A message from the LTSST housing team birthed of the Almeda Fire:
Community is mobilizing and there is yet more to be done. We need the participation of all our neighbors in the community. We need you who have the space to offer it to our Rogue Valley community members most impacted by the Almeda fire. The fire razed areas of Talent and Phoenix and south Medford and took with it 2374 homes and apartment buildings.
The ‘Longer Term Secure, Short Term (LTSST) Housing effort’ is a team made up of predominantly Ashland community members volunteering their time to support those most harmed by the Almeda Fire. This leaderful team, organized by Tía Laída Fé (also known as Candace) and co-led with Jeffri Lynn Carrington, Stephanie Baum, Shayna Marie Christensen, Natalie Stawsky and Heather Carleton is sourcing community housing shares that offer longer term stays – one to six months, and, for some, longer. Enough time to provide families who lost everything in the fire with a home to settle into, a space to de-stress and release the trauma of the fire, nurture their children through their fire anxiety and remain a part of our community.
The LTSST housing effort is working in conjunction with Unete, SOEquity, representatives of SOESD- migrant education, and local active organizations such as the housing group at El Tapatio, OSF, Orchard Hill Elementary fire relief group and homeowners who are choosing to open their auxiliary dwelling units to the community.
The LTSST housing team continues to grow and is organizing herself to support the community over the long haul in our recovery. We hold the intention of seeing that every family housed through the LTSST effort has the support they want in arriving at the other side of this. We are evolving our team (and branches of it) to offer support through the entire process to be sure everyone involved has what they need and the amount of support they want. The LTSST housing team includes fluent Spanish speakers who engage with the ‘host family’ and the ‘receiving family.’ Their role is focused on developing a trusted relationship and supporting an easeful transition that is equity minded, culturally respectful and trauma and grief conscious and capable. We will support every step of the way to ensure that all parties are treated with respect, dignity and compassion. And, together, we are creating the world our hearts know is possible.
Longer Term means 1-6 months preferred Secure Housing.
You may not have housing to offer, but maybe you know someone. It doesn’t have to be in Ashland. The Medford area is in fact preferable for some. And even some are open to further out on the perimeter of our towns.
In some cases it doesn’t need to be free.
-an RV, preferably with an RV hook up or with an owner willing to cover the cost of the hook up for a bit. Or at least a yard with access to hose water and house power.
-a guest house or tiny home
-a timeshare
-a rental property that no one is renting (because Covid, fire, and now winter )
-a hunting cabin
-an apartment or house that is empty
-a house you have on the market whose sale you can delay for 6 months to a year?
-can 1 person move to make a larger space available for a family?
-can you foster pets so a family can be housed in a place where pets aren’t allowed?
-if you speak Spanish and want to work directly coordinating with families and those offering housing options/community hosts, please let us know!
-Call your friends and family. Ask if they have room in their hearts and home or yard to house those who have lost everything.
-and once they are successfully and stably housed, many families could use financial sponsors to support their lives in coming out of trauma and survival stress states into equilibrium.
-Sponsors can be off site. They can be relatives and friends of ours who are saying “what a tragedy! Tell me how I can help!” They can offer monthly support of any amount, or send regular grocery cards and gas cards to a family or pay for an RV hook up, or support with their children’s needs for their studies.
Now is when our neighbors of the valley need us. Not just those without homes- but our neighbors who are wishing they could help. It is found that “helping is the antidote to helplessness.” There is room in this list of needs for as small a gift as making posts and phone calls with the bulk of the information above or a $5 gas card and as big a gift as an open home.
For direct contact with offers, or questions for the LTSST, please email Heather Carleton: heathercostumes@gmail.com or Jeffri Lynn Carrington: jeffrilynn@gmail.com
All the best,
Cassie
