Item B: Homeless Strategy Issue - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ATTACHMENT D The Oregonian "PORTLAND TRIES NEW HOMELESS PLAN" December 20, 2004 Also, advocates for the homeless fa±se object±ons to what they consider the city's parallel criminalization of homeless behavior, such as groups of three or more people sitting and standing in designated pedestrian zones. Last week, the council passed one ordinance that expands the list of offenses allowing exclusion from city parks, and another permitting police to arrest people for obstructing pedestrians downtown. Commission member Keith Vann, who once was homeless, praised the collaboration that produced the 10-year plan and the fact that it does not propose to siphon money from other homeless programs to help the chronically homeless. "It's designed to be a living document," Vann said, but he adds, "there's a lot of concern the business people are trying to sweep people out of downtown. They're trying to sweep them under the rug when there is no rug." Sten said he hopes the ordinances show businesses that the council is working on livability questions, and that in turn, groups like the Portland Business Alliance will help the city address the homeless problem. The 10-year plan says ending homelessness must be a top priority because a large homeless population -- estimated at 4,000 people on any given night in Portland and 16,000 people over the course of a year -- creates deeper problems for those on the streets and those who deal with them. "The perception also exists among individual citizens, neighborhoods and many in Portland's business community that homelessness is hurting the local economy," the plan said. "Many report that seeing chronically homeless people on the streets is disturbing or frightening to customers and tourists." The city auditor's annual survey of Portlanders actually shows more respondents feeling very safe or safe during the day and at night downtown than there were a decade ago. But Sten said there is a sense that panhandlers are more aggressive and more homeless people are sprawled on the sidewalk. Among the plan's long-term goals: creating a downtown center for homeless people to go after they must leave shelters in the morning, reducing the average stay in emergency shelters from 150 days to no more than 45 days, and increasing the supply of permanent supportive housing in the next decade by 1,600 new units for the chronically homeless and 600 new units for homeless families. Among the shorter-term goals by the end of 2005: finding homes for 175 chronically homeless people; opening 160 new units of permanent supportive housing and having 300 more units under development; permanently housing 20 "hard to reach" homeless youth; reducing waiting lists for shelters and numbers of those turned away from shelters by at least 5 percent; and permanently housing 250 homeless families. Page 2 of 2