December26,2012___________________________
^ o rHatth (DbserUer__________________________ Page 9
Shelter for the Homeless
A lifeline brings
families out
from the cold
by K im
C hristiansen
S pecial to T he P ortland
O bserver
Its 6:30 p.m. on a rainy weekday
and a line of homeless families snake
around the com er of Parkrose Com
munity United Church of Christ.
Those in line, half of them chil
dren, have exhausted all other hous
ing options and have no place else
to go.
At 7 p.m., the homeless will file
into the Human Solutions’ Family
Winter Shelter, where the church
space provides a warm place to
spend the night and a hot meal, but
also a chance at obtaining housing.
On any given night in Portland,
more than 4,500 local people have
nowhere to live, one-third of them
families with children.
The Winter Family Shelter is part
of an expandable system developed
by Multnomah County and the Fam
ily Shelter to Housing Partnership
to protect the health of vulnerable
homeless people in families.
Due to limited space and fund
ing, only homeless families with
c h ild re n and sin g le -p re g n a n t
women are allowed in the winter
shelter, open until spring. The rest
are referred to other shelters in the
area.
This year the winter shelter can
sleep up to 80 people, up from 60 the
year prior. If the shelter exceeds its
capacity during the winter, another
church will open its doors to bring
homeless families inside.
Families arrive in the evening,
and must be out by morning. Last
month, between 40 and 60 adults
and children slept on cots through
out the church’s three available
rooms. The number of children -
from infants to teens - has ranged
from 10 to as many as 29.
During the day, the homeless can
go to Human Solution’s Daybreak
shelter, where those without fami
lies are also refereed. The daybreak
shelter has a capacity of 15 people,
but is open day and night all year Rahsaan Vernon and his children Hunter, 6, and Lily, 4, were homeless until they were referred to
long.
Human Solutions' Family Winter Shelter. The family now has permanent housing and the non-profit
According to Jean DeMaster, will continue to help the family reach long-term stability.
Human Solutions’ executive direc
tor, there is a higher percentage of
people of color in the shelter system
than the percentage of people of
color living in Multnomah County.
In 2011, she said that of the 96
percent of people staying at the
daybreak shelter, about 22 percent
identified themselves as African-
American, triple the 5.6 percent of
A fric a n -A m e ric a n s liv in g in
Multnomah County.
The winter shelter housed 555
people during 2011 to 2012, and
about 23 percent identified them
selves as African-American.
Emergency shelters are just the
tip of the iceberg when it comes to
serving homeless families.
Human Solutions’ goal is to get
families out of shelter and into stable,
safe housing as soon as possible.
Once a homeless family has hous
ing, the family can begin working
with a family advocate or housing
specialist at Human Solutions to
devise a plan to permanently stabi
lize their situation.
A 34-year-old father, Rahsaan
Vernon, for example, was couch-:
surfing with his two young children
after he had removed his children
from an unsafe domestic, situation.
Child Protective Services referred
him to Human Solutions’ Family
Winter Shelter.
“This is my first time in a shelter,
but it has been a blessing,’’ Vernon
said. “I really feel like I’m at home.
The employees and volunteers here
go out of their way to make people
feel safe and welcome.”
After a week’s stay at the shelter,
Vernon’s housing specialist deliv
ered the good news: he and his
children will be moving into an apart
ment soon.
As the largest provider of shelter
and housing for homeless families
in Multnomah County, Human So
lutions serves more than 740 home
less people in 250 homeless families
on any given night.
“We are here to provide em er
gency shelter and housing so fami
lies with children do not have to
sleep in their cars or outside in dan
gerous situations,” said DeMaster.
But our ultimate goal is to help
homeless families obtain permanent
continued
on page 13