I bet it wasn't on the street or in a shelter.
There are too many people that are unsheltered and living where the rest of us would never (or hope to never) live - places not intended nor suitable for sleeping, e. g., under freeways.
Using the snapshot of the street and sheltered homeless as provided by the January 2009 homeless count - there were 1,591 individuals unsheltered and 820 sheltered.
While the picture is bad, I believe that it is much worse because the number of shelters in the count seems unusually high. A near accurate count of the shelter beds remains a Portland mystery.
There is never a fixed or relatively consistent number. It varies from story to story, report to report. But, it shouldn't be that way, because a bi-annual count of the homeless in or out of shelters is mandated by HUD. HUD also mandates an annual count of the shelters.
A definition of homeless used here is the one HUD uses:
1. an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence;
2. an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is
A. a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide
temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate
shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill);
B. an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals
intended to be institutionalized; or
C. a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a
regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.
[See page 23 of the 2009 street count report for more detail to the definition.]
It is clear that shelter's primary purpose is to provide a primary nighttime residence.
But, who do they house? From the 2009 report, a one night street count (ONSC) by Multnomah County:
"The 2009 ONSC identified 820 persons in emergency shelter and 27 persons who were vouchered into hotels or motels on January 28, 2009. This includes 175 individuals in families with children, 16 individuals in couples, five unaccompanied youth under age 18, and 651 individual adults. In contrast, the 2007 ONSC identified 674 persons in emergency shelter and 37 persons who were vouchered into hotels or motels."
This head count has little intrinsic value other than to collect "important data for program planning and reporting to funders;" and, to promote "the count to focus public attention on the issue of homelessness." [See HUD's "A Guide to Counting Sheltered Homeless Persons" (2008)].
There is nothing in the count that is material to whether anyone would at some time, under better economic circumstances or with education or training, become self-sufficient.
It is more likely that the head count rather than being reflective of society's economic conditions is reflective of a population that society will need to provide life long economic support.
Arguably, there is an assumption that the street count represents those 'turned away.' from the shelter. Today's street homeless person is tomorrow's shelter's person and vice versa.
There is no reason to believe that one can builds enough shelter space to eliminate the homeless from the streets. There is a host of reasons why not, certainly choice is but one.
There is another assumption that homeless and jobless go together. In HUD's definition of homeless there is nothing that points to a requirement of a lost job or lack of income as a factor in determining homeless.
A look at the city survey form confirms that. One finds that there is no question concerning ability to earn. But there are questions about "disabling" conditions, e. g., mental, emotional, physical issues. [Page 27, 2009 Street Count of Unsheltered].
And, isn't the veracity of the data collected suspect? The survey is basically self reporting without verification. Questions asked depend on the enumerator (the counter) to provide definition of terms used, e. g., chronic homelessness.
An additional point - the enumerators are volunteers and are connected with agencies, nonprofits, etc. that have an incentive to find the homeless, and thus possibly result in an inflated count.
My point is that the count of the sheltered and unsheltered homeless is far from accurate, and is driven to obtain funding not to find solutions for homelessness.
But in any event, shelters have a limited capacity and have limited hours. As can be seen by street count and the shelter count - the demand outstrips the supply.
Shelters ordinarily provide nighttime residence, but there are two daytime shelters, maybe more. Why is this significant? Nighttime shelters close in the morning putting its inhabitants back on the street for the day. Where do they go?
The two daytime shelters are operated by the Salvation Army. One is for women and the other recently opened is for men.The men's shelter is limited to 50. It opens at 7 in the morning & closes at 3 in the afternoon. [Oregonian].
These hours are not bad, one can come from an overnight stay and not be left on the streets. But, is 50 enough? The Oregonian reports that number of daily users is between 20 and 30. Curious.
Some credit has to be given to the city's bureau of housing as well as Portland Business Alliance (PBA) for funding. [Oregonian].
What seems attractive about this day shelter is that it "provides refreshments, restrooms, and information and referrals for available housing assistance and other social services. Secure long-term lockers to store possessions are available as long as visitors check in once a week." [Oregonian].
Doesn't this seem like an obvious need, especially having a secure place for possessions? Nothing identifies homeless like the bag of possessions. It is one thing having to walk around town, but another to be forced to carry your possessions too.
Although, the shelter bed count of 820 seems fixed, that is, on any given night there are 820 shelter beds, it is more likely that it is a once a year best face number.
820 would seem to go along way to provide nighttime sleeping accomodations. But, the central city housing inventories for 2002, 2005 & 2008 make clear that 820 is an abnormally high number.
In the 2002 report, at page 8, the mission/shelter/transient number was 310. The 2005 report, at page 9, states the count at 410. But, at the beginning of the 2005 report, at page i, "shelter units account for 3% of the stock." That is about 600 units.
The recent 2008 report has a page on year round shelter beds - 446 beds. But given the inconsistencies in the other reports - there is no reason to believe that this count is accurate or that it even represents a reasonable approximation.
So the number of shelters beds available is still a mystery. But whatever the correct number, it is most likely a far cry from 820; and it is clear that whatever the availability, it is far too few to serve the unsheltered homeless
This paucity of places to sleep at night is easily ascertained by asking those on the streets. Shelters have reservations- really waiting lists because one must keep checking back to see if a space is open. Often the spot is for the night only.
A physical shelter inventory ought to be easy to ascertain, that is, while funding plays a role in whether beds are available, the physical space is still present.
And, the number of beds ought to be relatively consistent throughout the year. Now, I understand that the supply probably consists of a fixed number available throughout the year, and another fixed range that can be available on a need basis.
But in the end, shouldn't the total bed supply approximate the demand?
But, having enough shelter beds doesn't address the daytime shelter needs. The city seems to have no program that addresses this deficiency. Probably because there is no federal dollars.
The Salvation Army daytime shelters mentioned above goes a long way to meet that need. And, it is a necessity if business and government, liberals and compassionate Republicans alike, want the homeless moved off the streets of downtown.
Of course no matter how many shelters are made available - there are those who will not use or should not use them, but it would go along way to reducing the number that are forced to be out on the street.
But, during the night or day there ought to be an alternative to the streets - a shelter.