When the snowstorm ended and the ice thawed — there was a lot to celebrate.
During the snowstorm, a coordinated emergency effort led by the Portland Housing Bureau and others brought together an army of city and county workers and volunteers to do outreach for people experiencing homelessness and poverty.
The Portland Police and Fire Bureaus, along with 211Info and JOIN outreach teams, worked with local emergency shelters around the clock to ensure that people experiencing homelessness had a chance to come in from the cold.
While one person did pass away from exposure in Clackamas County, in Multnomah County the Medical Examiner reported that there were no fatalities for people experiencing homelessness. That’s an amazing accomplishment, especially considering that in other communities around the country, that hasn’t been the case.
In San Jose, Calif., seven people froze to death on the streets during a similar storm in December. Around the country, there have been numerous reports of people experiencing homelessness left out in the cold and freezing to death.
At a time of growing discontent and compassion fatigue surrounding the issue of homelessness and poverty, Portland rose above and was able to show great compassion.
What’s needed is both a regional and statewide best practices for communities to use during emergency weather. Imagine if all of Oregon was able to implement a similar strategy to Multnomah County.
A Housing and Urban Development homeless team could mandate local communities to have an emergency response strategy in place before allocating funding. In a time when government is looking at a more strategic approach to ending poverty, a uniform emergency response plan makes sense.
We know that in Multnomah County dozens of individuals experiencing homelessness die each year on the streets. Having an emergency response plan in place saved lives this past week. Working to create and maintain this kind of coordination year-round is critical to being able to save individuals and families lives on the streets in the future.
Salem and Washington D.C. should be looking at both tracking individuals who die on the streets and these emergency plans. Understanding why people are dying on the streets and being able to save peoples lives is something government both could and should do.
While homelessness at times may feel like an obstacle our city can’t overcome, we know that together, regardless of our political beliefs or own experiences, we are able to accomplish great things. Multnomah County, we salute you.
