(Longview, WA) – Don’t start the auction just yet.

A motion to begin the process of auctioning off the pallet homes at the closed Hope Village homeless facility failed when new Longview City Council member Chris Bryant abstained.

Mayor Erik Halvorson made a motion to sell off the 50 tiny homes which have sat empty since the encampment was shut down last fall.

Halvorson, Keith Young and Kalei LaFave voted to get rid of the homes  Mike Claxton, Ruth Kendall and Wayne Nichols voted against it.

That left it to Bryant, who shut down the action with his abstention.

The council has agreed that they will take up the future of the Hope Village structures and further look into the homeless situation in Longview before a meeting later in May.

City staff had been looking for guidance from the council going forward.