Oregon’s ice storm in January 2024 wreaked havoc across the entire state. While the local response accommodated record numbers of Multnomah County residents, the event also highlighted significant challenges. Officials are hopeful they can take what they learned from the previous weather emergency and button up this winter’s response.
Multnomah County sheltered 1,356 people during the previous storm, a record number of people sheltered during an emergency, according to an after-action report published April 1. It also provided rides to shelter for 404 people and served a record 7,650 hot meals. But it wasn’t all winter cheer.
During the same timeframe, the Multnomah County Medical Examiner identified four suspected hypothermia deaths, downed power lines killed three people, and a fallen tree killed one. Another person died of unknown causes after being transported by ambulance from a shelter. A record number of others went to the emergency room for cold-related illnesses and carbon monoxide exposure. The community also experienced its highest-ever number of emergency room visits for injuries due to falls.
The after-action report noted several opportunities for the county to improve, including a better plan for projected shelter closures, promoting volunteer opportunities throughout the year, engaging with transportation resources like TriMet, and increasing shelter staffing — in part by improving the relationship between the city and county.
Chris Voss, Multnomah County Emergency Management director, said the county also considers other factors in its response decisions, like whether more people end up in an emergency room or the community is making more 911 or 211 calls.
Importantly, Voss said the county is working to fix its exit strategy, which carried several flaws during the January 2024 ice storm. Critics said Multnomah County’s decision to close shelters before temperatures rose and melted the ice overshadowed an otherwise functional response. Emergency shelters closed at noon Jan. 17, despite temperatures remaining slightly above freezing and forecasts of freezing rain for the following days.
The county decided to close shelters based on the National Weather Service’s forecast on Jan. 16, which was 90% certain.
“After five days of 24-hour shelter, when that 10% possibility came to pass, and with temperatures still above thresholds, it was too late to reverse course,” Julia Comnes, Joint Office of Homeless Services communications coordinator, said Jan. 19.
“We didn’t love the way the exit worked in the last January activation,” Voss told Street Roots Dec. 10. “It’s because we rely on the weather forecast, and sometimes that forecast, when we have to make decisions, then changes.”
The untimely closure followed record numbers of people utilizing the emergency shelters. Jessica Vega Pederson, Multnomah County chair, declared a state of emergency and opened a total of 12 shelters days later — the most ever opened by the county.
This season, the county intends to provide further staff during weather events so that if the forecast changes, it can have more flexibility to change its decision. While the threshold has not changed, the county will be more likely to stay open — and have a better exit strategy — if enough staff is available.
“We’d love to make that smoother for both our workers and the people that are taking advantage of our shelters during a cold event,” Voss said.
The county may activate enhanced outreach operations before rolling out the full response.
The county has a supply center that supports outreach workers year-round. During severe weather, they expand to offer 28 appointments per day, compared to five to nine appointments on a typical day. The outreach coordinator and supply managers divide the county into 37 zones, and workers do outreach in each zone, focusing on priority areas based on conditions.
Essentially, the county assigns outreach workers a zone and makes appointments for workers to acquire life-saving gear and deliver it to people in need.
Tents and tarps recently became a campaign issue as Portland City Commissioners Dan Ryan, Rene Gonzalez and Mingus Mapps made a political spectacle of the city’s agreement with the county around distributing tents and tarps to homeless Portlanders in October. Despite the spectacle, Gonzalez and Mapps suffered crushing defeats in their respective runs for mayor of Portland. Still, the current agreement allows for the distribution of tents and tarps during cold weather events.
“That was always something we were going to provide,” Anna Plumb, JOHS deputy director, said. “We do have tents on hand that we will be able to distribute during severe weather.”
Big tent
Lauren Armony, Sisters of the Road systemic change program director, said emergency shelters clearly play a role for homeless residents but also extend to the broader community. As climate change continues to worsen, shelters are essential for people who may have housing but lose power and don’t have resources to afford a hotel.
“I want us to think beyond like, ‘these emergency shelters are just for homeless people,’” Armony said. “We need to have resources for anyone who might be vulnerable and in need of a warm place.”
Broadly, Armony said that creating care systems centering the needs of the most vulnerable — whether due to race, immigration status, ability, age or other reasons — supports the entire community.
