In a demonstration of partnership, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners and the Portland City Council will meet in a joint session Friday, Sept. 22, for the first public unveiling of a third-party review that lays out concepts for improving the Joint Office of Homeless Services and the region’s overall response to homelessness.
The joint session is the first since 2020 to discuss the City and County’s shared homelessness work through the Joint Office.
Recommendations for how to strengthen that partnership — building on efforts undertaken this year by Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and Mayor Ted Wheeler — are key elements in the review prepared by Health Management Associates of Oregon.
Those recommendations include creating a new governance model to provide oversight and policy direction for the Joint Office, clarifying the City and County’s roles, and joining together to create a shared strategic vision and map for the region’s homeless response system.
“Our first joint in-person briefing since 2019 marks a new beginning. Today is our opportunity not only to be briefed on the strategic recommendations to improve operations at the Joint Office but to kick-start the conversations we must have about our homelessness response system with the City,” said Chair Vega Pederson. “HMA’s review will help us pivot toward a strong, coordinated, comprehensive plan with measurable outcomes for responding to this crisis.”
“I hear from Portlanders every day demanding our local governments work together with urgency to address the homeless crisis,” said Mayor Wheeler. “Our community expects action now. I look forward to having a solutions-based discussion on next steps for the Joint Office of Homeless Services.”
The recommendations were drawn from interviews with City and County elected officials, community nonprofits and others. And they arrive as the County and City work to renegotiate the intergovernmental contract that created the Joint Office in July 2016.
Preserving and improving the two jurisdictions’ work on homelessness can help serve as a foundation for other related issues where the City and County must work together, from behavioral health, to public safety to natural disasters.
Beyond laying out ideas for enhancing the County and City’s working relationship, the review identifies service and management gaps to address — while also validating and reinforcing ongoing systems, communications and data improvement work underway by the Joint Office, as noted in the department’s response to a recent County audit.
Those technical recommendations include:
- Building on the Joint Office’s data improvement plan, launched in March 2023, to create a system data blueprint
- Completing ongoing work to improve invoice and payment processes for providers
- Continuing the Chair and Joint Office’s established efforts this year to convene providers for summits and regular meetings
- Engaging more deeply with healthcare and other coordinated care systems to broaden the team responding to homelessness
- Streamlining funding policies and procedures for providers
- Updating policies around what’s known as Coordinated Access, a system designed to match the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness with limited supportive housing resources
Dan Field, who started this spring as the Joint Office’s first permanent director in more than a year, began working to secure the review by Health Management Associates of Oregon as soon as he was on board.
The Chair and Mayor had directed Field to build a more effective and efficient Joint Office — which has had to balance workforce challenges and a life-saving COVID-19 pandemic response while growing with a massive infusion of Supportive Housing Services funds.
Field said the review is an important tool for guiding and shaping that work. Health Management Associates are an independent, national firm that specializes in improving publicly funded health care and human services programs.
Following Friday’s briefing, next steps in partnership with Health Management Associates of Oregon include sharing findings with service providers and Joint Office staff, and developing work plans for all themes identified for improvement.