New State Policy Pits BLM vs Homeless

 By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

 

2019 AHAR Part 1

Frustrated by the under-representation of the BIPOC community among Oregon's literally homeless, the oh-so culturally sensitive State of Oregon, through its Housing and Community Services Department (OHCS), has decided to expand the definition of "literally homeless" to include the "doubled up", so the State can claim to be practicing racial equity in its homeless services programs. 

For now, the expanded definition applies only to one part of a two-part program, called "Out of the Cold", which ends with the fiscal year on June 30, 2021.  But, it could signal a policy shift away from what works, but is hard (housing the chronically homeless), and into the lefty land of easy feel-good (housing low-needs families connected to the work force).

"Wave 2" of OOTC, as it is called, will distribute $10M of state funds that were allocated to OHCS by the Emergency Board back in October "to support the provision of shelter and shelter-related services."  

A recent OHCS email states "these funds will be allocated to Community Action Agencies (CAAs) around the state to safely house people in non-congregate and socially-distanced congregate emergency and transitional shelters, as well as services to help people obtain and maintain access to permanent housing."  See Radnovich, C. "Lawmakers send $100M to wildfire relief, vote against homeless shelters."  (24 October 2020, Statesman Journal.)  Locally, the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency has been spending its share of Wave 2 funds ($1,171,162) on The Arches Project's hotel program, Church at the Park homeless programs, and Family Promise. 

The overall population figures in the chart at right come from the most recent census data discussed here, and the homeless population figures were derived from the 2019 PIT Count figures (most recent available) reported here.  They don't total due to rounding.   

The figures in the chart are what's got everyone upset, and that's as it should be.  To be clear, no one's suggesting Oregon has freed itself from institutional racism or is somehow misguided in its desire to achieve racial equity in the allocation of resources.  But, consider how OHCS explained its decision to expand the definition of literal homelessness:  

We have modified the definition of literal homelessness for Out of the Cold Wave 2 to include “doubled up” households – this means that the definition will differ between our other programs. We recognize this adds a level of complexity to the operations but given the reality that many households are doubled up due to the pandemic and the wildfires, and the very real racial equity implications for excluding this population from homeless services funding, we have moved to add this as a part of the definition of Category 1 Literal Homelessness.  (Emphasis added.)

Translation:  the numbers in the chart notwithstanding, in many communities across the state, there are so few people of color who are literally homeless that OHCS has to expand the definition in order to avoid "racial equity implications."  In other words, "racial equity implications" are pressuring OHCS to  spend homeless services funds on those who are not literally homeless.  This is like thinking you can make up for unequal access to health care by offering to hospitalize someone who just needs outpatient care -- when there's a hospital bed shortage. 

Oregon's strong majority progressive government should know better than to enable providers to spend scarce homeless services dollars -- scarce compared to the scope of Oregon's homeless problem -- on people of any demographic who are merely doubled up, and not living in Wallace Marine and Cascades Gateway parks, or the equivalent, with kids, mental illness, addiction, victimization, violence of all forms and stripe, disability, hunger, suffering from pain, sickness and disease, horrible, treatable disease like trench foot, and dying outside.   

Street Roots ran a piece last week about the legislature extending the eviction moratorium through June.  Henderson, T.  "Oregon lawmakers extend eviction moratorium; landlords sue."  (30 December 2020, Street Roots).  Toward the end of the article, the author reminds us that it was just last January that Speaker Kotek called for the declaration of a state of emergency on homelessness and exhorted lawmakers to approve $100 million to expand shelter capacity and put navigation centers in Eugene and Salem.  But, if the subsequent pandemic and the social unrest made some Oregonians forget about its homeless problem, they didn't live in Salem.  No one here forgot about it, not for one second.  

It's sometimes said that hard facts make bad law, meaning sympathy isn't what makes good public policy.  If sympathy is the motivating factor behind the State's decision to expand the definition of literal homelessness to include doubling up -- and let's assume it is -- it's still bad law.  Let's hope Oregon learns from this mistake and resolves to get back to what works, but is hard.  People are dying outside.

1/8/21 Update:  yesterday, in advance of the regular 2021 legislative session, the Governor's Housing Policy advisor briefed the Housing Stability Council on the Racial Justice Council's legislative recommendations.  They included expanding the definition of literal homelessness to include doubled-up households, on the grounds that "homelessness looks different in diverse communities."  They also included plans to revise ORS 458.585 to curb if not eliminate altogether the community action agency network's hegemony over federal anti-poverty program delivery in the state.  See "BLM/Pandemic Weaken CAPO's Grip on Hless Assist $$."  (11 August 2020.)  The policy shift has the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency and others worried.  To be discussed in a subsequent post.  

Housing Stability Council December 7 Meeting