Advocacy

City & County Budgeting: 

Shelter Now continues to advocate for City and County resource allocations to increase alternative shelter options in order to meet the diverse needs of our houseless neighbors. We also advocate for adequate resourcing for initiatives that promote collaboration, continuous improvement, and community engagement to help ensure that our region’s strategies are cohesive, strategic, and grounded in lived experience, – and that they achieve lasting results.  

In addition, local budgeting processes are sometimes opaque and lack timely, adequate information. Often we receive documents, or even meeting notice, only shortly before hearings where public testimony is to be received. As a result, community input is often severely limited. For instance, Shelter Now representatives were two of just a handful of people offering testimony on the County budget related to homelessness in 2021.

We will continue to advocate for increased transparency and removal of barriers to community engagement in the budgeting process itself, particularly among people with lived experience.

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City Five Resolution Plan, including Mass Camps: 

In November of 2022, Mayor Wheeler proposed a series of five resolutions to address homelessness, which City Commissioners amended and passed, and subsequently approved $27 million toward implementation. The resolutions include:

  1. Strategies to increase affordable housing.

  2. Workforce development strategies.

  3. Strategies to connect unhoused people with shelter and services - including the establishment of six camps of up 250 people each.

  4. Diversion and expungement program.

  5. Set City budget priorities for affordable housing and houseless services.

On the development of mass camps, Shelter Now believes that people with living/lived experience must be actively involved in planning and implementation. Specifically we have concerns about the size of the camps (250 people) and believe that 50-60 seems to be the maximum stable population based on what we have learned from other communities. In addition, the camps must have culturally specific sites with organizations that have experience and training providing culturally specific services. A commitment to heavily invest in harm reduction and continuous improvement must be central to any next steps. We also see the need for village communities to be prioritized as a key part of the continuum of housing among transitional housing options. We generally support the additional resolutions.

Learn more: 

  • Shelter Now’s letter to government leaders on implementation of these resolutions 

City Sanctioned Alternative Shelter Options: Safe Rest Villages (SRVs) 

Development of six city-sanctioned SRVs are in progress, with the Multnomah Village SRV now operating alongside the existing city-sponsored BIPOC and Queer Affinity Villages. 

We believe that more effective community engagement is needed both in the planning and development phase, and throughout the operation of the SRV. Community engagement must include people with lived experience, as well as representatives of nearby schools, organizations, and businesses, service providers, and housed neighbors. Supporting stakeholders to build mutual understanding and relationships with one another, negotiating good neighbor agreements, and utilizing them to collectively address issues that arise in a productive manner, will help ensure the success of the SRVs over time. 

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Metro Supportive Housing Services (SHS) Local Implementation:

Voters passed the Metro SHS measure in 2020 to increase housing access and stability for people experiencing homelessness. The measure provides funding for services including: emergency shelter, rent assistance, housing placement, outreach and case management, and wrap around services such as health, recovery, education, employment, and more, as well as systems to improve service delivery. Each County developed a Local Implementation Plan and is participating in the Tri-County Planning Body to support regional coordination. 

Shelter Now participated in the development of the Multnomah County Local implementation Plan and is helping track progress with a focus to ensure community engagement in planning, including people with lived experience, adequate resources to increase alternative shelter options, a commitment to collaborative continuous improvement practice, and transparency in reporting. 

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