"We can't save everyone" - Ted Wheeler
Published by Jeff Woodward,
Monday, February 20, 2017
There has been a lot of talk on social media resulting from the Oregonian's piece on Homelessness and the subsequent appearance by Mayor Ted Wheeler on KGW's Straight Talk. Ted Wheeler's statement "we can't save everyone" has the ire of Portland's homeless Advocates.
I'm going to piss-off a lot of people in this space by opening acknowledging the elephant in the room; Portland has always had homeless deaths, and always will. As tragic as that fact is, we must respect and opening and absolutely acknowledge a person's right to self-determination.
In October of 2016, the Multnomah County Coroner released its' 'Domicile Unknown' report. It showed 88 deaths occurred on the streets of the city of Roses in 2015. We cannot force assistance on anyone and we sure the hell cannot help those who are not ready for it. Such measures accomplished little other than draining precious resources and monies.
If we're not open about the harsh realities of Portland State of Emergency, we jeopardize the opportunities and powers afforded by the declaration. I fear this has been the case to date as Portland enters its' 16th month since the declaration by then mayor Charlie Hales in October of 2015.Portland is not unlike any city in America, we have a chronically homeless population who, despite our efforts, use their right of self-determination and choose to remain on the street.We all know life on the streets is deadly and results in the tragic loss of life for far too many. This winter alone we lost four homeless souls to exposure.
Homeless deaths amplify the call for furthering and continuing to look at how we are addressing our humanitarian crisis. Don’t we owe it to the 88 souls who perished in 2015 to opening acknowledge their loss and honor them by ALWAYS striving to do better?
In October of 2015, I attended a PBA event in which Lloyd Pendleton, Pendleton, the former director of the Salt Lake City housing first plan to end homelessness, spoke of the successful housing-first model used to reduce Salt Lake City’s homeless population by 92 percent. Pendleton ran the numbers and found that it cost $20,000 a year to keep a homeless person on the street. Such expenses include mental health services, crisis intervention, incarceration, and uninsured health care expenses.
Realizing that Salt Lake City was already paying for their homeless to stay on the street, Pendleton said ‘Let’s use that money to get them off the street and back into society.’ In other words, let’s stop maintaining the status quo. Pendleton found that they could house a homeless person for $10,000. So after six months, the city realized a return on its investment.
In Portland, it costs $25,000 a year to keep each homeless soul on our streets, in other words, maintain the status quo.The January, 2015, Homeless survey and subsequent Point in Time count HUD report revealed that 1,887 people were unsheltered, 872 people were sleeping in emergency shelters, and 1,042 people were sleeping in transitional housing. In all, 3,801 people met HUD’s definition of homelessness.
If we do the math (3,801 homeless at $25,000 a year), Portland is spending more than $95 million a year. Portland is already paying for the homeless, and Portland is paying too much to maintain the status quo. Pendleton’s leadership was the true key to Salt Lake City’s success. With no professional background in politics, social work, homelessness reduction, or 10-year plan writing, Pendleton with his M.B.A. is at heart a businessman. And as a businessman, he broke down barriers. He would not take no for an answer. He knew that homelessness was big business, and it had to stop. He knew that the silo-zation of services was not the best solution for his city’s vulnerable people. And more than anything, Pendleton wanted to save lives because he’s a simple advocate at heart, and proud of it, I think.
Pendleton also addressed Portland's need to include those with shared life experience in homelessness at the highest level of decision making.After the event, I spoke to Pendleton, a small and unassuming man in stature, Pendleton words resonated and packed the punch of a man who clearly 'gets it".
I will never forget Pendleton's reaction when I told him about the never opened, and non-use of the $90.1 million, 166,000sf, 525 bed, Wapato facility in North Portland…Pendleton's was literally speechless.
We're all here to do the imposable - Climb On
Jeff Woodward | jeffswoodward@icloud.com
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