A roundup of news and updates from the Joint Office of Homeless Services since its 2016 formation.
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2022
January 2022
Supportive Housing Services: Quarter 1 Summary
Emergency Shelters Provided in Period of Severe Cold
2021
Nov. 2021
Oct. 2021
Aug. 2021
July 2021
Project Turnkey grant helps Joint Office purchase motel for shelter during COVID-19 and beyond
The Stark Street Shelter operated by Do Good Multnomah, under contract with the Joint Office.
June 2021
Michael Phelps, outreach worker/case manager, hands out water along with other care items under the record-breaking heat in SE Portland. Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare's Street Outreach Team also offers mental health and housing education.
May 2021
COVID-19 Rent Assistance and Housing Stability Resources
Partners in supporting the St. Johns Village watch Do Good Multnomah director Chris Aiosa cut a ceremonial ribbon on May 21, 2021.
April 2021
Details on how Chair Kafoury has proposed investing funds from the first year of Metro's Supportive Housing Services Measure.
Feb. 2021
An example of a physical distancing motel shelter is the Portland Value Inn - Barbur.
Jan. 2021
Lindsey Prutch, a resident advocate for Transition Projects, at a vaccination clinic for shelter workers at the Oregon Convention Center on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021.
2020
Dec. 2020
Board of Commissioners, in one of their last group photos taken before COVID-19.
Do Good Multnomah staff set up a room at the Portland Value Inn - Barbur, the sixth COVID-19 physical distancing motel shelter.
Joint Office opens 24-hour winter shelter in Old Town's former Greyhound Station
Nov. 2020
The Old Town COVID-19 outdoor shelter under construction in April 2020.
Oct. 2020
Nkgenge Harmon-Johnson, president of the Urban League of Portland, speaks at a press event Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019.
Sept. 2020
Friday, Sept. 18: Joint Office offers 9th day of smoke shelter
Smoke over the Willamette River, Sept. 11, 2020
Joint Office still adding 24-hour smoke shelter, works with community to help distribute KN95 masks
July 2020
A physical distancing motel shelter has opened at the Banfield Value Inn.
June 2020
May 2020
FAQ: COVID-19 physical distancing shelter transition
March 2020
COVID-19 guidance for people experiencing homelessness without shelter
COVID-19 and homelessness in Multnomah County
Jupiter Hotel steps up, partners with Multnomah County to provide temporary shelter
County employees work to set up temporary shelter space at the Oregon Convention Center on Friday, March 20, 2020.
Jan. 2020
Katrina Holland, right, HereTogether Oregon board member and director of Community Alliance of Tenants, speaks to the board at a briefing Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020.
2019
Dec. 2019
Chair Deborah Kafoury and Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson visit with residents at the Laurelwood Center on Friday, Dec. 6, 2019.
Board of County Commissioners authorize tourism dollars for housing and homeless programs
Oct. 2019
For 2nd year, Eat & Greet party shows possibilities when neighbors embrace shelter residents
At the 2019 Wy'east Eat & Greet.
County releases 2018 report of homeless deaths
Sept. 2019
Chair Deborah Kafoury speaks at a Street Roots news conference Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019.
Board approves plans for Behavioral Health Resource Center
Preliminary sketch of proposed behavioral health resource center.
Chair Deborah Kafoury speaks at a press event where Portland Street Response survey results were unveiled Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019.
Chair Deborah Kafoury speaks alongside Mayor Ted Wheeler at Portland City Hall on Sept. 17, 2019.
Aug. 2019
Stacy Borke, left, and Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson inside the Laurelwood Center on Monday, Aug. 12, 2019.
March 2019
The quiet and relentless work of preventing homelessness
Feb. 2019
Chair Deborah Kafoury explains the County and Portland's severe weather plan for helping homeless neighbors Feb. 8.
Jan. 2019
County-owned land on North Williams Avenue that's been donated to the City of Portland for housing.
Outreach workers plan for the 2019 Point in Time Count.
Multnomah County purchased the Bushong & Co. building in Spring 2019 for renovation into a mental health resource center
Pastor Elizabeth Larsen of St. Mark's Lutheran Church comforts Chris Aiosa, executive director of Do Good Multnomah, during an emotional moment in his remarks.
2018
Dec. 2018
Perlia Bell, an outreach worker with JOIN, offers a tarp to Josh on a street in downtown Portland on Dec. 17, 2018.
Sean Williams makes a heart with her hands after showing her dance moves to Gov. Kate Brown and Chair Deborah Kafoury at the Gresham Women's Shelter on Dec. 17, 2019.
In building donated by developer, nonprofit opens family winter shelter in ‘lightning-fast time’
Brandi Tuck of Portland Homeless Family Solutions speaks before the opening of the community's winter family shelter in December 2018.
Nov. 2018
Winter shelter opens in County's Walnut Park complex; learn how to donate
Chair Deborah Kafoury speaks at the Walnut Park shelter on Nov. 19, 2018.
Hoping to add affordable apartments for families, County agrees to change tax program
Oct. 2018
County releases 2017 report of homeless deaths
Deborah and Don Letourneau made friends with a Street Roots Vendor Rudy Madrid, who died while homeless in 2017.
Sept. 2018
Board approves first supportive housing development from Wapato proceeds
Commissioner Lori Stegmann sponsored a resolution to invest Wapato proceeds into affordable supportive housing.
