Neighborhood Partnerships

The Portland Tribune’s recent editorial on homelessness focuses on the growing problem of homelessness, as well as several solutions.

The editorial highlights a growing and serious problem – children are making up a larger and larger percentage of those who are homeless.  In 2008-2009, over 18,000 school children were homeless at some point during the school year.   We couldn’t agree more with the sentiment that “[t]emporary solutions, of course, are not the best way to go for families and children, who need the stability of a real home.” Without a real home, the consequences can be severe – children fall behind in school and experience more health problems than children with stable homes. Children deserve an opportunity to succeed in school and life, both of which are tied to having a stable home.

Bridges to Housing is a great example of a permanent solution for homeless families.  Bridges to Housing serves high need homeless families in the Portland-metro area.  Families served by Bridges to Housing often have non-monetary barriers to stability and need intensive support to get back on their feet.  However we don’t need these types of interventions for everyone – homelessness is a complex problem, and our systems need to be flexible to meet everyone’s needs.

Many families who are experiencing homeless may just need some short term rent assistance to prevent their homelessness, while others may need rent assistance plus some short-term services to get back on their feet.  Increasing the supply of affordable housing for families in this region would move us towards solving the problem of family homelessness.

The editorial calls for a reexamination of the division of homeless services between the City of Portland and Multnomah County.  We think that increased state and federal resources are also critical to adequately addressing the problem of homelessness and the severe shortage of affordable housing.

We need a wide range of solutions to solve the problem of homelessness. But the good news is that homelessness can be solved and we know how to solve it.  Everyone does deserve a place to call home.

Neighborhood Partnerships, along with Oregon Thrives, the Oregon Center for Public Policy and the Oregon Hunger Task Force were fortunate to be able to collaborate and bring Patrick Bresette of the Public Works project of Demos to Portland the week of November 9^th.

Mr. Bresette presented a lecture, “A Case for Government,” In it, he presented Demos’ research  on Americans’ current views of government and strategies to help people think about the often invisible roles of government and a more involved, “citizen – manager” role for themselves.

The lecture was well attended – over 100 people braved the downpour to hear Patrick speak about the public’s images of government and their declining trust in government. Research conducted by Demos indicates that all too often people think about government as partisan bickering and political theater.  He spoke about how to help people rediscover the important functions of government and how everyone can and should play a role in managing those functions. You can download the powerpoint from Tuesday night’s lecture, as well as a two-page handout summarizing the research findings of Demos on this subject.

Thanks are also due to NW Natural for their assistance in hosting a small reception following the training and their generous donation of space for the event.

While in Oregon, Patrick also led two day-long trainings. The first training focused on talking about financial asset building, drawing on his background developing the IDA program for the state of Texas.   This session focused on how to communicate the importance of asset building as tools to expand economic opportunity. Download the powerpoint from this training.

The second training focused on talking about state and local revenue needs.  This training was an extended and more in-depth version of Tuesday’s nights lecture.  Download the powerpoint from this training here.

Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) help low income Oregonians build greater financial security by matching monthly savings toward the purchase of an asset. The assets purchased – such as a first home, a post-secondary education, or a small business – help build financial stability and enter the economic mainstream. In addition to offering incentives, the Oregon IDA program supports participants in building new skills and habits as well as consumer savvy by requiring them to take financial education along with asset-specific classes like “Home Buying 101.”

Cheryl Lohrmann is one of many successfully Oregon IDA program graduates. In 2005 Cheryl took the Home Buying 101 class at the Portland Housing Center and learned about the steps she needed to take to purchase a home. She also took a Financial Fitness course and met with a home ownership counselor. She began putting money in a savings account every month. In 2006 Cheryl enrolled in the Oregon IDA program, after which her savings were matched 3 to 1. After three years of saving, Cheryl moved into her new home this fall! She reports continuing the habit of setting aside money in a savings account each month.

Cheryl’s story – and the stories of 1,000 plus graduates just like her – demonstratives the effectiveness of Oregon’s IDA program. Preliminary results of multi-year evaluation being conducted by Portland State University (PSU) confirm this. PSU’s evaluation has found that among Oregon IDA graduates overall satisfaction with their financial status increased from 44% at enrollment to 78% at graduation, while the number who keep up a habit of budgeting grew from 31% at enrollment to 68% at graduation.

Neighborhood Partnerships invites qualified organizations to become fiduciary organizations or to renew their status as fiduciary organizations in the Oregon Individual Development Account (IDA) Initiative.  Below are the documents necessary to complete the 2010 Oregon IDA Request for Applications.  Note that applications are due on January 14, 2010.

If you have any questions about the Oregon IDA application process please contact Joy Garlin Hunt.

2010_IDA_RFA

2010_OR_IDA_Review_Criteria

2010_OR_IDA_Work_Plan_Form

I recently had the pleasure of hearing Professor Myron Orfield speak at Portland State University’s “What’s the Big Idea?” Lecture Series, co-sponsored by Coalition for a Livable Future.   Professor Orfield teaches at the University of Minnesota and was a former Minnesota State Legislator.

Professor Orfield titled his talk “Creating Successful Communities: Sharing the Benefits and Burdens of a Growing Region.”  He spoke about all of the many things Portland has done well, from an urban planning perspective – our success with an urban growth boundary, controlling sprawl, concentrating housing and jobs in the inner city and along transit lines. He repeatedly called Portland an urban planners “utopia.”  This is high praise indeed – and it’s true, Portland has done a good job of all of these things.  We have created and have to date maintained a successful urban growth boundary.  We’ve worked to build mass-transit options, and we’ve built in-fill housing and even managed to place a significant percentage of our affordable housing in the urban center and on transit lines.

Unfortunately, Portland isn’t a utopia for too many of our citizens.  We have a shortage of safe, decent affordable housing and increasingly, communities of color and poor communities are being pushed away from jobs and transportation options in search of affordable places to live.   Professor Orfield demonstrated this last problem in particular – providing data on the significant increase over the past few years of minority students and students who qualify for free and reduced lunches in suburban schools.  The increase has been fast and significant, and is likely to continue.

While Portland faces many challenges, creating opportunity for all of its citizens is a critical one we must choose to address.  Fortunately, there are ways we can address this challenge.

Myron Orfield spoke about one solution we have talked a lot about in recent years. We can address this challenge in part by increasing the supply of affordable housing across the metro area.  Increasing the supply of affordable housing throughout Portland will ensure families have more choices about where to live – and where to send their children to school.  Housing is needed near transit lines, employment centers and schools throughout the region.

He also spoke about a policy I haven’t thought much about, but which I would love to explore further. He argues that we can also address this challenge by considering changes to our school districts and enrollment policies.  Other municipalities such as Louisville, Kentucky and Raleigh, North Carolina have made improvements to ensure integrated schools.  These changes address both racial and economic integration and have increased access to opportunity for children while stabilizing neighborhoods.

Its time to move forward in creating opportunity for all Oregonians.

Read the Oregonian’s article about Professor Orfield’s visit to Portland.

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