Oregon Housing & Community Services (OHCS)’s Post

Erie County answers the challenge to eradicate homelessness within our borders with outside of the box thinking and cross community collaboration like never before. Our "Streets to Stability" program outlines a no wrong door approach and no one size fits all solution to meet the needs of the unhoused as they are, where they are. Filling gaps in social services to prevent homelessness before it happens. Keeping families and individuals in housing through vouchers, blended case management and workforce training opportunities. The renovation of our community corrections building into a community resilience center providing a place for any individual seeking housing, resources, and other services to obtain stability. The begining of phases of constructing a tiny homes village utilizing labor of trade school programs and students incarcerated at our County prison to teach trade skills for in demand jobs while giving back to society. These ideas among many more are all a part of a long term strategy to address homelessness in Erie County to ensure no resident is faced with losing housing and taking steps backward away from stability. https://lnkd.in/eRQrD8pZ

Minnesota's housing problem hurts us all, even if we don’t see it on a day-to-day basis or live in communities with apparent signs of homelessness. When members of our community live on the streets or lack housing security, taxpayers often pick up the bill, especially for unexpected things. This includes ER visits for individuals experiencing homelessness. But there’s good news. It would take fewer resources to end homelessness than to let it continue. As Shaun Donovan—former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development—explains, "We learned that you could either sustain people in homelessness for $35,000 to $150,000 a year, or you could literally end their homelessness for $13,000 to $25,000 a year." Which sounds better to you? If you agree it’s time to end homelessness in Minnesota, join us at the Start with Home Rally for Affordable Housing on Tuesday, February 20. We’ll stand together and let our elected officials know we want sustained, long-term investment in affordable housing. Find additional details and register for the event by visiting https://lnkd.in/gT94fkWZ.   References: "Frequent Users of Health Services Initiative," The Lewin Group: Karen W. Linkins, PhD; Jennifer J. Brya, MA, PhD; Daniel W. Chandler, PhD, August 2008. "Learning about Homelessness & Health in your Community: A Data Resource Guide," Suzanne Zerger, MA Research Specialist, August 2005.

My statement on the Supreme Court decision on homelessness. Today, SCOTUS ruled that cities and towns can fine and criminalize people experiencing homelessness for sleeping in public places, even when there are no other options. This decision gives local governments and police departments the right to harm people who lack viable options like low-barrier shelter, supportive housing, and healthy and affordable housing. Our collective responsibility is to treat unhoused people like every other resident with a roof over their head.I urge our administration to ignore this ruling and continue working with the unhoused community, advocates, nonprofits, the landlord community, businesses, residents and health care providers to create safer interim solutions to address unsheltered homelessness while more supportive units are available. We must continue to work to bring permanent supportive housing units online as soon as possible, expand low-barrier shelters, and develop interim solutions that include wrap-around services without the threat of arrest.I will aggressively oppose any efforts to operationalize this ruling in Worcester. Municipalities do not have to stoop to this inhumane treatment of unhoused people: individuals and families with children. District 5 City Councilor, Etel Haxhiaj

At a time when bipartisanship feels rare, Congress has provided critically needed increases to HUD and VA homelessness programs in the FY 2024 budget. From the Alliance's Chief Policy Officer, Steve Berg: "This year was especially notable because in this Congress the bill required and received support from leaders in both parties. The 11.5 percent increase is one of the largest one-year percentage increase since FY1999. That was the year when Republican support for new Housing First approaches started nearly two decades of increased investments in homelessness programs. This further demonstrates that bipartisan support is critical for funding the programs that get people out of homelessness and into housing." https://lnkd.in/e9Vyfpyc

Minnesota's housing problem hurts us all, even if we don’t see it on a day-to-day basis or live in communities with apparent signs of homelessness. When members of our community live on the streets or lack housing security in any way, the taxpayers pick up the bill. As former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan explained, "The thing we finally figured out is that it’s actually cheaper to solve homelessness than it is to put a band-aid on it. Between shelters, emergency rooms, and jails, it costs (the taxpayer) about $40,000 a year for a homeless person to be on the streets." But there’s good news. It would take fewer resources to end homelessness than to let it continue. As Shaun Donovan went on to say, "We learned that you could either sustain people in homelessness for $35,000 to $150,000 a year, or you could literally end their homelessness for $13,000 to $25,000 a year." Which sounds better to you? If you agree it’s time to end homelessness in Minnesota, join us at the Start with Home Rally for Affordable Housing on Tuesday, February 20. We’ll stand together and let our elected officials know we want sustained, long-term investment in affordable housing. Find additional details and register for the event by visiting https://lnkd.in/gT94fkWZ.  