“The only thing we lacked was a home": A Place For You pilot project houses four families
Sherry and her niece enjoying their new home
At the joint County/City work session on supportive housing, Sept. 11, 2018.
Aug. 2018
Inside the Kenton Women's Village, August 2018.
July 2018
County, Portland and Oregon partner for first-of-its-kind supportive housing project
Mayor Ted Wheeler, from left, Portland Business Alliance CEO Andrew Hoan and Chair Deborah Kafoury on Friday, July 27, 2018.
June 2018
‘This is the right thing to do’: Board unites behind design plan for service-enriched Foster shelter
Henry Alaman and Marc Jolin, presenting on the Foster shelter June 14, 2018.
May 2018
Shelter capacity to increase; dozens of new beds in two County buildings
At second budget hearing, concerns over housing stability, equity and immigration loom large
April 2018
Regional Opioid Summit focuses on recovery housing, prosecution diversion and jail treatment
March 2018
Sharon Newell and her therapy dog, Gracie.
From Budget Lodge to refuge: Leased motel to serve people recovering from mental health crisis
Rachel Solotaroff, CEO of Central City Concern, joins county officials on a tour of the vacant Budget Lodge motel.
Feb. 2018
Multnomah County suspends operations at family shelter, relocates families
Snow seen from the Multnomah Building, February 2018.
Jan. 2018
Board of Commissioners approves lease for shelter site on SE Foster Road
Neighbors testify in support of the shelter site at 6144 SE Foster Road.
County to open transitional supportive housing in Southwest Portland
Multnomah County Health Department Community Mental Health Program Manager Neal Rotman addresses the board at Thursday’s meeting. Also pictured, Director of the Joint Office of Homeless Services Marc Jolin (left) and Senior Property Management Specialist
Feb. 2018
Gresham shelter focuses on relationships, responsibility
2017
Dec. 2017
Rafaela Ngirngesang, a single mom of five kids, choked up as she described her journey from homelessness back to housing through the Home for the Holidays campaign.
Multnomah County releases 2016 Domicile Unknown report on homeless deaths
Congregation Beth Israel.
From homeless shelter to permanent home: one family’s journey
Stephanie Ramirez hugs her daughter Surri Noelle on the living room carpet in their new apartment.
'A real impact on real human beings': Advocates warn tax bill would gut affordable housing
Commissioners Loretta Smith, Lori Stegmann and Sharon Meieran attended the affordable housing rally against federal tax changes Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017.
Nov. 2017
Andrea Bunch holds her son, Michael, 4, in their new bathroom. They moved into an apartment as part of the Home for the Holidays campaign.
Winter shelter opens in basement of Multnomah County's Mead Building
Paul Susi, manager of the 5th Avenue Shelter, hangs a poster a few hours before the first guests arrive Monday, Nov. 20, 2017.
Home for the Holidays: Campaign asks community to help families with a hand up from shelter
Marlena Neely speaks during the kickoff of the Home for the Holidays campaign Monday, Nov. 13, 2017.
“No one who needs shelter is shut out”: Severe weather plan for homeless stresses early preparation
Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury explains the community's plan for helping homeless neighbors during severe winter weather at an event Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017.
Sept. 2017
Aug. 2017
NEWS RELEASE: Record housing placements, shelter access follow investments in homelessness work
A Home for Everyone co-chair Stacy Borke of Transition Projects, left, with director Marc Jolin during the coalition's Aug. 21, 2017, executive committee meeting.
July 2017
Housing advocates rally against threatened federal cuts: "Housing is a human right"
Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury speaks at a housing rally, Friday, July 28, 2017, while Commissioner Loretta Smith, Mayor Ted Wheeler and others look on.
June 2017
Kenton Women's Village: ‘This is a great reminder of what we can do when we all work together’
The sleeping pods that make up part of the Kenton Women's Village project. (Photo courtesy of Catholic Charities, 2017)
April 2017
Shelter manager Lawashia Smith, from left, talks to Multnomah County District 1 Commissioner Sharon Meieran and District 3 Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson during the April 17 opening of the Columbia Shelter in the Shleifer Furniture building.
New shelter to open Monday thanks to partnership with business community
March 2017
‘A hard turn to the left’: Multnomah County chair talks Trump, homelessness with LGBT community
Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury hugs Philip J. Wolfe, a member of the Portland Commission on Disability, at the Q Center on March 18, 2017.
Feb. 2017
Debbie Clavon, left, talks with Multnomah County Commissioner Lori Stegmann after the East County Caring Community meeting March 2.
Tight housing market threatens progress in ending homelessness
Celebrating a milestone in ending veterans homelessness
Homelessness in Multnomah County: Workers, volunteers embark on difficult 'point-in-time' count
Inside the warming center at the Portland Building this winter. Severe weather meant our region's homelessness count moved from late January to late February.
Chair Kafoury and Mayor Wheeler's open letter to landlords
Chair Kafoury throws support behind protecting tenants
Jan. 2017
New winter shelter to opens in Downtown Portland
2016
Nov. 2016
Businesses come together to help fund and open new winter shelter
Year-round shelter for couples opens in Sellwood
Sept. 2016
Prevention and permanent housing needed along with shelters, housing experts tell Board
July 2016
Multnomah County and City of Portland to open 24-hour shelter in Hansen Building
June 2016
Multnomah County, City of Portland approve joint office to combat homelessness