Street Roots • Sept. 21-27, 2018
HUD, from page 4
of their homelessness, which typically takes
a month or longer.
A federal audit of Home Forward in April
and recent audits of other area housing
providers have resulted in an increased
demand from HUD that local organizations
provide more rigorous documentation of
their clients’ chronic homelessness,
compounding an already challenging
requirement
But before a mentally or physically
disabled person with no home gets to this
point in the housing process, they must
score high enough on a vulnerability
assessment to get placed on the list for
housing. This HUD requirement also has its
pitfalls.
Finding a home for Cesii
Flaws with the vulnerability assessment
process are glaring in the case of a
homeless senior citizen named Cesii
George.
For nearly two decades - maybe longer -
George has spent most of his days in the
park in front of the Multnomah County
Courthouse in downtown Portland.
He used to wear a skirt and, at times,
flashy costume jewelry. Over the years, he
became recognizable to many people
working in the surrounding government
buildings. These days, he wears more
conventional clothing and carries all his
belongings in canvas bags tied with rope to
the end of a long stick, in the traditional
bindle fashion. - -
He sleeps in doorways along downtown
sidewalks where he knows he won’t be
hassled and spends his winters under
bridges. He never seeks out cooling centers
in hot weather, nor does he sleep in shelters
when it’s cold. He doesn’t seek help from
any social service provider or passerby but
instead has survived off what little money
the people who frequent his favorite park
give him, unsolicited.
The park where he lingers, Lownsdale
Square and Chapman Square, bustles with
law enforcement officers, attorneys and
other county and city workers.
For George, it’s a place that feels safer
than Old Town, which he ardently avoids,
even though it’s where many resources he
could be accessing are located. He’s said he
Won’t go there because he is afraid of other
homeless people who have assaulted him in
the past
With his advanced age and easy-going
demeanor, George is an easy target
While he has a difficult time keeping his
memories straight, there are a few details of
his life that remain constant He was born in
Salem, raised in Woodburn and lived all his
life in Oregon. He was married at one time
and held a janitorial position at the
Pendleton shirt manufacturing facility in
Milwaukie before it shuttered in 1997. He
has also been a patient at the Oregon State
Hospital, a residential facility for people
with mental illness.
Throughout the past 16 years, Tammie
Jones has seen George hanging out in the
park most mornings on her way to work at
the Multnomah County Justice Center.
When she heads home around 6-p.m.,
he’s usually still there, often sitting quietly
Page 5
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He just stands there and kind of watches
“He doesn’t use drugs or alcohol, so I
the world go by.”
always felt comfortable knowing he was
Sparks, too, became concerned with
using the money for food,” she said. “He
also is humble. If he doesn’t need money, he George’s predicament.
“He’s pretty unguarded. If he has a little
won’t take it.”
something to his name, he gets targeted,”
Through the years, Jones noticed George
he said. “I believe he’s just getting
was getting older and “starting to go
increasingly vulnerable, and I’m afraid he’s
downhill.”
going to be one of those people who falls
He’ll be 70 in November.
asleep during a snowstorm, and then they
As the county court domestic violence
find him the next morning.”
coordinator, Jones is familiar with available
It would seem someone like George, a
resources and how to connect people to
mentally disabled
them. So, about 10
senior citizen who’s
months ago, she
been homeless for at
decided to make it
ome folks i
least 16 years, would
her mission to help
are absolutely deservin
be a slam dunk for
George in her free
who may uot have a chi
permanent
time.
to get housing. We have
supportive housing.
She walked him
a zero-sum system rlghl
Jones wanted to
through applying for
get George run
uow because of the lac
food stamps and
through the
Social Security
vulnerability
benefits, and she
assessment so he
took him to Loaves
could get placed on
& Fishes, explaining
the list. He wouldn’t
to him that he could
go into Old Town, so
get free meals there
she lured him to a
in peace.
■■■■msmmaumM
downtown café with
George didn’t
the promise of
have identification or any other documents
breakfast, where Roberto Rios ran him
he needed, so Jones used her clout as a
through the assessment.
government employee to vouch for him,
Rios, a Coordinated Access case manager
which luckily worked when it mattered.
at
Transitions
Projects, said George had
Every step was a challenge. George didn’t
difficulty answering the questions. He
always remember to meet Jones in the park,
couldn’t remember dates and things that
and she would have to track him down.
Appointm ents w e n t m issed and rescheduled» [hadjhappened in his life.
