Starting Saturday, Aug. 31, the Joint Office of Homeless Services has launched the first phase of a new technology tool for homeless services providers that will show the availability of shelter beds in real time.
The tool fills a gap for outreach teams and other service providers by sharing up-to-the-minute information on how many shelter beds are available and where they can be accessed, creating a more efficient process for helping people move from the streets to shelter.
Before being rolled out more widely, the Shelter Availability Tool will initially be piloted by the street outreach and navigation teams that work in partnership with the City of Portland’s Street Services Coordination Center.
The pilot phase will also focus initially on a specific subset of shelters funded by the City of Portland and the Joint Office. The tracking tool will provide real-time information about beds at the 11 shelters that currently participate in the City of Portland and Multnomah County’s Shelter Set-Aside Program. These shelters regularly keep beds in reserve to accommodate people who are referred from camps facing removal.
Beyond providing information about open beds, the tracking tool will also include profiles for each shelter site to help outreach workers best match people to the shelter that most fits their needs. The tool’s default setting sorts the shelters by distance from the user and includes mapping and directions functionality, all with the goal of making shelters easier to find.
“For many people seeking services, outreach and navigation teams are the closest front door to our system of shelter and housing services. This new tool will make that journey easier not only for those neighbors, but for the front-line workers who show up every day to support them,” said Dan Field, director of the Joint Office.
“Launching this new tool — with the progress we’ve made helping thousands more people off the streets, alongside our improved contracting, data and spending practices — once again proves the Joint Office is an essential and responsive partner in this work,” Field added.
“I’m proud to have the City of Portland’s Street Services Coordination Center (SSCC) pilot this initiative. The SSCC’s collaborative and expedited approach continues to improve the way we compassionately work to address homelessness,” said Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. “This pilot underscores our ongoing commitment to taking decisive action and maintaining accountability to ensure we achieve tangible outcomes for our community.”
“This is another step forward in our work to have a smart, coordinated homelessness response system in our community. Having access to real-time data will help everyone see the resources that are available and create new connections to services,” said Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson. “Every part of our Homelessness Response System will benefit from this pilot and the opportunity of a front door to stability it offers. That’s a benefit to all of us.”
The pilot phase will last through the end of the calendar year, giving the Joint Office and partner service providers a chance to test, study and refine how well the tool functions in the field before a wider rollout, eventually serving more than 40 shelters funded and/or supported by Multnomah County and the City of Portland.
Shelter operators Transition Projects, Do Good Multnomah and Our Just Future each contributed to preparations for the pilot phase.
“It has been exciting to collaborate with the Joint Office on an innovative idea that ultimately provides transparency to the public about open shelter beds in real-time,” said Nicky Ferguson, Transition Projects’ vice president of shelters.
“The Shelter Availability Tool will provide outreach and navigation teams with the information they need to provide support and resources to individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness in our community. The ability to create such a tool is phenomenal and it highlights the extent to which agencies are coming together to find solutions,” Ferguson added.
Launching the Shelter Availability Tool pilot project by August 2024 is among the deliverables included in the Homelessness Response Action Plan. It’s also among the milestones sought by both the Portland City Council and Multnomah County Board of Commissioners as they come together to review the initial months of their new intergovernmental agreement on homelessness this fall.
The pilot project was also highlighted as a priority during this year’s cross-jurisdictional 90-day fentanyl emergency.