Three months ago when Mayor Charlie Hales assigned new
bureaus to the City Council, I was honored to be working on housing and
homelessness issues as the new Commissioner in charge of the Portland Housing
Bureau. I welcome the new challenge.
I see the work as a huge opportunity to affect change on
issues that I am passionate about: women and families affected by abuse and
neglect. As a City Commissioner, I have looked for every opportunity to make
life better for these women and children who are struggling through domestic
violence situations, who are being moved from one foster home to the next, or
who are wondering where to get their next meal.
These are the people on my mind every day. When I began
working with the Portland Housing Bureau, we wasted no time finding funds for
strategies that work. Our first challenge was to address the issues of
homelessness among women. The recent street count in Multnomah County showed a
22 percent increase in homeless women since two years ago. A large percentage
of homeless women report that domestic or sexual violence was an immediate
cause of their homelessness. Being on the streets automatically puts a woman at
increased risk for violence.
Currently, the City funds two women’s shelters and both have
130-190 person wait lists. If a woman needed somewhere to sleep tonight, it
would be weeks or maybe months before she could find refuge in the shelter.
Under my direction, the Housing Bureau will immediately initiate a two-pronged
approach to address shelter wait lists, and to keep women from having to enter
a shelter at all.
The first step is to work with shelter providers to shorten
shelter stays and to free up existing beds. We can start working with those already
in shelter and use our many tools to get them into housing. This includes rent
and utility assistance, help finding affordable homes, and legal advocacy. We
are fortunate that our community has specialists who are not only skilled at
navigating the housing system but who can also work with individuals in a
trauma-informed way.
The second prong of this approach is keeping people out of
shelters in the first place. This not only limits the trauma of entering and
living in shelter, but it is a cost effective way to avoid building and
operating these facilities. If we can keep people in their homes, it’s better
for everyone.
This twofold plan to increase options for women facing
homelessness is the first step that I will introduce to City Council Sept. 18.
I’m also prepared to ask my colleagues for additional resources to serve even
more women and other priority populations, including communities of color,
adults with disabilities, and youth.
We have seen remarkable results when we can get the
resources. Two years ago, when the City Council made an additional $1 million
investment in homelessness services, we were able to move 311 households from
the streets into homes. A year later, 73 percent were still in housing.
Preventing homelessness takes considerable energy and
resources. Portland’s non-profit agencies have done incredible work on limited
budgets. They are the front line staff who work miracles every day.
Just last week, a woman called my office in tears. She had
moved to Portland to live with a friend. When the friend kicked her out, she
found herself in a strange city with nowhere to go. Working with a partner
agency, we found a way to get her back home and enough money for food. If not
for our fast-acting partners and those funds, another woman would be on the
streets tonight.
These are the miracles we’re capable of when we have the
resources. I’m prepared to make the case to City Council and know that we can
make significant headway with our partners and in lockstep with Multnomah
County.
Realistically we won’t be able to solve homelessness for
everyone. This is a problem embedded in bigger forces: reduced job
availability, underfunded mental health services and declining federal
resources. We are up against a lot. But we will strive for those small miracles
each day and work to improve life for one individual at a time.
Please share with me your thoughts and ideas on how we can
reduce homelessness at dan@portlandoregon.gov.
This article appears in 2013-09-13.