Sojourners Alliance director strives for a positive future

As Moscow and Lewiston continue to face a housing shortage, the new executive director of Sojourners Alliance wants to put the nonprofit in position to help.

Casey Bolt will replace retiring Cliff McAleer as the new executive director of the nonprofit. Sojourners works to address homelessness by helping residents from Moscow to Lewiston find short-term and long-term housing.

Bolt recently finished his Ph.D in economics at Washington State University and joined Sojourners Alliance because he wanted to work directly on issues related to poverty.

As he steps into his new role, one of his primary goals is to secure more funding for the nonprofit’s services. Bolt said the government funding that increased during the COVID-19 pandemic is now disappearing, even though the need is still great.

For example, he said Sojourners Alliance was allocated more than $700,000 to provide motel vouchers for those in need of temporary housing since the beginning of the pandemic.

McAleer said they were able to provide assistance to hundreds of people the past two years because of that funding.

Now that money is dwindling, and Bolt said motel vouchers will be more limited going forward.

“All that need is still there and we’re moving away from having that kind of resource,” he said.

One lasting result of COVID-19 funding, however, is the addition of beds at Sojourners Alliance’s transitional living program in Moscow. The nonprofit added six more beds thanks to American Rescue Plan Act money allocated by Latah County and the City of Moscow. It can now house up to 14 men and 7 women at a time.

Sojourners Alliance has dealt with funding challenges before. It lost $100,000 in funding in 2016 when U.S. Housing and Urban Development announced it would no longer support the program. This contributed to the nonprofit having to shut down its transitional housing program in 2019. The Sojourners Alliance building was also heavily damaged by a fire in 2018.

McAleer said he believes the nonprofit has “stabilized” since those setbacks and Bolt is optimistic about what is ahead.

“I think we have a bright future,” Bolt said.

Bolt said the key is making sure Sojourners Alliance adapts to new government regulations so it can qualify for future funding and avoid a repeat of 2016.

Bolt said it would also be helpful if local property owners relaxed certain restrictions that deny people access to housing if they have a criminal history, as that is often an obstacle for people Sojourners Alliance works with.

He has also been in discussions with Moscow and Lewiston officials who are concerned that there are simply not enough homes being built to meet demand in the community, Bolt said.

“I would say we’re at the start of a conversation,” Bolt said. “This is a national phenomenon, so lots of local communities are trying to get a handle on this.”

Sojourners Alliance provides additional services — its homelessness prevention program offers financial assistance to those who have fallen behind on their rent payments, and it has a rapid rehousing program that pays first month’s rent and a security deposit to help people move into apartments.

Sojourners Alliance also pays for 11 apartment leases to house people with disabilities as part of a program called Project Warmth.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.