<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/portland-path-home-homelessness-prevention/>
"Like many nonprofits that help people experiencing homelessness in the US,
Path Home in Portland, Oregon provides temporary shelter and meals to those in
need. But five years ago, the organization launched a separate program with
hopes of making such services unnecessary someday. The Homelessness Prevention
Program helps families about to lose their homes by paying back rent and past
due utilities in emergency situations.
“It really only takes a few days of missed work to start a snowball effect,”
says Samuel Freni-Rothschild, Path Home’s prevention specialist.
The number one reason that Freni-Rothschild hears from clients who need help
paying their rent is that an adult missed some work because someone in the
family was sick and therefore they lost income.
Evictions have spiked in Oregon. In January alone, the state had 2,244
evictions, according to the Oregon Law Center Eviction Defense Project. Of
these, 847 were in the county where Portland is located. At Path Home, which
offers 17 emergency shelter units for families experiencing homelessness, there
is a massive waitlist for housing with 800 families.
But with the prevention program, Path was able to keep 93 families in their
homes in 2022 — serving a total of 155 kids and 140 adults.
The average spent per family? Just $3,180.
Freni-Rothschild says he often uses the metaphor of preventative health care to
explain his job. “The housing program and the shelter program are like acute
medical care. It’s like going to the ER when your bone is broken and you need
to fix it. What I’m doing is preventative medicine,” he says."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
