SALEM, OREGON. The first-ever Oregon Leadership Summit on Ending Chronic Homelessness was convened this week at the historic Reed Opera House in the capital city of Salem with over 100 participants including State Representatives Peter Buckley and Debi Farr, the Mayors of Portland, Salem, Eugene, Corvallis, and Hillsboro, city councilors, county commissioners, federal, state and local government agency officials, 10-Year Plan leaders, representatives of several United Way chapters, and innovative service providers. The statewide Summit is one of a series being convened by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness to bring together state officials and jurisdictions engaged in 10-year planning efforts. Other statewide Summits have been held in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico.

Participants were welcomed by the event lead organizer, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator Paul Carlson, Salem City Mayor Janet Taylor, Oregon Housing and Community Services Director Rick Crager on behalf of the newly formed Governor's Ending Homelessness Advisory Council, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, and HUD Region X Director John Meyers.

In his welcoming remarks, Executive Director Mangano noted that Susan B. Anthony was one of the first people to speak at the now historic Reed Opera House built in 1870. Ms. Anthony has a place in history for her work to abolish two moral wrongs- slavery and the denial of women's right to vote. At the time of her appearance at the Reed Opera House, prospects for the success of the suffrage movement looked dismal but she never lost faith and on her deathbed, her last words were " Failure is impossible." One hundred and thirty years later, representatives of every level of government - city, county, state, and federal - are gathered in the same building in partnership to end another moral wrong - homelessness. Stated Director Mangano: "And just as Ms. Anthony believed that failure is impossible, so we know that the long moral arc of the American experience bends toward justice. In coming together today in partnership at every level of government, you are reaching up and intending to bend that arc into the lives of your poorest citizens."

The Summit offered both formal presentations and opportunities for networking and peer to peer dialogue. Seating at the lunch matched jurisdictional leaders already developing and implementing 10-Year Plans with jurisdictional leaders from other counties still contemplating whether to engage in the planning process. Some of the formal presentations included Oregon Housing and Homelessness Director Rick Crager, who spoke about the recently established Governor's Ending Homelessness Advisory Council (see related story), Oregon Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Manager Vicki Skryha, JOIN Director Rob Justus, and Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs Director John Lee, who described his state's innovative Incarcerated Veterans Transition Program.

Representatives of all four jurisdictional 10-year planning processes currently underway in Oregon attended the Summit. Clakamas, Lane, and Lincoln Counties are in the process of developing their plans while Multnomah County, including the City of Portland, is beginning its second year of plan implementation. Both Portland Mayor Tom Potter and Lincoln County Commissioner Bill Hall spoke about the political leadership and broad stakeholder partnerships including participation by the business community needed to successfully develop and implement 10-Year Plans. (See Words of the Week)

The Portland/Multnomah County Plan calls for creating 1600 new housing units for persons experiencing chronic homelessness, 600 new units for homeless families and laid out a vision for ending homelessness in Portland and Multnomah County. Portland City Commissioner Erik Sten, a strong supporter of both that plan and the Governor's newly established Advisory Council, spoke about the encouraging results from the Plan's first year of implementation including 244 units of permanent supportive housing opened, permanent housing provided to 344 homeless families with children, and 33 "hard to reach" homeless youth housed. Summarizing the first year "report card", Commissioner Sten concluded, "Getting people into housing first works- plain and simple."

In July, Portland and Multnomah County will hold their second Project Homeless Connect event. This one will be for homeless families. On January 17, 2006, over 400 volunteers and representatives of 50 nonprofit agencies in Portland and Multnomah County assisted over 900 homeless single adults with housing assistance, benefits counseling, legal services, and on-site health care at the community's first Project Homeless Connect.

Among the agencies providing support for this week's Summit were the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski, the Oregon Department of Housing and Community Service, the Oregon Department of Human Services, the Oregon Association of Counties, League of Oregon Cities, and the City of Salem. Federal partners in attendance included officials from the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Labor, and Veterans Affairs, and the Social Security Administration.