“I’m hoping that people are able to see that, by making really well planned and comfortable emergency shelters for all different weather conditions, that everyone can be served by it,” Armony said.
Rachel Pearl, Multnomah County Human Services deputy director, said several issues impacted the January 2024 response, mainly because the forecast drastically differed from reality. She said the county should be better prepared in the future for a different outcome.
The county is encouraging the public to get involved. People can attend an info session and receive volunteer training to prepare for future severe weather events.
Still, shelters are often the only open places, and public transportation can also create challenges. That makes sufficient staffing an issue.
“When we’re the only place open, and many other places are saying, ‘don’t drive, stay home,’ and we’re saying, ‘actually, please drive and come in’ — that’s complicated,” Pearl said. “We’re working through making sure that we have enough staff to navigate that challenge.”
This winter, the county and the city of Portland are still operating under an interim severe weather sheltering agreement the two governments inked on Jan. 8, days before the winter storm impacted the region. That agreement includes a city requirement that the county provide and pay for security at any severe weather site where city staff or Neighborhood Emergency Team members, or NETs, are working, according to the agreement.
“The County understands that failure to provide security will result in the City restricting access to support staffing through City staff or NETs,” the agreement said.
The agreement requires the county to submit requests to the city at least 48 hours in advance, and requires the city to respond within six hours, confirming whether or not it will be able to meet the request. It also notes that “severe and exigent circumstances may warrant less notice by the County and/or earlier engagement by the City.”
Due to that agreement, fewer city staff were available to staff the shifts during last year’s weather event, according to Julie Sullivan-Springhetti, Multnomah County communications coordinator. Additionally, fewer Portland Street Response staff were available and county staff covered transportation shifts, which was previously a city function.
This year, Voss said the emergency response system can use the conditions on the ground to keep locations open longer, particularly if there is sufficient staff to fill shifts. But for those looking to make their way to help at a shelter, most road-clearing depends on cities’ transportation bureaus. That’s another area where the county must coordinate with other governments.
Sidewalks, however, become the general public’s responsibility, including neighbors and businesses.
“We really need the individual homeowners, in a lot of ways, to clear their sidewalk so that people move a little bit more effectively beyond that,” Voss said.
Voss said he works consistently with the state, but a notable shift has occurred in recent years: it’s not a matter of whether the county will ask the state for assistance, but when. That’s mainly because so many more people now utilize the services.
“I remember pre-COVID, where a big winter event was like 300 people sheltering, and now we’re at 1,300 people,” Voss said. “We’re really glad that people are taking this opportunity to come to our locations. We’ve tried to do better outreach so more people are aware. We’ve tried to improve the transportation so people can get there. All of those things are working — they’re also bringing more people in, which means we’ve got to have a much more robust system.”
Armony said it’s important not to lose sight of the long-term solutions necessary to alleviate the burden when a crisis occurs.
“We need to actually just reduce the problem so that this is less of an issue,” Armony said. “We need to get serious about upstream solutions.”
She added that supporting programs to keep people housed and warm — like statewide rent caps, limiting investment firm home ownership or enacting a vacancy tax, rather than expensive and ineffective sweeps — can help alleviate many challenges in the long term.
“I want people to think more broadly of the systemic ways they can advocate for changes that will then make these seasonal challenges easier,” Armony said.
Pearl said each severe weather event requires a unique response during constantly changing conditions.
“It’s not a standing program; it’s every time, starting from scratch,” Pearl said. “This is a life-saving effort. We have to shout out the teams that put their all, their heart and their soul into this to make it work.”
As with any congregate shelter, the county must consider approaching the emergency shelters through a trauma-informed lens. Those who feel unsafe may not succeed in close quarters with others.
Plumb said the county trains workers to de-escalate or help people find a new place if they have interactions where they feel unsafe. If one site fills up more than another, workers can help transport people to another location to avoid overcrowding.
Voss said 211 is a great starting point for people looking for resources. He added that TriMet waives fares for those who can’t afford it, which is often the fastest way to get to a shelter.
“We’ll do everything we can to supply and keep everybody warm for as long as the event continues,” Voss said.
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This article appears in December 18, 2024.