Multnomah County and City of Portland Poised to Combine Agencies for Homeless Services

Multnomah County and the city of Portland are poised to combine efforts on homeless services, with County Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury overseeing a new agency.

The county and city have for years run separate efforts to help homeless people, with the city running programs for single homeless men and women, and the county handling services for homeless families with children. Those two bureaucracies sometimes duplicate work.

That's about to change.

A small committee of city and county employees have recommended the creation of a Joint City-County Office of Homeless Services, according to a letter obtained by WW this afternoon.

The county chair would oversee the new agency, but it would be partly funded with city dollars and "closely aligned" to the city's housing commissioner—currently, that's Dan Saltzman.

Mayor Charlie Hales hinted at the plan this afternoon in a public hearing, saying it would allow the city to concentrate on affordable housing.

Another benefit, listed in the letter signed today by Kafoury and Saltzman, would be "increasing consistency in the development and implementation of policy."

As WW reported in Wednesday's edition, the city and county, along with the Portland Housing Authority and federal government, will spend more than $57 million this year on housing-related services.

The county and the city began working more closely together on homelessness more than a year ago, creating a partnership called A Home for Everyone. This would move the city and county policy closer together.

Here's a link to the letter.

Willamette Week