@stuffifound yes, and #HousingFirst is the way to go!
The pretence that it’s actually about space is such a transparent lie. Homeless people create homes all over, wherever they can: in back alleys, squatting in buildings, in parks, on sidewalks, in transit stations.
Then their homes are pulled apart, thrown away, carefully gathered necessities and treasures broken, stolen, discarded *just* like the people are.
The truth is very simple: to most in our society they just don’t count as people.
Welcome Home Coalition responds to Mayor Wilson’s proposed budget:
PORTLAND — Portland Mayor Keith Wilson on Monday released his proposed 2025-2026 city budget, which includes a $25 million plan to rapidly expand the city’s shelter system by Dec. 1 — on top of the $70 million already being spent on city-run shelters.
Portland’s housing advocates are raising serious concerns. In 2024, only one in five people exiting Portland’s shelter system moved into permanent housing. Outcomes from alternative shelter models like pods and safe villages were even worse, with just 14% transitioning to stable homes. Advocates say these numbers reflect a system that’s failing to deliver what is promised — moving people into permanent homes.
The Welcome Home Coalition — an alliance of over 80 homeless service providers, affordable housing providers and people with lived experience of homelessness and housing instability — is calling on city leaders to prioritize what works: eviction prevention, rental assistance, on-site support services, better case management and affordable housing.
“A shelter bed is not a home — and it’s not a long-term solution,” said Molly Hogan, executive director at Welcome Home Coalition. “Shelters should be part of a broader strategy, but Portland continues to fall short when it comes to helping people move into stable housing. We need leaders to invest in what actually ends someone’s homelessness: affordable housing, eviction prevention, rental assistance, case management, and accessible mental health and addiction services. We can’t afford to keep cycling people through crisis. It’s time to build a system that reduces homelessness for good.”
The City of Portland isn’t alone in prioritizing shelter over permanent housing. Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson’s proposed budget allocates roughly $170 million to shelters, compared to just $92 million for housing placements and eviction prevention. Both her proposal and Mayor Wilson’s mirror a troubling trend seen in the Trump Administration’s proposed budget: expanding shelter funding while cutting or neglecting rent assistance.
“Despite outspending other similarly sized cities, our solutions are backward and ineffective,” said coalition steering committee member Sandra Comstock, executive director at Hygiene 4 All. “At a time when the federal government is rolling back rent assistance, people will lose their homes at a quicker rate, if the city doesn’t fill the gap.”
Welcome Home recently released a policy brief that shares research and case studies on effective strategies to end homelessness. The policy recommendations include:
The City of Portland and its neighboring jurisdictions must commit to investing more in permanent housing, eviction prevention and support services proportionally to shelter.
Leaders must center the people who experience homelessness and housing instability to design effective solutions.
Rather than expanding the current supply of congregate shelters, leaders should invest in moving people off the streets and temporary shelters into permanent housing. This will free up shelters for transitional use as intended, and actually reduce overall homelessness.
“Mayor Wilson and our coalition have a shared goal: reducing homelessness as quickly as possible,” said coalition member Desiree Eden Ocampo, executive director at Rahab’s Sisters. “Our strong hope is that Mayor Wilson will continue to be open-minded and listen to researchers, frontline providers and people with lived experience to craft effective, lasting solutions.”
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About Welcome Home Coalition:
Welcome Home is a multicultural and intersectional alliance in the Portland metropolitan region that uses its collective resources to build a movement for housing justice.
#Housing #PortlandOr #HousingFirst #PDX
https://welcomehomecoalition.org/
The policy brief mentioned above:
https://welcomehomecoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/WHC_Policy-Brief_April2025_final.pdf
Endlich ein Schritt in die richtige Richtung.
#HousingFirst #Obdachlosigkeit
(Und da bei solchen Verlinkungen gern entsprechende Kommentare folgen, weshalb das eigentlich nichts Positives ist, warum ich „sowas“ verlinke, denn das ist ja gar nicht direkt die 150%-ige Lösung und überhaupt: Spart‘s euch. Schont eure und meine Nerven.)
