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ATTACHMENT D The Oregonian "PORTLAND TRIES NEW HOMELESS PLAN" December 20, 2004 Aiming to end homelessness in Portland over the next decade, officials will roll out a plan today that pledges to aim that effort by the city and Multnomah County on the so-called "chronically homeless." The targets of that strategy: people living on the streets for at least a year who comprise about 10 percent of the homeless population but account for half the money spent on programs. Moving those chronically homeless into permanent housing where there are support services -- from medical care to mental health -- will free up service money for everybody who sleeps on streets and in shelters, say members of the citizen commission that developed the plan. The commission says the current model of moving homeless people through multiple housing stages isn't working. "Some people respond well to the system's design -- which moves people from emergency shelters, to short-term shelters, to transitional housing and then to permanent housing," the report said. "For others, however, the system merely ferries people from service to service and then back out onto the street." City Commissioner Erik Sten, assigned by Mayor Vera Katz last year to update the city's homeless plan, noted the City Council expected to pass this week an $11 million affordable housing bond to cover five housing projects totaling 171 permanent units during the next year. But Sten said the plan also recognizes a key to future success will be finding better strategies to use existing money. An estimated $30 million is spent annually in federal, state and private dollars in Portland on the homeless. Only 12 percent of that money goes to permanent housing. "We can take a big bite out of this with existing resources," Sten said. "Trying to battle for another dollar or two here and there, and continuing the current system, isn't winning." In addition to Sten and Multnomah County Commissioner Serena Cruz, the 15-person homelessness commission included representatives from law enforcement, business, health care, philanthropy, developers, neighborhoods and the homeless. "My hope is we start chipping away at the most chronic homeless and that will free up money for families and children," said commission member Howard Weiner, chairman of the Old Town Chinatown Neighborhood Association. "It gives us a road map, and if it has the political will behind it then we've done a good job." Concerns remain about the plan's details and measurements for success, where future money will come from, and whether aiming higher to help the chronically homeless will end up shortchanging homeless families and others on the street. Page 1 of 1