Almost two years ago, John Vaughn crammed himself and some of his belongings into a 2003 Corolla, where he lived for four months. Undergoing chemotherapy every two weeks for leukemia made it hard for him to work, but he maintained a part-time job in sheet metal fabrication.
From there, Vaughn moved to the St. Johns Village, where he lived in a tiny home for nine months and accessed veterans’ services. The turning point came when Vaughn met a rapid rehousing caseworker from Transition Projects, who found him an apartment in less than a month.
The Joint Office of Homeless Services, or JOHS, gave a presentation to the Board of County Commissioners on Dec. 3, in response to a budget note requesting a report on the effectiveness of rapid rehousing as a tool for housing placement and stability. As part of the fiscal year, or FY, 2025 budget approval process on June 6, County Commissioner Sharon Meieran submitted this request for more information.
Rapid rehousing provides short-term rental assistance and services tailored to individual needs. The goal is to help people obtain housing quickly and build self-sufficiency without barriers like job requirements, sobriety or the absence of a criminal record, according to The National Alliance to End Homelessness.
“Every step I’ve taken to get in here has been up to me,” Vaughn said. “They have so many resources at the pod village, so many ways to move along and get going. You can move up, but you have to be a part of it and have to do something for yourself. I would have been in housing sooner if I had paid attention.”
Transition Projects covered moving costs and rent at Portsmouth Commons until Vaughn got on his feet. They also helped him navigate the paperwork for getting a HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing voucher. He moved into a townhouse two months ago, which he said is a step up. The voucher covers his rent, so he can stay indefinitely.
During FY 2024, JOHS placed 2,890 people in housing with rapid rehousing assistance. Most of that was funded with Supportive Housing Services, or SHS, dollars, with 1,510 people moving into SHS-funded rapid rehousing last year, double the FY 2024 SHS-funded rapid rehousing goal.
People can access up to two years of rapid rehousing assistance through shelter programs, outreach workers and other connections with service providers. Over the past year, the county has focused on increasing housing placements with low-barrier rent assistance, case management, and flexible client assistance, according to the Multnomah County FY 23-24 Annual Report.
JOHS works with over 20 nonprofit service providers to house people quickly. These include Transition Projects, Urban League of Portland, The Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, or IRCO, Native American Youth and Family Center, or NAYA, New Avenues for Youth and others. Two initiatives focusing on rapid rehousing through JOHS are Oregon All In and Housing Multnomah Now. People are moved into housing from tents, sidewalks, vehicles and shelters.
Rapid rehousing has been successful in achieving racial equity goals, according to Metro. Across the region during the past fiscal year, 58% of people placed into housing with rapid rehousing assistance identified as people of color.
Implementing rapid rehousing
Yesenia Delgado is Metro’s SHS manager, working with Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties. Rapid rehousing is geared toward households able to support themselves. Delgado said it may not be a good fit for someone with higher needs because services taper off. Recipients develop independence and are likely to stay housed.
“They are able to access the services quickly and get housed with the understanding that once this household gets stabilized, they could very well be on their own again,” Delgado said.
Rapid rehousing in Multnomah County depends on a coordinated access system that prioritizes care for households and individuals. It is not first-come, first-served. People take an assessment that puts them on a prioritized waitlist, depending on the factors that caused them to be homeless.
“Maybe a family gets connected with an outreach worker or through 211, a hotline,” Delgado said. “They ask questions and assess them for the waitlist. As there are openings for rapid rehousing, the county looks at the list and sends households over to organizations with referrals.”
The length of time it takes to get housed with rapid rehousing varies according to household and document readiness, Delgado said. If a household comes in with rent, income and completed documents, they can be placed into housing in the first couple of months. If a household doesn’t have income and isn’t document-ready, service organizations have navigators and retention workers who help households navigate the system.
“It can be pretty cumbersome, especially for families with children or people who might not be able to speak English,” Delgado said. “Being able to have caseworkers to provide that level of translation and resources is pretty crucial.”
If someone doesn’t have income, an organization can sign a promissory letter agreeing to pay rent for a certain amount of time, Delgado said. This depends on finding landlords willing to accept it.
“In the last five years, I’d have to say I’ve seen an increase in landlords willing to take that on,” Delgado said. “I think more and more we’re moving toward an ecosystem of a much broader system that’s willing to come around and support the homelessness situation in our community.”
A crucial factor is the time it takes to work around issues like past debt, not having an ID or language barriers. Multnomah County Spokesperson Julia Comnes shared information about other circumstances that impact how long it takes to get housed.