Pictured above are some of the many city, county, state, and federal officials who participated in the Oregon Leadership Summit. Front row, l-r, are OR Mental Health Housing Manager Vicki Skryha, Multnomah County Chair Diane Linn, Interagency Council Executive Director Mangano, Salem Mayor Janet Taylor, OR Human Services Director Bruce Goldberg. Back row, l- r, Interagency Council Regional Coordinator Paul Carlson, OR Housing and Community Services Director Rick Crager, HUD Region X Director John Meyers, Portland Mayor Tom Potter, Lincoln Commissioner Bill Hall, JOIN Director Rob Justus, Newport City Councilor Larry Henson, and Multnomah Housing Director Diane Luther.

At the Oregon Leadership Summit on Ending Chronic Homelessness convened by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness this week, the Director of Oregon Housing and Community Services Rick Crager spoke about the newly created Governor's Ending Homelessness Advisory Council which will be working in close association with local 10-year planning processes to end chronic homelessness in Oregon.

Governor Ted Kulongoski signed the Executive Order creating the Council at a public ceremony in April. The Council is charged with the responsibility to develop a state 10-Year Plan and collaborate on implementing local plans to end homelessness. Mr. Crager noted that creation of the Council was a response to the urgings by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness that all Governors create a state interagency council on homelessness to more effectively coordinate homeless policy and resources, and that the idea of such a Council also had strong support from the Mayors and City and County Commissioners leading 10-Year Plan efforts in Oregon. Oregon joins 52 other states and territories in having established such a state level council.

The 24-member Council, whose membership is established in the Governor's Executive Order, is a model of inclusiveness. Importantly, the Council will include representation from the state's legislative branch, as well as the Directors of the State Departments of Human Services, Education, Housing and Community Services, Corrections, Veterans Affairs, Community Colleges and Workforce Development, Employment, and Transportation, the Oregon Youth Authority, the Oregon State Commission on Children and Families, Community Action Directors of Oregon, public housing authorities, non profit housing developers, the statewide food bank, city and county government, and continuums of care.

Governor Kulongoski spoke about the Council's mission at the signing ceremony held at the historic Hotel Alder, which had recently been renovated by Central City Concern to provide housing for 65 persons who had been chronically homeless on the streets of Portland.

"We have set our eyes on the prize," said Governor Kulongoski expressing hope that Oregon would become "a place where no man, woman or child ever again suffers the cold night of homelessness. A piecemeal approach just doesn't work. We need the cooperation of state and federal agencies, community partners, local businesses, state and local government officials, faith-based organizations and community members to incorporate and integrate services."

In addition to developing a state 10-Year Plan and collaborating with local jurisdictions on their 10-year plans, the Governor's Ending Homelessness Advisory Committee will also recommend needed changes in the law to the Governor and the legislature and prepare an annual report that summarizes Oregon's progress. Appointments to the Council are expected to be announced shortly. Pictured here are Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski (left) at the Executive Order signing and Oregon Housing and Community Services Director Rick Crager at the Summit.

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA. The City of St. Paul and Ramsey County, Minnesota assisted an estimated 725 homeless individuals and families at the community's first Project Homeless Connect this week, joining over 30 cities around the nation that have adopted this volunteer driven one-day, one-stop model for connecting homeless people to housing and services with the goal of ending their homelessness. While all Project Homeless Connect events involve collaboration and participation by city agencies, non-profit service providers, and hundreds of volunteers, often including employees of local businesses, the St. Paul event was unique in being organized by two police officers, Sgt. Paul Paulos and Officer Dean Koehnen.

What began two years ago as an informal drop-in by Sgt. Paulos at the downtown Listening House shelter has resulted in an every other month meeting of police and homeless social service providers, dubbed the police-provider forum. Information about that forum is now included in the St. Paul Police Training Academy curriculum. /

"We're always there for the bad things, so we want to build trust," said Sgt Paulos, a 13-year veteran of the St. Paul Police Department, adding, "A lot of things that normally end up with people in jail don't need to end that way. It costs the taxpayers thousands of dollars, and there are better ways to handle it."

