Street Roots • Dec. 21-27, 2018
News
Page 5
STRESSED, from page 4
Portland, based on federal affordability
standards.
Michael Buonocore, the executive
director of Home Forward, the federal
public housing agency for Multnomah
County, said he has heard similar concerns
from his staff.
Home Forward recently concluded
negotiations with the unions representing
Home Forward’s employees for a new
three-year contract that stipulates wages,
benefits and other aspects of employment.
During those negotiations, Buonocore
repeatedly heard concerns about wages,
housing and the increased costs of living in
Portland.
“We heard a lot about how difficult the
local economy has been,” Buonocore said,
including stories Of staff who are driving
farther distances between home and work
and concerns about whether they will be
able to continue to afford living in their
current home. “There is no doubt in my
mind t h a t ... it’s just really rough for
people.”
Weinstock said that at the heart of any
effective social service is the relationship B
built between the case manager and the
client experiencing homelessness. Often,
the case manager learns a great deal about
the client’s life. The relationship is not a
transaction of information - sign this
paperwork; here’s a list of housing units -
but one that can be personal.
There also needs tó be trust and
consistency,
axe buiKove r tiihe.’
which
“That relationship needs to stay in place
so (the client) can move from
homelessness to housing. If every month
or two the person trying to make those
difficult changes in their lives is working
with (a different casé manager), it’s very
destabilizing.”
Approximately 80 seniors call Northwest
Pilot Project each week, Weinstock said.
Sometimes, it can take the agency’s staff a
week or more to return the phone call,
start with a new client or refer the person
to other services.
Weinstock said his organization is trying
to hire two or three additional housing
placement specialists, as well as increase
the number of volunteers and graduate
students studying social work to work at
the agency.
Weinstock said he hoped the new hires
would make it possible to return the phone
calls within a few days to a week. Each
housing specialist at Northwest Pilot
Project works with 50 to 60 clients at a
time, which means the new hires would
also expand the agency’s capacity to assist
more low-income seniors.
Another factor affecting staff morale is
the sheer amount of time an agency now
works with homeless clients.
Ten years ago, Weinstock said,
Northwest Pilot Project, like many social
service agencies, could find an affordable
apartment for a homeless or low-income
person to rent within two or three months.
Now, given the shortage of affordable
housing, it can take Northwest Pilot
Project’s housing placement workers a year
or more to find an apartment.
“That’s stressful, not just for the (client),
but for the staff, too,” he said. “You’re
Portland police to hire homeless liaison
The bureau wants someone knowledgeable about homeless issues to
train police to better respond to the needs of unsheltered communities
8 Y STREET ROOTS STAFF
Portland Police Bureau is looking to
hire a homeless community liaison,
according to a job announcement posted
Monday morning.
As listed, for $4,440 to $8,233 a month
this new, non-sworn bureau employee
would develop a plan for police response
to the homeless community and develop
framing for officers on best practices for
communicating, policing and providing
services to people living on the streets. :
The job announcement comes nearly six
months after, a report from The Oregonian
found people experiencing homelessness
accounted for 52 percent of Portland
Police Bureau arrests in 2017.
In an interview with Street Boots in late
November about police and homeless
relations, Portland Police Chief Danielle
Outlaw said one of th eg reatest challenges
her officers face is “getting folks, the
resources that they need in a timely
manner.” She.said this challenge was the
result of too few resources and of officers
not knowing the ins and outs of what’s
available and to whom.
Among job qualifications listed for this
flew position is a working knowledge of
Portland’s sociaiservices available to
>
unsheltered populations, apparently
intended to get at this problem.
The city is also asking that applicants
know best practices for ending
homelessness and understand unsheltered
community culture, among other areas of
The creation of this new position
underscores the department’s role as
Portland’s de facto city-sponsored
homeless outreach team,
Outlaw also told Street Roots, “It would
be awesome to have another entity of
some sort available to respond to what
these needs are,” when there is not a
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I l l i B l l l l i i ! l l i l l i l B i i ! 11 111 111 I 111
trying to keep that person afloat for a
couple years. That puts stress on the
system.”
As it develops its proposed budget for
the next year, the Joint Office of
Homeless Services has been instructed^
like all agencies at the-city of Portland
and Multnomah County, to present a
budget showing a 1 percent reduction for
the city and a 3 percent reduction for the
county.
Deborah Kafoury, the chair of the
Multnomah County Commission, who is
also a member of A Home for Everyone’s
executive committee, would not
necessarily commit to providing budget
dollars for increased wages.
“Those are conversations we are going
to have to have,” she said. “We can’t keep
adding more and more responsibilities
without adding more financial
investment.”
r/zcfezzfc o/
/zcwc/css campers
in Southeast
Portlands
B uckm an
neighborhood.
PHOTO B Y M B 2 9 8 /
W IK IM E D IA C O M M O N S
criminal element to the call for services.
In a press release from the police
bureau announcing the position, Outlaw
was quoted as saying, “This position is a
critical component to our response to
those in the homeless community. This
person will influence how the Police .
Bureau responds to people in the
homeless community and ensure the
Police Bureau is in line with best
contemporary policing practices. The
homeless liaison will also focus on the
imperative partnerships we have with
social service and o th er governm ental,
O O ISIW ISO W SB I
to the county’s figures. Authorities with
the county and the city of Portland
acknowledge that due to the nature of
homelessness, the figure, tallied every two
years, is widely considered an undercount
Homelessness intersects numerous
complex issues beyond just housing,
including addiction, mental health
concerns, domestic and sexual abuse,
veterans’ needs, disabilities and chronic
unemployment
Of the 4,177 people counted, more than
60 percent reported living with one or
m o re disability, in cluding a m e n ta l
a g en cies so w e a r e a il o n t h e s a m e p a g e . "
d i s a b i li ty , c h ro n ic p h y s i e a i e o r i d i t i o r i , a n d /
Portland’s would not be the first police
department in the region to have a
homeless liaison. Oregon City created
such a position in July 2017, however it’s
filled by a sworn officer who interfaces
directly with people experiencing
homelessness and is focused on getting to
know his town’s homeless population
personally.
In its most recent Point-in-Time count in
late February 2017, Multnomah County,
Portland and Gresham tallied 4,177 people
experiencing homelessness. That’s nearly
10 percent higher than in 2015, according
.......
or a substance-use disorder, according to
the 2017 Point-in-Time report compiled by
Portland State University.
The county does not include people
who are “doubled up” - those sharing
housing with other people for economic
reasons. Data collected from local school
districts, however, indicates that the
figures on this population are on the rise.
The district information suggests that
there are at least twice as many
households with school-age children
attending public schools who are living
doubled up than just two years prior.
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