|
|
|
|
Ending Homelessness
Goal: End homelessness in the City of Portland and Multnomah County by 2015, through the implementation of Home Again, A 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness.
Vision: The institutions that serve people experiencing homelessness must change. Rather than shuffling homeless people from service to service and back to the street, the aim of all government agencies, nonprofits, and institutions in the homeless system must be to first get homeless people into permanent housing.
This 10-year plan is built on three principles:
1. Focus on the most chronically homeless populations.
2. Streamline access to existing services in order to prevent and reduce other homelessness.
3. Concentrate resources on programs that offer measurable results.
Strategies:
1. Move people into housing first (Definition of Housing First). The most critical issue facing all homeless people-the lack of permanent housing-will be addressed first.
2. Stop discharging people into homelessness. When institutions like jails and hospitals discharge homeless people, they often struggle to link them to appropriate services because there is a lack of permanent supportive housing available.
3. Improve outreach to homeless people. Linking homeless people to services and permanent housing will occur more quickly and effectively through coordinated outreach and engagement.
4. Emphasize permanent solutions. Too few homeless people are currently placed and supported in permanent housing. Too many are using the shelter system as temporary housing.
5. Increase supply of permanent supportive housing. By 2015, the City and County will create 1,600 new housing units designated for the chronically homeless and 600 new units designated for homeless families.
6. Create innovative new partnerships to end homelessness. We will strengthen relationships and partnerships among government agencies, nonprofits, and institutions to leverage funding that is available for permanent supportive housing.
7. Make the rent assistance system more effective. We will effectively coordinate existing rent assistance programs to sustain homeless people in permanent housing once they are placed there.
8. Increase economic opportunity for homeless people. The City and County will work together to streamline the system that offers workforce assistance to homeless people.
9. Implement new data-collection technology throughout the homeless system. |