Data being collected by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness from cost analyses being done by jurisdictions around the nation engaged in 10-year planning processes provides evidence of the substantial costs to communities of police response time, jail, and other correctional costs associated with chronic homelessness.

• A cost analysis of public system utilization by homeless persons in Santa Barbara County, CA found annual jail costs of almost $5.5 million.
• Asheville, NC discovered that just 37 homeless men and women generated $278,000 in jail costs over a 3-year period.
• Key West reported an estimated $2.2 million in jail costs for 418 homeless individuals arrested in 2004.

Monday's event held at the St. Paul Armory brought together over 200 volunteers from community and faith-based organizations, businesses, and City and County government including County Commissioner Toni Carter. Sponsors included 3M Corporation, which has its World Headquarters in St. Paul, Coca Cola, the Wilder Foundation, and the Minnesota National Guard. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, City Councilor Debbie Montgomery, Police Chief John Harrington, and United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator John O'Brien attended Monday's event and spoke with participants and volunteers.

Housing opportunities are an important component of the Project Homeless Connect innovation, and St. Paul partners served over 200 persons seeking housing. On site were Central Community Housing, a nonprofit housing developer, Catholic Charities Housing Link, an affordable rental housing data base, and Hope Harbor, The Salvation Army's Housing Opportunities for People to Excel, a permanent supportive housing program that assists homeless individuals with long-term housing, as well as the Wilder Foundation.

Pictured here at the St. Paul Project Homeless Connect are, left to right, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, USICH Regional Coordinator John O'Brien, Sgt. Paul Paulos, and Officer Dean Koehnen.

JOLIET, ILLINOIS. The Plan to End Homelessness Committee of Will County and the Will County Continuum of Care held their second one-stop service opportunity for homeless individuals and families, Open Door Day, on June 19th at the Morning Star Mission in Joliet, Illinois. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator Daryl Hernandez attended the event which provided assistance to an estimated 85 homeless persons. The assistance included donations of duffel bags, clothing, shoes, blankets, phone calling cards, and personal hygiene kits by local area retailers, and services including showers, laundry facilities, haircuts, health screenings, lunch, State ID services, mainstream benefit and job training information, resume services, job interview and placement services.

Participating agencies included the Will County Health Department, Legal Assistance Program, and Clerks Office; Illinois Secretary of State office, Department of Employment Security, Department of Human Services, and Veterans Assistance Commission; Joliet Township; U.S. Social Security Administration; Prisoner Release Ministries Inc.; Agape Missions Inc; Catholic Charities; Morning Star Missions; and Cornerstone Services.

FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS. Emergency shelters for single individuals will be closed within three years and permanent housing opportunities created in the Metro West Region of Boston under a plan unveiled by South Middlesex Opportunity Council (SMOC) Executive Director Jim Cuddy last week to state and local elected officials, representatives of State departments serving homeless individuals, foundations, and community and faith-based agencies.

Founded in 1966 as an anti-poverty agency, SMOC created a wholly owned subsidiary, the South Middlesex Non-Profit Housing Corporation, in 1986 to address the need for affordable housing for homeless, disabled, and disadvantaged adults and families. SMOC provides 1181 units in scattered locations, and owns and manages over 120 facilities, including group homes, family and individual shelters, and affordable housing. SMOC is currently managing 94 emergency shelter beds in the Metro West Region.

In a meeting with United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano and Regional Coordinator John O'Brien on June 15, Cuddy described the SMOC plan, "It is a conversion strategy that calls for a transformation in both policy and practice - a Board and staff commitment to serve single individuals experiencing homelessness in permanent single person occupancy housing rather than emergency shelter," said Cuddy." Pictured here is Executive Director Mangano with SMOC Executive Director Jim Cuddy.

Key elements of the plan include:

• Developing a one-stop Housing Resource Center to provide intake, screening, assessment, homeless diversion stabilization, and services by professional staff with expertise in case management, employment, housing placement, behavioral health, and primary care.
• Converting existing emergency shelter programs into permanent supportive housing and developing 50 to 60 new permanent supportive housing units.
• Creating a 20 bed, 10 day emergency placement facility for those who cannot be immediately placed into permanent housing.
• Establishing a new database system to centralize information to better coordinate services and measure outcomes.
• Creating a plan to help people return to their home community, if appropriate; focus on rapid employment; and expand public and private sector partnerships.

