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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 23, 2017)
Page 8 Street Roots • June 23-29, 2017 N ew s HOMELESS SNAPSHOT I g Fewer without shelter Unsheltered: 3,772 Overall: 13,819 4,145 2009 864 hhhh x > 1,009 WHERE 0 0 YOU SLEEP MOST OFTEN & WHY? 1,752 1,572 "Under lit© Mor rison Bridge on the East end. ... Shelters are dirty, and there are bed bags. It's not a safe place to g o .... la s t tim e I was in a shelter, X witnessed a stabbing over a lig h t socket because they want ed to p ing in their phone. When „ the weather Is bad, I w i ll go to Xxnago Del." 1,668 1.04; 974 872 ^ « H H I ■ 757 H I ........ Unsheltered with disabilities or chronic homelessness People who report disabilities make up a larger share of this year’s unsheltered count in Multnomah County, and the number of people considered chronically homeless in this year’s count also increased. People in these categories often struggle with health issues that complicate efforts to bring them into housing. PEOPLE WITH DISABLING CONDITIONS CHRONICALLY HOMELESS ADULTS 2017 71.6% 201-5- "For the first three months, X sle pt outside an the woods, and I had one camp» itik fe I t just felt like of places to sleep outside, it was the safest.... We tried to stay blddeh by «using camonflage sheets. Miter X got to the front of the w a it Bst fo r a woman's shel ter that's nicer than most of the I stayed, there for. S ij W months. When I first became homeless, almost a ll the shelters •were booked f u ll or had wait lists, until X got to the front of the w a ll lis t, w h ich to o k ab ou t 2 1 / 2 n ib n th fc " 52.1% "W e 're In she lter, th e Hansen Shelter.' Because ray j I f i f t le a l , fia n c e , Is d isa b le d , an d I d o n 't w a n t I® see her on the street. Been there since I t opened, almost a year. (Before tha t? ) M o stly in s h e lte r." BILL W ., SO What ftey are doing about it Racial disparities "W e h a w an S B We spe nt $ 3 0 0 ®n h e rj she Isas a > 4 4 magnnm en g in e though, s© Site « s . w o rth It. She's p ra c tic a lly fallin g apart th o u g h . She's g o t w ood ro t, dam age mold. But It's h o m e .... I t's th e safest place-1 can be. We bav© camped. W ith ’ the PTSD we b o th have, ft does not w o rk , an d we w ere staying In a v illa g e , b a t the PTSD th a t caused, d id n 't w o rk ." AILEEN MCPHERSON, 42 Like Portland, Seattle has declared a state of housing emergency and is struggling with providing adequate housing. People of color made up 40.5 percent of this year’s homeless count, up from from 38.8 percent in 2015. By contrast, people of color make up 29 percent of Multnomah County’s population. These data use HUD's definition o f homelessness, which doesn't include people who are involuntarily doubled up or sleeping on couches, in garages o r in overcrowded situations. This definition reduces the visibility o f communities o f color overall. In 2016, Seattle passed a housing levy for $290 million. The levy has been passed on five occasions since 1981 and has helped build 12,500 units of affordable housing and has helpedt 900 households purchase their first home. It has also helped prevent 6,500 individuals and families from being evicted. ■ NATIVE-AMERICANS Native Americans represented a substantial increase within the overall homeless population. The count rose from 82 in 2015 to 424 in 2017. fin tlh a streets-« ■ ... X d id n 't know mach, really, about the shelters - I buried m f only c h ild and ha d a ÉÉ s lig h t h e r m s bre akd ow n , an d I ended up on th e streets« (ä I slept in fie n t of TPX, under the bridge, u n til I got r ä p Ö . H 1 Weht fo t fÄ out Unsheltered: 14,966 The 2015 count reported a low tally o f Native Americans. This year’s surge is likely a correction o f an unexplained issue with the 2015 count, rather than an actual four-fold in crease in the number o f Native American people experienc ing homelessness, according to the Point-In-Time report. Sheltered/transitional housing: 42,828 Overall: 57,794 Overall homelessness, 2015-17 Unsheltered homelessness ■ugg Percent of Multnomah County population* Hr (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-15 American Community Survey five-year estimates) What they are doing abort it ‘ Counts exceed 100% because respondents may choose multiple categories The numbers in Los Angeles