It was difficult to get him to enter office
buildings; he suspected at times that it was
“The first thing he asked me was, ‘Are
you going to send m e back to the state
hospital?’” said Rios. ,
a coordinated effort to take him back to the
Questions he couldn’t answer received no
psychiatric hospital or to jail.
points, and a person needs a high score to
It took four visits to the Oregon Driver
be considered for permanent supportive
and Motor Vehicles office to get him state-
housing.
issued identification.
The bulk of the questions rely on the
“Getting him food stamps took an act of
answers supplied by the person being
God,” Jones said.
assessed. Questions answered by the
Six months after
assessor, such as
he received his food
whether the person
stamps card, a man
is showing signs of
BY THE NUMBERS
who frequently
poor hygiene or
targets him stole i t
living skills, are
It took two
subjective.
and Multnomah County:
months and several
The way the
attempts to get a
housing list works,
Adults
without
children
who
replacement card.
those with higher
have had the assessment
When asked,
scores will always be
George said he had
prioritized over
fewer meals during
those with lower
scores. People can
that time.
% It was clear,
languish on the list
watching Jones
without ever making
escort George to
it to the top, where
referred
appointments and
housing becomes
assist him with
available.
Source: W Office of Homeless Services
George scored so
paperwork and
communications,
low he didn’t make
that even some of
the cut for temporary housing assistance,
the simplest tasks would have been
let alone the permanent supportive housing
insurmountable for George to complete on
he needs.
Rios said typically people he assesses are
his own.
About eight years ago, when he began
able to answer the questions. When they
biking past the park on his way to work,
can’t, it’s usually due to mental illness, he
Chuck Sparks, a deputy chief at the
said.
Multnomah County District Attorney’s
While each jurisdiction is free to use the
Office, also noticed George was an area
assessment tool of its choice, the
assessment used in Multnomah County, the
fixture who might need help.
Eventually, he began to greet George
VI-SPDAT (Vulnerability Index-Service
Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool), is
each morning.
on a bench.
“He’s a quiet guy,” Sparks said. “He’s not
the nation’s most popular. However, cities
Some days, Jones buys him a coffee from
a homeless person that asks you for money.
Starbucks or gives him some cash for lunch.
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are learning it has shortfalls and are
adjusting their practices.
In Denver, an appeal process has been
established, and in King County, three
mechanisms have been created to flag
assessments that are inaccurately scored.
“I don’t think any community would say
they’ve nailed it,” said Hedda McLendon, a
housing manager at King County
Department of Human Services in Seattle.
Portland and Multnomah County’s
coordinated, team of housing providers,
Coordinated Access, adopted an appeal
process similar to Denver’s earlier this year.
Rios, upset when George received such a
low score, filed for an appeal. George’s case
was one of four appeals that have been
reviewed by a panel of seven Coordinated
Access members.
The panelists applied additional points to
George’s score based on information Rios
provided.
George’s new score was almost double
his initial score, but it still wasn’t high
enough to qualify him for permanent
supportive housing.
Those at the top of the list have scores of
18 to 20. He scored 15.
The bump in score, however, qualified
George for Rapid Rehousing, temporary
housing assistance lasting two years that
does not come with support services.
“Although, there are fewer Rapid
Rehousing resources,” said Stacy Borke,
programs director at Transitions Projects.
Borke said that ideally, George would get
housing through Rapid Rehousing and th en
the future with the hope
that he would qualify for perm anent
supportive housing with case m anagers
using different strategies to better
understand his needs.
“There are some folks who are absolutely
deserving, who may not have a chance to
get housing. We have a zero-sum system
right now because of the lack of federal
investment that we see,” said Denis
Theriault, communications coordinator for
the Joint Office of Homeless Services, under
which Coordinated Access is housed.
“As vulnerable as someone who’s on the
list is, who has a score that maybe isn’t as
high as others,” he said, “that just means
that there are that many more people who
are even more vulnerable.”
Jones and Sparks regularly discuss
George’s situation with each other, and have
become disillusioned with the difficulty in
getting George indoors. “If we can’t find a
home for Cesii George, whom are we going
to find a home for?” asked Sparks.
Baring the soul
The vulnerability assessment, or
VI-SPDAT, is a series of personal questions
about medical and criminal history, drug and
alcohol dependency, living situations, daily
activities and risky behaviors such as sex
work and sharing needles.
In addition to its shortfalls in capturing
the vulnerability of some people struggling
with mental illness, those who use the
VI-SPDAT say it’s inadequate in assessing
people of color, who face unique challenges
when it comes to self-reporting intimate
details of their life to a stranger with a
clipboard.
“A lot of the questions on the VI-SPDAT
S e e HUD, p a g e 7
I