Search in Weber County for facility for disabled homeless people continues

OGDEN — Following Ogden leaders’ decision last March rebuffing a controversial proposal to develop a facility in the city to house chronically homeless and disabled people, the search for a site continues.

So far, the efforts haven’t yielded concrete results.

“We’ve toured a few sites, but it’s been difficult to find something within our price range,” said Andi Beadles, executive director of the Weber Housing Authority. Still, she said those spearheading the search “have made progress.”

Weber Housing Authority representatives had been eying a vacant assisted-living facility at 2325 Madison Ave. in an older neighborhood of Ogden to develop a 25-unit complex. The facility would not have been a traditional homeless shelter, open to all in need, but rather would have served as permanent housing to a specific pocket of the homeless population — low-income people with disabilities. It would have been staffed with caseworkers to help them.

Some Ogden leaders, though, were leery of approving the resolution of support the Weber Housing Authority needed to pursue the project, and the Ogden proposal, though it garnered strong support from some, stalled in March. The Weber Housing Authority is technically organized to create housing for those in need outside of Ogden in Weber County, hence the requirement for the resolution of support from the Ogden City Council to pursue the Madison Avenue proposal.

“It’s one of the main considerations as we have been looking at property. Trying to find something that residents won’t push back against within our price range has proven to be more difficult than expected,” she said.

The issue has surfaced in Ogden City Council campaigning ahead of general election balloting that culminates on Nov. 4. Four council seats are on the ballot this cycle. Councilman Bart Blair, facing a challenge from Kevin Lundell, referenced an apparent possibility for the facility in Roy in a clip from a candidate forum he posted to social media earlier this month.

Beadles, though, while noting “productive” conversations with Roy officials, said a possibility there fell through.

“We were looking at a property in Roy, but the seller decided to lease the space rather than sell it,” she said.

The vast majority of housing geared to the homeless in Weber County is located in Ogden, Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski and other Ogden leaders have noted. That factored in the reticence of some earlier this year to give the Weber Housing Authority proposal at the ex-Aspen Care Facility site on Madison Avenue the green light. Moreover, some city officials have pointed out that the Housing Authority of Ogden, tasked with helping low-income people in need find housing, recently opened a facility in the city, called Solis, that’s meant to assist the population of homeless disabled people.

Beadles, though, said the proposal the Weber Housing Authority is pursuing is still needed and is meant for “individuals that need more intensive care” than what Solis provides.

For now, she said, some of the people the proposed facility at the ex-Aspen Care Facility have found other accommodations. Most, though, “are still on the streets,” she said.

In opting not to take up the resolution of support last March that the Weber Housing Authority sought to pursue its plans in Ogden, the City Council instead voted to buy the 1-acre site from the agency for $2.2 million and pursue housing development on the land. Beadles said the housing authority, which paid $1.7 million for the site, has received the $2.2 million.

The Weber Housing Authority has $590,000 in federal funds it can use to help cover the cost of its plans, but must spend it by December or lose it, according to Beadles. The original deadline to spend the funds had been last June but was extended.