are staggering. The county has responded by passing a $1 billion affordable housing bond in November, followed by a $3.5 billion voter-approved sales tax for homeless services just ' months later. The sales tax will create $355 million annually for the next 10 years. ■ * King County changed its street count methodology in 2017 they opened up tie - H shelter, so I m ade I t la th e re ." FBSMCINE RÄSA PARKS, 57 King County is currently exploring a sales tax to take to voters in 2018 for $469 million for homeless services. LOS AN6ELES COUNTY Percentage of 2017 Point-In-Time results* American Indian/ Alaska Native Asian Black/ Native Ha African-American Pacific Islander . Hispanic/ Latino Read more About the count PHEOBE Oi, 27 Percentage of unsheltered people experiencing homelessness, Multnomah County Point-In-Time count: 2017 3,801 We asked Street Roots vendors currently and formerly experiencing homelessness where they preferred to sleep. Transitional housing 1,887 1,895 1 718 KING COUNTY (Seattle) Sheltered/transitional housing: 10,047 HI Unsheltered 1,928 1 , 6 9 0 1,59! Beyond Multnomah County 4,655 l Emergency shelter I l For the first time since 2005, when Multnomah County began counting people experiencing homelessness, more were counted in emergency shelter than sleeping on the streets. Page 9 From the Point-In-Time survey, conducted every two years of dollars in rent assistance. Additional federal housing cuts proposed under the Trump administration would result in the loss of tens of millions of dollars locally for both affordable housing and re n t assistance. Locally, however, investments are being made. Portland voters passed an affordable housing bond this past November, which will fund the construction of more than a 1,000 units to support 3,000 individuals and families. Together, Portland and Multnomah County governments are investing nearly $50 million dollars annually to support giving people access to housing in the region. But proposed cuts meán these investments will go toward filling a deepening hole. Street Roots continues to pressure, local government to provide a more sustainable ongoing revenue tool to support giving people access to more housing, including rent assistance, mental health facilities and more. The average one-bedroom apartment now rents for more than $1,100 a month, according to data from Multifamily NW. That number has grown 20 times faster than the , median income since 2015. More than 18,000 people in Multnomah County rely on federal disability checks that top out at $735 a month, according to the 2017 Homeless Point In Time report. For minimum wage workers, rent increases since 2005 have cost thousands of dollars in real income and made it more difficult to tend to other basic needs. In 2016, there were 185,000 households in the. f Portland-metro region eligible for affordable housing, according to the Metro Equitable Housing Study. But there are only about 30,000 affordable units in the same area. The State of Oregon has proposed cutting millions New s HOMELESS COUNT IN MULTNOMAH COUNTY While more people were sleeping in shelters, M ultnomah County's overall homeless population spiked, according to the county's latest Point-In-Time count t's not surprising Portland saw a 10 percent increase in homelessness between 2016 and 2017. Street Roots • June 23-29, 2017 "Mt Portland Rescue, then a t le a n 's Place. But then X ran out - of tim e , s© I went b a ck to the B4s©s© Hiss©©©... Ì it was safer. They have a women's p ro g ra m , s© the doors are lo cked . I t's not safe outside." The Point-In-Time count is a census of people sleeping in shelters, transitional housing or places not fit for habitation, conducted on a given night every two years. Starting next year, the local count will occur once a year. This year's local count occurred Feb. 22, with volunteers and workers asking people where they slept that night. Communities must conduct the count to remain eligible for federal housing grants. DIRECTOR'S DESK As Multnomah County reports an increase in people experiencing homelessness, the state announces a huge drop in funding for its most vulnerable residents. Page 3 H ill Read Street Roots' continuing coverage of the homeless crisis and local housing issues: news.streetroots.org/ housing K J., 52 S O U R C E : 2 0 1 7 M U L T N O M A H C O U N T Y P O IN T -IN -T IM E C O U N T
