Homeless Relief

      The current budget for homeless services and prevention in Multnomah County is $255 million, with about $150 going directly to homeless services.1 Multnomah county currently has various sources of funding for homeless services, as well as various services. Sources include the Supportive Housing Services tax, the County General Fund, the City of Portland, the Total American Rescue Plan, and other funds. Multnomah counties supportive housing services tax is a new source of funds that was created in 2020 after voters passed a measure to raise funds for homeless services. It currently creates about $107 million worth of funds for the city of Portland. Funds are used for rental assistance, emergency shelters, legal support, and mental health services.2 The City of Portland currently contributes about $45 million to homeless services.3 The county general fund provides about $60 million. to the city of Portland. The American Rescue Plan is an emergency source of funds created by the federal government in order to help recover from COVID, and currently provides $27 million of funds. Other sources provide about $13 million.4 Of the $255 million $130 million goes to homeless shelters, $106 million goes into housing assistance, $25 million goes to mental health services, and $12 million goes to outreach. Not including housing assistance this adds up to around $150 million going directly to homeless services. 

Free RV Parks  

     The first plan for homeless relief will be to build free RV parks for the homeless. These will be outfitted with electricity, water, lights, video cameras, areas for private bathrooms that are lockable, and areas designed for mobile support services to use. Homeless who just have cars, or tents will be welcome as well, not just RVs. The main vision is to build free RV parks off of 33rd north of Lombard on the way to marine drive. After the initial construction, this should be a low-cost way of serving the homeless community. Portland’s homeless population is currently estimated to be almost 7,000.5 Yearly electricity costs in Portland are approximately $1,350 per resident, and water costs around $1,500 including government subsidies. Theoretically if every homeless person lived in an RV park and used as much electricity and water as the average resident it would cost around $20 million a year to sustain. This is far less than the current $150 million budget, and it will probably cost less.      

Land Planned For RV Parks

New Homeless Shelters 

     The long term solution for the homeless is to build new homeless shelters that give the homeless a permanent place to stay with private rooms. Current shelters generally don't have privacy, with many homeless sharing the same rooms. Shelter is generally temporary, often strictly for the night. Rape, assault and theft are often common in homeless shelters, making it difficult for the homeless to get back on their feet. New shelters will essentially be apartment complexes with studio apartments of the smallest size, with the basic amenities, shower, bathroom, fridge, stove, microwave in the room. Some will be designed for families. This will give the homeless a permanent place to stay that is safe, has privacy and allows them to get cleaned up and focused. Shelters will be run fairly strictly, with means testing,  restrictions on visitors, video cameras and police presence as necessary. Data on residents and income records will be provided to organizations running the shelters to help means test. These designs should also decrease operation costs as the homeless can now be self-sufficient cooking for themselves, and buying food with food stamps.  

     Current costs of building apartments range from $150 to $400 per square foot.6  As stated above the homeless population in Portland is currently around 7,000. As an example, if 250 square foot apartments were built at the highest cost of $400 per square foot it would cost around $700 million to build enough rooms for all the homeless. Of course we would aim to decrease these costs by having smaller rooms and lower cost construction.

     The plan for construction will be to build the new homeless shelters on the east side. The best location I could find was just north of Powell, west of Division and the rail road, and south of Omsi. This location is shielded from the residential areas by Powell and the railroad tracks, while still giving homeless easy access to public transportation, as there is a max stop, trolly and several bus-lines near by. Having homeless shelters on the east side will also draw homeless out of downtown which will be good for businesses, tourists, and residents. New homeless shelters will be built one at a time, and the different organizations that provide homeless services that are currently based downtown will be moved into the new buildings on the eastside.

Area for Homeless Shelters

 Homeless Havens 

         Another short-term solution is homeless havens. These will essentially be empty lots and parking lots that we will fence off, and cover the fencing so people can’t see in. These will be built around the city to help get people off the sidewalks and out of the public eye.

References

1 Retrieved from https://www.portland.gov/cbo/2023-2024-budget/documents/joint-office-homeless-services-fy-2023-24/download#:~:text=The%20FY%202023-24%20Joint,through%20the%20City%20of%20Portland.

2 Retrieved from https://www.oregonmetro.gov/public-projects/supportive-housing-services

3 Retrieved from https://www.portland.gov/cbo/2023-2024-budget/documents/joint-office-homeless-services-fy-2023-24/download#:~:text=The%20FY%202023-24%20Joint,through%20the%20City%20of%20Portland.

4 Retrieved from https://www.portland.gov/cbo/2023-2024-budget/documents/joint-office-homeless-services-fy-2023-24/download#:~:text=The%20FY%202023-24%20Joint,through%20the%20City%20of%20Portland.

5 Retrieved from https://www.portland.gov/wheeler/homelessness#:~:text=The%20complexity%20of%20the%20homelessness,from%201%2C887%20to%206%2C297%20individuals 

6 Home Guide. Average cost to build an apartment complex. Retrieved from https://homeguide.com/costs/cost-to-build-an-apartment-complex#:~:text=The%20average%20cost%20to%20build,quality%2C%20and%20the%20building%20location.