Pastor Chad McComas was the founder of Rogue Retreat, the region's largest homeless services provider. He was fired last year over what the nonprofit's board called financial mismanagement.
Now, McComas is back with a new project called Joy Community, which is aimed at providing affordable housing for homeless seniors in the region.
鈥淎ll the facilities I built for the homeless had 30-40% percent of them filled with seniors,鈥� McComas said, referring to his time at Rogue Retreat. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a tsunami wave of senior homelessness coming.鈥�
Seniors are the fastest growing homeless population in California according to state data. Homelessness in Oregon during the pandemic.
McComas said there鈥檚 less financial support for seniors in homeless programs.
鈥淲hen I worked at Rogue Retreat, a lot of our funds came from coordinated care organizations, which were under the Oregon Health Authority,鈥� he said, describing Oregon's low-income health care provider. 鈥淭he OHA would pay us to take care of clients, to get them off the streets because it's cheaper. But once a person hits 65 they鈥檙e no longer a client of the CCO鈥檚, they鈥檙e now under Medicare and not under the Oregon Health Plan. Once they get under Medicare, Oregon doesn鈥檛 do anything to help them.鈥�
McComas said his goals are to raise enough money to buy a handful of small shelters for homeless seniors, which could be rented out for a low rate and allow the guests to stay as long as they鈥檇 like.
Joy Community is run as a part of Set Free Services, a nonprofit created by McComas鈥� church that offers food, clothing, and shower and laundry services to those in need.
He said they鈥檝e already raised $22,000 of their $200-300,000 goal. The nonprofit is currently looking for land, with possible sites in Medford, Phoenix and Talent.
