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Welcome to Out of the Streets of Portland, a podcast focused on sharing the stories of people who are currently or formerly homeless in our community, and helping navigate the systems and services that the Joint Office of Homeless Services and its partners either have in place, or are developing, to help people move out of homelessness and back into stable, supportive housing.

Today we explore the impact of the Supportive Housing Services measure, passed by Metro area voters in 2020. The Ten-year regionwide program goals include connecting 5,000 chronically homeless households with supportive housing, building new outreach teams, stabilizing 10,000 households experiencing or at risk of homelessness in permanent housing and expanding the network of culturally specific service providers.

In 2023, Multnomah County met most of the annual goals set by Metro for implementation of the supportive housing services measure, and 99% of people housed in 2022 remained in housing a year later.

We speak with Cristal Otero of the Supportive Housing Services team at the Joint Office of Homeless Services to find out more.

We also hear from Jessica, who recently got into housing thanks to funding from the Supportive Housing Services measure. She was supported by provider Do Good Multnomah and volunteers with PDX Saints Love, an organization that provided her help and support on the street, and where she now works doing outreach and peer support.

More information about the Supportive Housing Services measure, including the 2023 annual report, can be found at johs.us/shs.

This podcast is produced by the Joint Office of Homeless Services, a Multnomah County department with funding from the County, the City of Portland, Metro, and the state and federal governments to house, shelter, and provide, street outreach, navigation, employment assistance, assistance obtaining social security income, and case management to people experiencing homelessness in our community.

Please subscribe to our podcast to get notified every time a new episode is posted. You can find us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts by searching for ‘Out of the Streets of Portland’.