We know what works to prevent and end homelessness. Spoiler alert: it is not to criminalize and arrest people for sleeping, resting, eating or living on the street when they have nowhere else to go. Effective strategies are to prevent homelessness by proving shallow rent subsidies, provide interim and permanent housing with needed supports, and to greatly increase the supply of affordable and accessible housing.

Happy to be sharing our latest mid-year 2024 metrics for Santa Clara County's Community Plan to End Homelessness. You can see all the data at the link but here are some highlights: Since 2020: ✅ 15,810 people have gotten off our streets and into stable housing with a 90%+ housing retention rate for folks living in Supportive Housing ✅ We've added 5,800 permanently affordable homes across 56 developments into the pipeline for our lowest income residents thanks to our County's Collective Impact model and Measure A ✅ 21,425 people have moved into temporary shelter programs ✅ 30,868 people have received Homelessness Prevention resources, enabling a 94% success rate in families NOT becoming homeless after 12 months ❌ Despite all of these efforts, homelessness is on the rise, with a 23% increase in NEW households becoming homeless this past year ❌ For every one person who moves off the streets, 1.7 are falling into homelessness month over month. It's abundantly clear that Supportive Housing works, that prevention support keeps families from becoming homeless, and cash aid to solve crises is critical. And despite all these efforts we still need a bigger boat. Half of American renters are struggling to afford rent and there is frankly very little being done nationally to combat this growing housing crisis so it's up to us to do all we can to prevent needless suffering and displacement. The colossal failure to get a housing measure on the November ballot means production will slow and makes preventing homelessness via one time or ongoing financial assistance is as critical as ever. More data here: https://lnkd.in/gcfKEAEb

"Congress provided funding, community leaders and business owners rallied together, and we had a laser-like focus on solutions that could keep people out of shelters and off the streets and get them quickly into a home." - Shaun Donovan Mr. Donovan is right: we do know how to fight it. We need to come together an do it. Partnerships and Alliances, good bipartisan legislation that includes supplemental rent programs and financial supports to for profit & nonprofit mission-driven developers (like MORE, Inc) will reduce homelessness and build our communities, securing the future of countless families who, despite how strong the economy presents, are still living paycheck to paycheck without enough for a rainy day. #affordablehousing #missingmiddle #nonprofits #nonprofitfundraising #communitydevelopment #communityimpact #worksmarternotharder #bettertogether #alliances #more2build #endhomelessness #housingforall #housingfirst #permanentsupportivehousing #psh #missiondriven #emergingdeveloperofcolor

This week, the Supreme Court will hear the biggest case on homelessness in decades. Here's our take: The Grants Pass v. Johnson Supreme Court case brings a vital issue into focus — the treatment of homeless individuals. At DignityMoves, our mission is clear: to champion dignity and advocate for effective solutions to end unsheltered homelessness. We believe criminalizing homelessness is counterproductive - but we do need better options. Strategies like Interim Supportive Housing (ISH) go beyond providing a bed; they encompass comprehensive support services and embody our dedication to dignity, respect, and empowering individuals toward stable living. Notably, ISH offers fast and affordable construction. Research indicates that investing in housing is more cost-effective than enforcing anti-homeless laws and hopefully steering governments towards more compassionate and productive approaches. Amidst these discussions, let's prioritize empathy and practical strategies to help our unhoused neighbors off the streets and toward a path out of homelessness. https://lnkd.in/evdMndVJ

"Congress provided funding, community leaders and business owners rallied together, and we had a laser-like focus on solutions that could keep people out of shelters and off the streets and get them quickly into a home." - Shaun Donovan Mr. Donovan is right: we do know how to fight it. We need to come together an do it. Partnerships and Alliances, good bipartisan legislation that includes supplemental rent programs and financial supports to for profit & nonprofit mission-driven developers (like MORE, Inc) will reduce homelessness and build our communities, securing the future of countless families who, despite how strong the economy presents, are still living paycheck to paycheck without enough for a rainy day. #affordablehousing #missingmiddle #nonprofits #nonprofitfundraising #communitydevelopment #communityimpact #worksmarternotharder #bettertogether #alliances #more2build #endhomelessness #housingforall #housingfirst #permanentsupportivehousing #psh #missiondriven #emergingdeveloperofcolor