Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Alternative Shelter Evaluation Report, Jacen Greene, Todd Ferry, Emily Leickly, Franklin Holcomb Spurbeck

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This report summarizes research by Portland State University’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative for the Joint Office of Homeless Services on the cost, participant experiences, and client outcomes in village-style and motel shelters as compared to each other and to traditional, congregate shelters.

Psu Student Housing Insecurity Interim Report, Jacen Greene, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, Portland State University

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Project Background

This study on student housing insecurity and homelessness was funded as part of a HUD FY2023 Community Project Funding Opportunity awarded to Portland State University. Phase 1 of the study, which led to this report by PSU’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative (HRAC), includes a literature review; a summary of PSU student survey results; a description of PSU programs based on interviews with staff and administrators; an analysis of programs at other institutions; and a set of recommendations for better addressing student housing needs. Phase 2 of the study will include the results of a comprehensive …

How-To Guide For The Creation Of Villages, Todd Ferry, Greg Townley, Marisa Zapata

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This How-To Guide for the creation of alternative shelters called villages is the outcome of a multi-year study by Portland State University’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative on the village model, funded by the Meyer Memorial Trust. It is one component of a larger document which and portraits of individuals involved in some aspect of villages. The six Portland-area villages included in this study were Dignity Village (2000), Hazelnut Grove (2015), Kenton Women’s Village (2017/2019), Clackamas County Veterans Village (2018), Agape Village (2019), and the St. Johns Village (2021). The work presented here relies on the direct input from those …

Hygiene, Storage, And Waste Management For The Unsheltered Community: Gaps & Opportunities Analysis, Jacen Greene, Todd Ferry, Lisa Hawash, Marisa Zapata, Nicholas M. Puczkowskyj

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This study, completed in early February 2022, included focus groups and interviews with 18 government employees and service providers, interviews with 19 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, a review of research literature and news articles on the topic, and previous surveys and research from Portland State University to better understand gaps and opportunities in providing hygiene, storage and waste management to people living unsheltered.

Village Research & How-To Guide, Todd Ferry, Greg Townley, Marisa Zapata

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

The village model is an increasingly popular form of alternative shelter being explored by organizations, activists, and municipalities around the country. Portland’s Dignity Village is the country’s first and longest running village, serving as a touchstone for community dialogue in Oregon around the subject of supporting people experiencing homelessness since 2000. More recently, the region has seen the rapid increase in alternative shelters informed by or following the village model, sparked by a state of emergency declaration on housing and homelessness in Portland in 2015, and further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the model continues to grow and morph …

Portland Street Response: Six-Month Evaluation: A Report Prepared For The City Of Portland Bureau Of Fire And Rescue, Greg Townley, Emily Leickly

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Overview of the Program:

Portland Street Response (PSR) is a new first responder program for non-emergency calls involving people experiencing homelessness or mental health crisis. The program launched on February 16, 2021 in the Lents neighborhood in Portland, OR and operates Monday to Friday from 10 AM to 6 PM. The pilot is coordinated by Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R), and the founding team consists of a firefighter paramedic, a licensed mental health crisis therapist, and two community health workers.

Cost Of Oregon Evictions Report (Updated), Lisa Bates, Marisa Zapata, Jacen Greene, Stefanie Knowlton

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Earlier this year, PSU’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative used a calculator developed by the University of Arizona and estimates of how many renter households are at risk of eviction to evaluate the downstream community costs of evictions in Oregon during the pandemic. In light of the state eviction moratorium that is set to expire this month and the CDC moratorium that expires at the end of July, the center is once again looking at the number of households at risk of eviction and the downstream costs.

The data gathered from emergency shelters, inpatient and emergency medical services, child welfare, …

Regional Supportive Housing Impact Fund Report: Equitable Evaluation Framework And Governance Recommendations, Marisa Zapata, L. Bentley Moses, Sarah Mercurio, Ritu Ghosul, Greg Townley

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

The Regional Supportive Housing Impact Fund (RSHIF) was launched in 2020 by a set of partners in health systems, homelessness services, business, and philanthropy. This program responded to the growing need for permanent supportive housing (PSH) for people experiencing homelessness with serious health care needs in the Portland metropolitan region. Health Share of Oregon (Health Share), an Oregon Coordinated Care Organization, is now convening RSHIF.

What Do People Experiencing Homelessness Need?, Marisa Zapata

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This is an opinion piece about a survey in Portland that reveals profound racial disparities even in basic answers about where people sleep.

Housing And Food Insecurity At Portland State University, Greg Townley, Katricia Stewart, Jacen Greene, Marta Pettini

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This report presents findings from Portland State University’s first housing and food insecurity survey of students and employees. It was conducted by The Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative (HRAC), a center formed to help address homelessness and its negative impact on individuals, families, and communities, with an emphasis on communities of color. Reducing homelessness in the PSU community was one of the foundational goals of the center, and this survey is an important step in that work.

This report examines the rates of housing insecurity, homelessness, and food insecurity among students and employees disaggregated by race and additional factors to …

Survey On Needs Of People Living Unsheltered, Marisa Zapata, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, Joint Office Of Homeless Services, Shannon Singleton, Street Roots

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Portland State University’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative worked with the Joint Office of Homeless Services, Shannon Singleton, and Street Roots to survey people who are living unsheltered to better understand their needs. Because of the racial disparities that we know exist, we set out to create and administrate a survey that would also ask these questions with a focus on people of color.

In all, 383 people took the rapidly deployed and quickly crafted survey over the course of two weeks. Nearly 40% of those surveyed identified as people of color with the highest representation among Black people and …

Fiscal Year 2019 Report, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative fiscal year 2019 annual report.

Fuse: People With Frequent Utilization Of Public Services In Clackamas County, Oregon: Potential Service Enhancements, Karen Cellarius, Marisa Zapata, Eric Einspruch, Cameron Mulder, Thuan Duong, Aliza Tuttle

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

The goal of this study was to answer five very specific questions about individuals with high service utilization and the systems that serve them. The data for this study comes from administrative system data, informational conversations and meetings with community partners, formal interviews with service providers, and interviews with consumers with frequent service utilization.

Limitations: The rates of mental illness, addiction and homelessness are likely to be higher than they appear in this report due to the way these characteristics were gathered or recorded in system databases. Historically marginalized populations are increasingly underrepresented in datasets.