Dear Friends and Neighbors,
As I finish my second year as Chair, I’m introspective about what these years have meant for Multnomah County and what’s to come. Our underlying mission as a safety-net government is to provide a helping hand for those who find themselves in difficult circumstances, whatever those may be. Through our work and that of our partners, we help set people on a path to self-sufficiency and empower them to take control of their own lives. We do this work because we know that people living outside right now can find stability. People struggling with addiction can recover. And we can cultivate safe communities that hold people accountable while providing pathways to a better life.
During my first year in office, my Board of County Commissioner colleagues and I began and continued strategic investments to address historical gaps in our local social safety net. Filling those gaps means that we are building out an updated continuum of care that moves people away from suffering towards stability, hope, safety, and recovery.
While I’m clear-eyed about our challenges, I’m also optimistic our recent progress will continue. We’re seeing strategic investments come online, and they are improving the lives of thousands of people to the benefit of all.
Thousands of people benefitted from our homelessness response – and this is just a start
Reducing homelessness and restoring our neighborhoods remains my top priority. Far too many people still need places to stay warm and ultimately a home of their own. Many need additional services to transition into shelter or housing successfully. We must continue to do more.
We have invested in sheltering and re-housing thousands of people a year. JOHS data is reported in line with our annual budget schedule (also known as a “fiscal year”) and their last yearly report (July 2023 - June 2024) shared that more than 5,400 people previously sleeping on our streets or a couch are no longer homeless after being placed into housing. Since July, more than 1,000 additional people have left homelessness for housing. Approximately 90% of those provided housing with support services remained housed over a year later.
We accomplished this through our day to day work as well as by piloting initiatives like Housing Multnomah Now, which brought housing specialists and case managers directly to folks chronically living unsheltered. The Joint Office and our network of providers also sheltered over 9,000 people at sites like Arbor Lodge, providing immediate respite from the streets. This encouraging data doesn’t even include numbers since September, which will be included in the Joint Office’s next quarterly report.
We will continue to build on this progress knowing there is more work to do and that these numbers don’t always match what people are seeing in their neighborhoods or feeling on our streets. We can and will continue to respond, working with partners at all levels of government and across the community to build a more nimble, adaptable Homelessness Response System that reshapes and refocuses our work. Early results are encouraging, and 2025 will bring a new data system that better tracks the inflow and outflow of individuals in and out of homelessness. Goals for next year include adding at least 1,000 more 24/7 shelter beds with a continued focus on adapting and responding to the most pressing needs.
We believe that people can recover from addiction, and will with more support
Most of us know a family member or friend who has or is currently struggling with drug addiction. We don’t give up on them, and I won’t give up on anyone suffering from this disease because I also know recovery is possible.
Our work to provide pathways to recovery and reduce overdose deaths is complicated by the advent of fentanyl. Responding to our new reality, I worked with regional partners in early 2024 to declare a fentanyl emergency that allowed for the quick deployment of resources through a coordinated, unified approach that has sustained partnership and coordination across Multnomah County.
As we build out more sobering and treatment options while educating the public, we are seeing trends in the right direction, including an 11% decrease in overdose deaths from 2023 to 2024, and a 27% decrease over the last 6 months.
This downward trend comes as we’ve added over 250 recovery, stabilization, and transitional housing beds over the past year. The Behavioral Health Resource Center downtown is helping close another important gap in day services with over 70,000 visits this year. We also expanded our distribution of naloxone, providing over 50,000 doses of this life saving medical intervention.
A remaining gap in our system are drop-off sobering beds. To address this, we helped fund sobering beds at the Unity Center for Behavioral Health earlier this year and next Spring, the Coordinated Care Pathway Center will add more beds that will be available 24/7 to meet law enforcement and community needs.
Building partnership is a core value of this administration – and will continue to be
No single government is capable of solving the entrenched inequities we struggle with. That's why I place such a high value on regional partnerships, all of which have been strengthened during these last 2 years. Most importantly, this improved collaboration is producing better outcomes for those we serve.
For example – as we continue to grow Preschool for All towards universal access by 2030, we’re partnering with the City to fund early education workforce development. Growing our workforce, along with enhancements to our allocation process and facilities fund investments puts us on track to exceed next year's goal of 3,000 seats for children and families.
A great example of improved coordination is our work with law enforcement to establish a deflection system and Coordinated Care Pathway Center, which has served 146 people with 293 referrals directing people towards recovery over jail since the laws changed in September.
We ended 2024 on another collaborative note, announcing a new partnership with incoming Mayor Keith Wilson that commits resources through the Homelessness Response System to open 200 overnight winter shelter beds as soon as possible.
None of our recent progress would be possible without the compassionate daily work of our employees, an incredible network of partners and providers and a community that cares deeply for those in need. This is difficult, daily work with many challenges, yet we have so much to build on. I look forward to the days ahead and to working closely with you in 2025 and beyond.
Gratefully,
JVP