  The transition would be implemented in stages:

  Stage 1: Reduce shelter capacity from 94 to 56 (by end of year one). Create 15 to 20 units of sober housing. Create 10 units of "Housing First." Transform one of the 18 bed emergency shelters into the Housing Resources Center.

  Stage 2: Reduce shelter capacity from 56 to 38. Create an additional 15 units of permanent supportive housing. Convert second emergency shelter into permanent supportive housing. Reduce 10-day emergency placement program from 20 to 15 beds. Expand economic development initiative

  Stage 3: Close down all other emergency shelter beds. Maintain a 10-bed /10 days emergency placement program. Create 15 to 20 new units of permanent supportive housing.

In this continuing series of e-news profiles on the recipients of the Council's A Home for Every American Award, we highlight the contribution of Richard Harris, Executive Director of Central City Concern, to the National Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness.

Central City Concern is a private nonprofit agency with an annual budget of $28 million that is providing pathways to self-sufficiency through active intervention in poverty and homelessness in the Portland area with a comprehensive array of health, mental health and chemical dependency, housing and employment services. CCC operates over 1300 units of low income housing, including owned and managed housing for homeless singles and for families, and housing for different special needs populations. CCC has been particularly active in the rehabilitation of older SRO housing. As noted in a separate story in this week's e-news, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed an Executive Order creating the Governor's Ending Homelessness Advisory Council at the historic Hotel Adler, which was renovated by Central City Concern to provide housing for 65 persons who had been chronically homeless on the streets of Portland.

Mr. Harris's unique contribution to the National Partnership to End Homelessness is the successful and replicable model he has created at Central City Concern in which health services become the doorway to engaging and linking long term homeless individuals with housing and employment. CCC blends a wide variety of local, state, and federal resources into a seamless delivery system so that no matter what door someone walks through, CCC staff has the ability to pull together what the individual needs in terms of health, housing, and employment services to gain greater self sufficiency.

In recent years, CCC has used federal and other funds to develop a Community Engagement Program providing outreach, case management, permanent supportive housing, and employment related services to chronically homeless persons with disabilities. A limited pilot study of that effort showed annual savings in public funds of 38.7% (see related story). CCC efforts have also helped to engage the Portland business community in the effort to end chronic homelessness. Utilizing a multi-year federal grant award for permanent supportive housing to concentrate outreach efforts in the Burnside area of the community, which had the heaviest concentration of persons living on the streets, CCC efforts achieved a visible change which served as a catalyst for engaging members of the business community. CCC's programs and activities are an integral part of Portland/Multnomah County's 10-Year Plan implementation effort.

As he has during 26 years of directing programs at Central City Concern, Richard Harris was focused on the needs of homeless Portland residents and exchanging information on innovative health and housing solutions at this week's Oregon Leadership Summit on Ending Chronic Homelessness sponsored by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Recently Central City Concern (CCC) (see related story) released data from a limited pilot study of its Community Engagement Program (CEP). The CEP program utilizes a slightly modified Assertive Community Treatment approach to address the needs of the chronically homeless population in Portland. The CEP effort has four teams with slightly different target populations to serve based on the requirements of specific funding streams. The pilot study, undertaken by CCC and funded in part by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, and Labor, examined estimated pre-enrollment costs borne by the community associated with the physical health care, incarceration, and treatment for mental health and addiction issues of 35 chronically homeless persons enrolled in CEP. These pre-enrollment costs, annualized from a five year look back, were then compared to service utilization and housing costs for these same 35 clients in the first year of their CEP enrollment.

