacey’s record on addressing homelessness, took issue with how neighboring jurisdictions have dealt with it, and touched on a sore spot: the growing homeless encampment off Sleater Kinney Road Southeast, across from the Hobby Lobby store.
Although many residents might associate that area with Lacey, it’s actually in Olympia.
“Go to Sleater Kinney,” he told the council. “Have you driven by Sleater Kinney lately? It looks like someone dumped the ‘dump’ there on the Olympia side of Sleater Kinney.”
But the conversation that really ignited Greenstein focused on the details of the amended interlocal agreement. The amended agreement notes the merger of the Thurston County and Olympia home funds, establishes a process for using those funds and creates two advisory boards: an affordable housing board and a homeless services board.
Greenstein zeroed in on the two boards, saying he’s concerned about representation on the boards, pointing out the language associated with the affordable housing board says “one-third of the makeup shall come from Olympia.”
“We’re building an advisory board made up of those people who will benefit from the money to advise how to spend the money,” he said. “I see serious concerns with that.”
The bottom line is, the agreement does not benefit Lacey, Greenstein said.
“It’s our job to vote on things based on what is best for the citizens of this city, not the region and not the other cities, merely this city, and for that reason I can’t support this ILA,” he said.
Council members Carolyn Cox and Robin Vazquez fired back.
Cox, who chairs the housing council, pointed out the Regional Housing Council took recent steps to strengthen the representation from other jurisdictions, and there’s good reason for Olympia to have more members on the affordable housing board because 99 percent of social service agencies are based there.
“This council committed to working toward regional solutions to homelessness and affordable housing because it’s not something we can handle as a single jurisdiction,” she said.
Cox urged the council to vote in favor of the agreement.
Cox also reminded the council, as did city staff, that a 90-day clock is ticking to get the amended interlocal agreement approved by all jurisdictions and to get the new boards up to speed.
Without naming names, Cox said the affordable housing board has one Lacey representative, a Lacey urban growth area representative and representation from Olympia Master Builders. The homeless services board has two Lacey residents, two county residents, one of whom lives in the Lacey area, and one who works for North Thurston Public Schools.
Vazquez was frustrated by what she was hearing.
“I don’t want Lacey to drag its feet in getting into fixing the problem (of homelessness) facing all of our cities,” she said. “I want us to make sure we get this done in the next 90 days so we don’t pass up funding, so we can start solving the problem that we all see in our communities and that we hear about from residents all the time. I don’t want residents to see us not doing anything or wasting time.”
Greenstein wasn’t done.
“The 90-day clock is nonsensical,” he said. “It is imposed by the county and the city of Olympia. Since when do we take direction from either of them? We have a council that takes action on what’s best for the residents of Lacey. I don’t care that their 90-day clock is up. It’s irrelevant to me and the people of Lacey, so it should be ignored.”
He also defended Lacey’s approach to homelessness, saying the police, the mobile outreach team, public works, community and economic development, have done a good job. He, too, often hears from residents about homelessness, but 90 percent of those calls think the problem is in Lacey when it’s actually in a neighboring jurisdiction, Greenstein said.
“We’re really doing good work and far better work than the other jurisdictions,” he said.
Greenstein reminded the council that their neighboring jurisdictions haven’t always acted as good partners, referring to a time when residents of a homeless camp were moved to Lacey.
“I understand the concerns that have been raised today,” Cox said. “But nursing old grudges does not progress make. It impedes progress.”
Cox, Vazquez, Michael Steadman and Malcolm Miller voted in favor of the amended agreement. Greenstein and Ed Kunkel voted against it. Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder did not attend the council meeting.
This story was originally published February 17, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
