Homeless Vets: Portland, Multnomah County Honored for Efforts to Help Them

"This is what it looks like when a community comes together to get things done," Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury said, speaking from the multi-purpose room at Bud Clark Commons. "We can change lives."

Kafoury was there, along with Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and others, to announce that the Portland and Multnomah County were notified by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness that they had met the White House Mayor's Challenge to End Veterans Homelessness.

What that means, they said, is that they "have effectively ended homelessness among veterans."

The county and city were praised for their Home for Everyone's ending Veteran Homelessness Program.

The program received two grants from the Veterans Administration - one for $6 million and one for $1.3 million - that allowed them to hire 16 people, including nine case managers, two screeners, a lawyer, two benefits and entitlement specialists, and two employment specialists.

The grants - and the people who were hired - have helped hundreds of veterans secure permanent housing since the January 2015 when Kafoury and Hales accepted the challenge.

In 2015, 695 veterans were placed into permanent housing - including 291 who were chronically homeless. In 2016, through the end of December, an additional 599 veterans have been placed into permanent housing - including 156 who had been chronically homeless.

"I’m proud today, that Portland is the first West Coast city to receive official designation in meeting the White House’s Mayors Challenge to End Veterans Homelessness," Hales said. "This would not have been possible without our government, nonprofit, faith and private sector partners’ complete dedication to this work.

"With continued commitment, I know our community can reach our goal to provide permanent, affordable housing to every Portlander who needs it."

To receive the certification from the White House, Multnomah County and Portland had to show that:

• No chronically homeless Veterans or Veterans are in the process of being housed in 90 days;
• For Veterans refusing to be housed, plan for continual outreach and a resource will be available when choose to be housed;
• On average, homeless Veterans are housed within 90 days of being identified;
• The number of Veterans being housed is greater than the number becoming homeless (monthly); and
• The number of Veterans entering in transitional housing is less than the number becoming homeless (monthly).

The city and county have been working with the Portland VA Medical Center, Home Forward and nonprofits including Transition Projects, Central City Concern, JOIN, Native American Rehabilitation Association and others to address the problem.

"I'm so pleased that we have reached this milestone to provide the opportunity of permanent housing to every veteran, said the Director of the VA Portland Health Care System, Michael Fisher. "We know stable housing is a fundamental component of health and safety.

"The work is not finished, and we as a community must remain committed to serving our veterans, as they have served us."

Officials say that there is now a robust, community-wide system in place to identify veterans experiencing homelessness regardless of where they enter the system, immediately connect them with support services, and quickly connect them to permanent housing.

To make A Home for Everyone's Ending Veteran Homelessness Program a success, the county and city have taken several steps over the past two years, including:

• committing $30 million to end homelessness, with $2.5 million dedicated to helping homeless veterans;
• creating a Veteran By-Name list to identify all veterans experiencing homelessness. The list is continually updated and all veterans are offered the full range of housing resources for which they are eligible;
• expanding the capacity of low-barrier shelters by 562 beds with veterans a priority and creating options for homeless couples and people with pets - this includes a 25-bed shelter run by Do Good Multnomah that only serves veterans;
• creating a Landlord Recruitment and Retention Team that works with landlords who make veterans a priority, The team works to negotiate lower rents and security deposits and eliminate screening criteria;
• creating new permanent housing such as the NE Sandy Studios, which opened in July, 2016. It is a 50-unit studio apartment building dedicated to formerly homeless veterans.

One of those helped by the program is U.S. Navy veterans Daniel Kallunki.

"I was working full-time, had just made supervisor and gotten a pay raise, when boom, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, he said. "All of a sudden life changed, and I found myself homeless."

Kallunki said that he has received a lot of help through the program including getting a federal rent subsidy that allowed him to find an apartment near his daughter's home and school.

"I would not have been able to be there for her without housing," he said.

Officials said that as much work has been done, their is still more.

Since September 1, 2016, 11 more veterans have been identified and added to the list.

That contributed to the 30 homeless veterans on the list at the end of November. Eighty-seven percent of those veterans have been connected to a housing resource and in the process of connecting with a case manager and searching for an apartment.

Photo Multnomah County