This pilot study revealed the estimated pre-enrollment cost for health care and incarcerations per client was $42,075 annually. In the first year following enrollment in CEP, these utilization costs were reduced to an estimated $16,108 per person. Combining these utilization costs with the cost of housing and services provided through CEP enrollment, the total per client expenditure for the first year of enrollment was $25,776. This represents a $16,299 per person or 38.7% annual cost savings to the community for the first year of CEP enrollment. Extrapolating this savings to the total number of clients served by CEP each year-- approximately 293-- the estimated cost savings to the community amounts to over $4.7 million.

The report also notes that experience suggests that the first year of enrollment is usually the most expensive so that perhaps greater cost savings might develop as clients remain stably housed.

The many mayors attending this week's Oregon Leadership Summit to End Chronic Homelessness reflect the strength of the collaboration that exists between mayors across the nation and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness in the National Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness. No one level of government can end homelessness alone, and no effort to end homelessness can succeed without the political will of local government mayors and county executives. More than 200 mayors and county executives have already committed to the 10-year planning process developed by the Council as a key tool in the national effort to end chronic homelessness. Two resolutions considered and adopted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors at their recent annual meeting in Las Vegas suggest the value mayors place on the work of the United States Interagency on Homelessness in providing technical assistance to community 10-Year Plan efforts and forums for the exchange of data, including cost analyses and measurable outcomes, and rapid dissemination of innovative approaches and solutions.

In the resolution, Endorsing Innovative Policies to Successfully End Chronic Homelessness Across the Nation, the Mayors "affirm the value of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness and ask the Interagency Council to develop concrete tools and to seek new funding to help implement ten year plans in partnership with mayors."

In the resolution, Improving Homelessness Programs and Continuum of Care, the Mayors note that " the National Partnership constellated by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has brought together 20 federal agencies, 53 governors of states and territories, and over 215 mayors in the same national strategy to respond to chronic homelessness with both public and private sector involvement" and that " mayors and cities are on the front lines of the response to homelessness and have affirmed the work of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness in partnership with mayors."

A common misconception is that chronic homelessnessis mainly associated with large cities. In fact,chronic homelessness occurs in both urban and ruralareas. In Oregon, 10-year planning efforts are underway in both Multnomah County which includes thestate's largest city, Portland, with a city/county population nearing 700,000 and Lincoln County with a population under 50,000. Both communities were represented by their elected officials at this week's Oregon Leadership Summit on Ending Chronic Homelessness sponsored by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Portland Mayor Tom Potter (pictured above right) and Lincoln County Commissioner Bill Hall (pictured above left) spoke about their desire to end homelessness in their communities, their commitment to the 10-year planning process, and the need for close cooperation among city, county, state, and federal officials. Below are excerpts from their remarks.

From Portland Mayor Tom Potter:

"We can end homelessness. It requires political will, community will, social will, and business will. And the business community has stepped up to the plate. My commitment, and my ask of you, is to work together. We can't do it alone. When we get resources, we have to use them to secure results, to house people. It is our responsibility as political leaders to ensure stable housing for those exiting military service, treatment, and prison. We are standing together here in Oregon."

From Lincoln County Commissioner Bill Hall:

"Last year one of our homeless advocacy groups conducted a survey of the homeless in Lincoln County. One of the more significant findings was that on a proportional basis, there are as many chronically homeless in our county as in Portland.

. . . The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness urged us to pursue a 10-year plan. There were a lot of reasons for taking this step but one fact stood out: the shift to a "housing first" approach, which is at the core of these plans, has produced an 85% success rate, vs. 15 % for conventional ways of dealing with the problem. I find this approach so promising because it makes the best sense from an economic perspective-providing people with housing really is less costly than arresting them and putting them in jail or treating them in the emergency room-and it's also the most humane approach. It gives people the best chance to achieve stable and productive lives.

. . . We decided that if we had a plan that clearly defined our needs, and presented specific solutions, we would be in a stronger position to leverage existing resources. We also saw encouraging developments at the state level especially the Governor's recent move to appoint a state interagency council. There's a lot of interest in working together toward solutions.

. . . The solutions to our shelter problems won't be simple, quick, or cheap. But as John Kennedy said so memorably, "Let us begin." For the sake of our collective economic well-being, let us begin. For the sake of our children, let us begin. For the sake of our future, let us begin."