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January 27, 2021
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Members of Portland’s Street Response team undergo training as part of a new program to help people living on the streets in times of crisis rather than routing them
through the criminal justice system.
Street Response Begins Mission
Innovative program
is alternative to
police action
Trained health care professionals who
are not members of law enforcement
have started to assist people in Portland
as part of an innovative non-police re-
sponse to people in crisis.
The aim of the Portland Street Re-
sponse team is to help those living on
the streets in times of crisis rather than
routing them through the criminal justice
system. The pilot program, championed
by City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty,
got its start on Jan. 11 in the Lents neigh-
borhood of southeast Portland.
Operating under Portland Fire & Res-
cue, the outreach is geared to houseless
people in crisis, or someone experienc-
ing a behaviorial issue or mental health
crisis. The team is staffed by a program
manager, a firefighter/paramedic, a men-
tal health clinician and two community
health workers.
Sara Boone, Portland’s first Black fire
chief, said she was thankful to the many
people who worked to create the special
outreach, bringing the city another ave-
nue to respond to the emergency needs
of communities.
“I’m excited to see this team hit the
streets in its pilot form so we can better
learn how to help those experiencing
houselessness or mental health crises,”
she said.
Street Response team members un-
derwent a month-long training program.
They studied topics such as peer support,
mental health first aid for adults and
youth, crisis de-escalation, making risk
assessments for suicide and other men-
tal health concerns, as well as training
on things such as emergency radio usage
and 9-1-1 dispatch protocols.
Lents was designated as the first pilot
location because it has fewer existing re-
sources and services than other parts of
Portland, officials said. Additionally, the
volume of potential crisis calls involving
houseless people in Lents have outpaced
the growth of such calls across the rest
of the city.
The team is scheduled to work Mon-
day through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Af-
ter six months, a second pilot team will
be added to cover the same area but re-
spond at night and on the weekends. By
2022, the program is scheduled to ramp
up to include more teams and coverage
to locations across the city.
“When I ran for office in 2016, I knew
that there was a better way to help peo-
ple on the street and to respond to mental
health crises without involving police,”
Hardesty said. “After years of working
with the community to come up with a
better solution to assist people who need
help instead of handcuffs, executing on
this promise is one of most exciting mo-
ments of my time in City Hall.”
Hardesty, who serves as Fire Commis-
C ontinued on P age 12