Finland's Housing First push to end homelessness works, saves the country millions in resources to "deal" with homeless people, and IT'S NOT CRUEL. Also: Housing First means access to other resources once people have stable living situations
Here's a piece from February 2024:
#Homelessness #Finland #HousingFirst
https://thebetter.news/interview-juha-kahila-housing-first-finnland/
Le programme #politique du Syndicat des immenses pour mettre en oeuvre la fin du sans-chez-soirisme persistant peut se résumer en un mot: #udéskif (acronyme approximatif pour "universalisation de ce qui fonctionne").
Ce qui fonctionne? Le modèle ukrainien et le dispositif #housingfirst
Explications en détail ici: https://syndicatdesimmenses.be/udeskif/
@ErikUden #Fakt ist dass jede*r #Kaltetote*r zwei zuviel sind!
Gerade in #Hamburg wo es organisierten & kommerziellen #Leerstand massenhaft gibt sollte dies offensichtlich sein...
@skinnylatte the sheer fact that #Housing isn't seen as a #HumanRight is rather appalling.
#HousingFirst is the way to deal with #Homelessness, not criminalizing it!
"Inconvenient truths are being hidden when laws are passed to force the homeless to relocate away from rich neighborhoods and other places where they are not wanted... There are never any plans to give these people homes or solve the underlying problems which create poverty and homelessness; there are only ever plans to hide the symptoms of the injustices and abuses that are woven into the fabric of the civilization we live in"
Trump's plan for the homeless
"I think when President Trump gets around to pushing forward on this agenda item, that he's going to find a lot of sympathetic ears on the West Coast to this sort of lock 'em all up plan that he toyed with during his first administration,"
#Trumpcruelty #TrumpPoliceState #homelessness #HousingFirst #humanrights
Jones is the Executive Director of the https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y6k6VXyt33Q&si=ykJXlrfMM6auFjHd
What a big new Supreme Court decision could mean for homeless Americans | Vox
#USPol #SCOTUS #unhoused #homeless #homelessness #HousingFirst
#classism #PropertyOwners #dispossessed #VanLife #CarCamping
https://www.vox.com/homelessness/357861/homelessness-encampment-grants-pass-supreme-court-housing
"People are living in poverty under capitalism."
Corporate shill: "Look, communism! hurr hurr."
*Related to my post from yesterday.
#BCNDP's #HousingHub program is coming under #scrutiny after one #TaxpayerSubsidized #RentalBuilding in #Vancouver's #Kitsilano neighbourhood, touted as "affordable", is now listing units for $2,600 per month for a studio & $4,200 per month for a 2 bedroom unit.
The listed #RentalPrices are well above provincial #AffordableHousing thresholds & one #housing #researcher says it's an example of how difficult it is to build #AffordableRental buildings when market prices are so far beyond what average #renters can afford.
The leader of the #BCGreenParty called it an "infuriating" #misuse of #TaxpayerDollars.
The #BCNDPgovernment provided a $31.8 million #LowInterestLoan to Vancouver developer #JamesonDevelopmentCorp. for the 68-unit rental building through the HousingHub program, which is aimed at providing housing to middle-income renters shut out of the real estate market.
#BCPremier #DavidEby, who was the minister -responsible for housing at the time, was quoted in a December 2021 government news release announcing the project.
"Our government is investing in more affordable housing for people who work and live in Vancouver, and throughout B.C." he said.
The building at 1807 Larch St., called the L2, is set to be complete next month & is now advertising units.
According to the building's website, a 400-square foot studio apartment starts at $2,599 a month & a 840-square foot two-bedroom, two-bath unit is listed for $4,299 a month.
We need more #SocialHousing.
We need our local, provincial & federal governments to stop using the term "affordable housing" because it's just PR crocktalk to avoid funding more social housing for elderly & disabled folks on low fixed incomes, in addition to more social housing for low income families & individuals, living at or below poverty lines.
Politicians love to use the "affordable housing" term a lot. It makes it sound like they may care, to the public. Yet, their idea of affordable is out of reach for citizens who are poor. They don't really care about poor people. It's not affordable if only privileged folks can afford to rent.
Call out your governments who aren't investing in much social housing developments. We are in a housing crisis. People need access to more social housing - immediately.