Street Roots • April 8-14, 2016
Commentary
Page 11
Integrated city, county effort best approach to homelessness
BY DEBORAH KAFOURY
AND DAN SALTZMAN
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T S
Deborah Kafoury is
the chair o f the
M ultnomah County
Board, o f
Commissioners
D an Saltzman is the
Portland City
Commissioner in
charge o f housing
n accident brought Sara to a
homeless shelter last year. Hit by a
car and left unable to work, she
quickly discovered that disability benefits
were too little to cover rent and expenses,
and too much to qualify for additional
assistance.
She and her teenage daughter stayed with
family for a time, but eventually landed in a
homeless shelter. Sara was, in her own
words, “too rich to be poor, and too poor to
find housing.”
Sara is one of roughly 4,000 people who
sleep on our streets, in cars, in shelters or
in temporary housing each night - all
because they cannot afford a permanent
place to live.
Homelessness in Portland and across
Multnomah County is a crisis that all of us
feel, and to make real progress we must all
work together to solve it.
A little more than a year ago, the City of
Portland and Multnomah County brought
business and faith leaders together with
community organizations to form a unified
plan to address this crisis, led by a
partnership called A Home For Everyone.
By aligning our resources and expanding
our investments in services that help people
find a home, we increased the number of
people we housed from 3,000 to 3,500 last
fiscal year. Between January and December
2015, we housed nearly 700 veterans.
While we are making progress, we must
do more.
Statistics show us th a t The number of
people on our streets and shelters has
remained relatively unchanged from 2013.
Our community has experienced a 48
percent increase in the number of
unsheltered African Americans in the last
■
two years. And during the same period, the
number of adult women experiencing
homelessness jumped 15 percent. The
number of families with children
experiencing homelessness also has risen,
and the homeless population includes a
persistently high number of people with
disabilities.
We must address this emergency on
every front, including by building more
affordable housing, expanding shelters and
preventing homelessness before it even
occurs. But we must also ensure that we
maximize the impact of the dollars we
spend.
Significant public and private resources
have been committed to fighting
homelessness, but the system that delivers
services to those in need remains divided.
The City of Portland and Multnomah
County each provide services, targeted
toward different populations: the city
focuses on single adults, while the county
focuses on families, youth and survivors of
domestic violence. A divided system is more
difficult to navigate by those in need of
assistance, and is less operationally
efficient.
We can no longer allow artificial
government divisions to be a barrier to
people in need of help.
We have seen through stories like that of
William Hudson that collaboration can effect
tremendous positive change in someone’s
life.
Hudson, a U.S. Army veteran, became
homeless after losing his subsidized
apartment when he left town for a month to
respond to a family emergency. When he
returned, he spent three months on the
streets. He was able to find supportive
services and housing through the dedicated
outreach effort to veterans that was
undertaken by “A Home For Every
Veteran,” part of the Home For Everyone
Are you a
Veteran
" experiencing W
or at risk of
becoming
homeless?
T ran sitio n V
Projects ■
Please call 855.425.5544
or visit 650 NW Irving Street
consortium.
But for many homeless individuals and
families, it’s not clear to whom they should
turn for help.
Last year, Portland and Multnomah
County began exploring bringing all
homeless services together under a joint
office of homeless services, guided by a
shared commitment to improve outcomes
for people experiencing homelessness. With
shared values and a common agenda, this
integrated office is a natural next step in
maximizing the impact of A Home for
Everyone. It will build on the investments
we have made and further aligning our
resources.
This office, housed at Multnomah County,
would include staff who administer contracts
for services, manage systems of care, and
oversee system reporting and evaluation.
These employees would also manage and
monitor funds issued by the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
A joint office would also enable the city
and county to more quickly adapt to the
changing need in our community. With a
data-driven commitment to continuous
improvement, it will foster innovation,
collaboration and an open and evolving
dialog with the community.
Most importantly, it would be accessible
and responsive to the needs of people
experiencing homelessness, to ensure that
we are moving as many people as possible
back into permanent housing, and ensuring
that they have safe shelter if permanent
housing is not immediately available.
Next Tuesday the Multnomah County
Board of Commissioners and the Portland
City Council will meet to discuss this
proposal and we hope that the community
will stay engaged as we take the next steps.