The number can stop you in your tracks. 122. It’s six hours before darkness and you’re number 122 on the list to get into the Salvation Army’s emergency women’s shelter. You’re homeless, and you’ve just made a break from your abuser. With the kindness of strangers, a phone, and a safe room you find hope.
And then you find out you’re number 122, and that was the one place that actually put you on a list. The other calls to shelters yielded only apologies.
That happened just recently at Street Roots. We gave the woman a bus pass to the Gateway Center out at 103rd Avenue. Once on the train, her abuser tried to come at her, but he was kept off long enough until the doors closed. Once at Gateway, a plan forward could begin, but she still had to find her own shelter for the night, and she eventually stayed at a friend’s apartment. It was only for the night. We haven’t seen her since, and that was over a week ago.
While we hope that she’s moved on, maybe escaped her abuser with distance, we know that she is far from alone. There are nearly 1,000 women sleeping on local streets or in shelters every night, up 22 percent over the last time such a count was conducted in 2011. The city has two women’s shelters with a combined capacity of 154 beds: One has a wait list of 129 women, the other, 209.
City Commissioner Dan Saltzman has long-championed women and children in need, with strong advocacy for the Gateway Center and the Children’s Levy. Now with the city’s housing and homeless programs under his watch, Saltzman has brought forth a proposal that takes advantage of the common bonds. Saltzman is implementing a $1.7 million plan that focuses on getting women and families out of homelessness, bypassing the shelter system and reinforcing stable housing. Shelters have their place, but they are overflowing, bottlenecked by a lack of stable housing and funding for people working to get off the streets. It is a sound investment that pays dividends in the lives and families it restores, and the children who grow up in a safe and thriving environment.
Fortunately, the first tranche of the money, $300,000, has been approved and directed to the Housing Bureau to get 92 women off the streets and into housing as soon as possible.
County Commissioner Deborah Kafoury has also pledged to step up financial support, and together, we trust the city and county can work more closely on the big-picture work ahead. For too long the city and county have parsed out populations and services, when a more concerted approach, with streamlined processes, would better serve our community.
The urgency for ramping up consolidated efforts is ever present. This past week, Portland police investigated a case of a 19-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted by a stranger while sleeping in her friend’s car. It was after 3 a.m., on the inner Eastside. The suspect fled and remains at large. No women should be so vulnerable.
We have programs that work, and work well given the resources. We hope to see the city and county work together for everyone’s future success.