Portland's Homelessness Plan a Model for Canada

"The question [is whether] Portland will succeed in its 10-year plan to end homelessness, a goal that is supposed to be achieved by 2015."

"The Portland homelessness program officially began on Jan. 1, 2005...1,681 families have been assisted in moving into permanent housing. About 700 units of permanent housing have been opened, with 300 more in the pipeline. The gap between the newly housed and the established housing has been filled because some have been helped into existing housing. Officials note that homelessness counts have dropped 39 per cent."

"As a result, a lot Canadians are coming to look at this city at the junction of the Willamette and Columbia River. Last week, Victoria followed Calgary and Ottawa in creating a commission to end homelessness. The target in the B.C. capital is to complete the job within five years. It was announced after a delegation from B.C. spent three days in Portland, about 500 kilometres south of Vancouver, meeting dozens of officials to try to figure out what this affable, charming city of about 600,000 people is doing right."

"The Portland approach boils down to three key principles: Focus on the most chronically homeless; streamline access to existing services to prevent and reduce other homelessness; and concentrate resources on programs that offer measurable results. It is all paid for by a complicated mix of municipal, state, federal and foundation money that is adding up to about $10-million a year for the city (a total $32-million for the region)."