Earlier this week, the Multnomah County Board of County Commissioners and the Portland City Council unanimously voted to confirm the appointments of Anna Allen and Laura Suarez as non-voting members of the Steering and Oversight Committee (SOC) for the Homelessness Response System (HRS).
The Steering and Oversight Committee brings together elected officials, leaders, experts, and community members to guide and resource the actions outlined in the Homelessness Response Action Plan. By design, the Steering and Oversight Committee helps guide and make recommendations to the respective jurisdictions to resource the plan’s actions so that it is responsive to changes in the landscape of policies and budgets. This body does not develop policies or budgets.
These appointments fill two previously vacant non-voting committee seats: a taxpayer of the Supportive Housing Services measure living outside City of Portland limits, and a behavioral health expert. The Steering and Oversight committee is now a complete body consisting of five voting members who are elected officials and five non-voting members who are key jurisdictional partners, people with lived experience, and system experts. The committee uses a consensus model to get input from all members in advance of a vote by the elected officials on a specific action. This arrangement was agreed upon in the latest intergovernmental agreement between Multnomah County and the City of Portland.
SOC Voting Members | SOC Non-Voting Members |
Multnomah County - Chair Jessica Vega Pederson | Mindy Stadtlander, CEO, Health Share |
Multnomah County - Commissioner Shannon Singleton | Ivory Matthews, CEO, Home Forward |
City of Portland - Mayor Keith Wilson | Peter C. Andrews, Representative, Portland Metro Chamber |
City of Portland- Councilor Eric Zimmerman | Anna Allen, SHS Taxpayer |
City of Gresham - Mayor Travis Stovall | Laura Suarez, LCSW, LICSW, CADCII, Behavioral Health Expert |
“I’m grateful that Anna and Laura are stepping forward into these very important roles. The Steering and Oversight Committee is actively making decisions and taking action on our most pressing issues as we consider our response to our homeless crisis and how to best serve people.” said Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson. “The experience and commitment of both of these community volunteers will add much needed voice and perspective to this conversation”
“To have these two amazing volunteers with deep roots in our community stepping up to serve on this committee is exactly what we need,” said Commissioner Shannon Singleton. “Now that the seats are full, I look forward to getting to work and addressing the much needed system evaluations so we can deliver results for the people experiencing homelessness and the community as a whole.”
Allen will fulfill the requirement to appoint “a Multnomah County resident who lives outside Portland city limits who has paid the Supportive Housing Services income tax on high earners.”
Anna Allen, a resident of Troutdale, is the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission’s (CRITFC) first regional government affairs director. Allen is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and brings more than a decade of experience working collaboratively across tribal governments, local public agencies, and community-based organizations to create equitable pathways for community members to help shape programs, policy decisions, and funding priorities. For many of her young years, her family was forced to become adept in navigating government funded social services, correctional facilities, and shelter systems.
“As a Native American woman, I am no stranger to the harmful impacts of systemic racism and government funded houseless service systems,” said Anna Allen. “The barriers that come with systems not built to benefit communities like my own have forced me to become adept in navigating everyday microaggressions, houselessness as a minor, correctional facilities, shelter system navigation, and living on the receiving end of social services for much of my youth.”
Suarez will fulfill the requirement for “a behavioral health expert who is not currently a contracted provider with Multnomah County or the City of Portland.”
Laura Suarez is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and holds a master’s degree in social work from Portland State University, along with LICSW, CADC II credentials. She has focused her career on intensive community-based case management and care coordination working with people with chronic and complex medical and psychosocial needs. Currently, Ms. Suarez is the manager for the Social Work Department, Division of Care Management at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). In addition to her role as Social Work Department Manager, she serves as the Program Manager for OHSU Transitional Care Programs which provides the hospital with support and navigation to houseless and housing insecure patients.
“I support the management, coordination, and collaboration of complex patient discharges through Care Management at OHSU. My team works very closely with other hospital systems, post-acute care settings such as recuperative care programs, coordinated care organizations and shelter systems to provide supportive discharges for our houseless and housing insecure patients.” Laura Suarez said. "I would love to have a seat at the table to speak to this work from my own professional experience and from the perspective of a hospital social worker.”
The Steering and Oversight Committee will meet next on Tuesday, March 11. More information about how to watch and the meeting agenda are available online.