“Because rapid rehousing often involves participants applying for private market apartment units, the length of time can depend on apartment availability and what barriers a client might have to being approved for an apartment,” Comnes said in an email. “Additionally, rapid rehousing is a limited resource, and a service provider might only have enough to serve a small number of households.”
If someone makes that connection when those funds have run out, they might have to wait until the provider can take on new households.
Staying housed
Rapid rehousing aims to retain residents or keep them housed long-term. Data from Metro shows that the Multnomah County household retention rate for FY 2024, ending June 30, measured in a 12-month interval, is 85%. Clackamas County has a retention rate of 93% and Washington County is at 81%.
Numbers from Multnomah County reflect a new way of tracking data with more accuracy for individuals staying housed with rapid rehousing subsidies. One year post-subsidy, 91.3% of rapid rehousing clients housed in FY 23 were still housed. Of rapid rehousing clients housed in FY 22, 85.5% were still housed two years post-subsidy. Of clients in FY 21, 80.5% were still housed three years post-subsidy.
“One thing to note is that this data measures post-subsidy retention, meaning how many people were still in permanent housing one, two or three years after their rapid rehousing assistance ended,” Comnes said in an email.
Transition Projects
Alexis Nuckles is the director of housing with Transition Projects, a Portland service provider that works to transition people from homelessness into housing. Nuckles oversees rapid rehousing programs at Transition Projects with an access program that houses people from shelters with one-time assistance.
“For me doing this work is rewarding just because you’re giving someone the opportunity to start over, to get a fresh start,” Nuckles said. “Everybody deserves housing, and not only do you provide housing but provide the things they need to have in their homes.”
Transition Projects works with landlords and has placed people in apartments at Argyle Gardens, the Buri BLDG, The Yards and other locations. Once people move in, Nuckles refers to resources like Community Warehouse, a nonprofit furniture bank. She cautions against moving someone into an apartment and leaving them without resources for success.
“In general, being able to watch someone thrive through life when they were down on their luck and didn’t have many options is rewarding,” Nuckles said.
Rapid rehousing support starts with six months; if clients need more, they request a three to six month extension with their case manager. Shelter case managers work with folks to find them housing, and the rapid rehousing program steps in with temporary solutions.
“It can be successful, in my opinion, for folks who have some kind of income, whether it’s social security or they have a job,” Nuckles said.
Sometimes people fall back out of luck, their rent increases, or they have been homeless for a long time, Nuckles said. They may need to work on skills to stay housed.
“Rapid rehousing is not ongoing assistance, and there will be times when people end up back in shelter and need housing all over again,” Nuckles said. “The goal in any housing program is to work on a housing stability plan, to work on goals specific to each person. They work on a plan with their case manager, and that is something they are supposed to work on the entire time they are in the program.”
It is also important for people to work on exit plans and have strategies to maintain housing, Nuckles said. Renters need to understand what to do if they have a late rent payment, receive an eviction notice or don’t have rent for the next month. Case managers work with them to save money, if possible.
In some situations, renters may be evicted because of poor cleanliness, noise or late rent payments. Renting can be an adjustment.
“Community is a big piece of moving into housing,” Nuckles said. “When someone has been outside for a long time and had a community and then moved into housing, they don’t have a sense of community anymore. They are lonely so they bring people over and get violations for having numerous folks staying in the unit when really they’re only allowed to stay two or three days consecutively.”
Despite some challenges, Nuckles sees individuals benefit from rapid rehousing and enjoys seeing case managers gain skills. She plans to continue to do this work and improve programs to create successful outcomes so case managers feel confident about doing the work.
“Having that intensive case management for that person and helping them build those skills, that’s rewarding,” Nuckles said.
Vaughn credits Transition Projects and case managers for housing him and is very grateful for where he lives now. Although he was laid off last year, he said he is a hard worker and plans to find work again. He said resources are there, and trying a little is essential.
“One of the most important things to me is having those success stories where you work with someone, and they really build that skill level and are able to maintain and live on their own, being able to thrive,” Nuckles said.
Funding for rapid rehousing
JOHS outlined the outcomes and funding of rapid rehousing in its presentation Dec. 3. According to the numbers, funding for rapid rehousing in FY 2025 will total $48,800,000, which is $200,000 more than in FY 2024. City funds will provide $2 million, county funds $7.3 million, federal/state funds $6.4 million, and SHS Funds will provide the most significant amount at $33.2 million.
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This article appears in December 18, 2024.
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