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Housing Services E-Newsletter
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Just Compassion takes next step towards permanent shelter and access center space | |
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Just Compassion has officially broken ground on their future permanent, year-round shelter and access center in Tigard. After many years of providing a day center, and more recently a shared space shelter location, Just Compassion will finally move into a trauma-informed facility specifically designed to meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness and connect them with long-term housing.
The construction of the 60-bed shelter and ongoing operations will be primarily funded by the Washington County allocation of the Supportive Housing Services measure. The site also received $4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding.
“Today is a special day for Just Compassion as we begin to realize our vision,” said Just Compassion Executive Director Vernon Baker during their groundbreaking event. “Our new shelter/access center will give us an opportunity to provide additional services and resources to our guests. With any great opportunity comes great responsibility. We look forward to being good stewards with the resources we are being provided and serving our guests.”
The Just Compassion Shelter site will be included within Washington County’s robust shelter program, which currently offers over 400 shelter beds county-wide.
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Do you have a story to share?
Do you know of someone who may want to share their housing story with us? Or perhaps you work in housing and want to inform others of a specific experience? We want to hear from you and share positive impactful stories with our community.
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Severe weather response reminds us of the importance of this work!
We want to extend immense gratitude to our community for pulling together in a time of crisis to keep our most vulnerable neighbors safe.
Washington County is fortunate to be in a completely different position than just two and a half years ago, when there was no year-round shelter operating for adults in our community. Today, Washington County provides over 400 beds of shelter across our community. This capacity, combined with our severe weather shelter beds, allows us to activate “no turn-away" options to get people inside.
A huge thank you to our shelter operators, Project Homeless Connect and Just Compassion, with staffing support from Open Door HousingWorks, who dedicated many hours to preparation, staffing shelters, coordination meetings, and more over the last week. Without them, this life-saving shelter would not be possible.
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We would also like to thank our outreach partners at Open Door, Greater Good Northwest, New Narrative, Forest Grove Foundation, Project Homeless Connect, IRCO, HomePlate Youth Services, and Just Compassion for connecting with unsheltered individuals and providing information about and transportation to shelter.
Thanks to all our partners, severe weather shelters were available from Jan. 12-17, serving as many as 137 people in a single night.
As our community recovers from this event, we know there will be more storms ahead! Climate change will continue to throw curveballs our way and getting people inside is more important than ever. We learned a lot from this severe weather shelter activation and appreciate the opportunity to take some time to reflect on lessons learned and improve our operations in advance of the next severe weather event. Our commitment to our community is to do everything in our power to prepare for life threatening weather events and offer anyone in need a safe haven during these weather emergencies.
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Waitlists open for several brand-new affordable housing sites coming online this year
There is good news for those in the market for high quality affordable housing in Washington County. Thanks to the 2018-voter backed Metro’s affordable housing bond, several new developments are opening up this year throughout the county. Here’s a list of what’s available now in terms of leasing, interest lists and waitlists:
Last year was a busy one when it came to building new affordable housing in Washington County, and this next year will be even busier! With six properties already up and running, resulting in a total of 427 new affordable homes, we are going into overdrive in 2024. Our community can expect to see a record seven grand openings and 754 new affordable homes for county residents in this one year alone.
We will almost be doubling all the progress we have made up to this point in just the next twelve months. None of this could have happened without the community’s support, and the Department of Housing Services is grateful to the residents it serves, and to its invaluable government, non-profit and private partners, who are leading and developing these projects.
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Interested in waitlist openings?
Keep up to date with the department's affordable housing and vouchers' waitlist openings by easily creating a profile on our portal to receive notifications. You can also check out our dedicated waitlists' webpage that includes non-county operated properties. Share with family, friends, and colleagues.
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Washington County welcomes first Homeless Solutions Advisory Council members!
The Homeless Solutions Advisory Council will launch tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 15, with a member orientation. The solutions council will provide high level oversight to the large suite of Homeless Services programs and serve as the Washington County Continuum of Care Board. The inaugural cohort were selected to ensure inclusion from historically marginalized communities including those who have faced housing crises and/or homelessness. Together, they will bring a much-needed perspective to our work. We look forward to partnering with them to make homelessness in Washington County rare, brief and non-recurring.
The regular meeting schedule will be determined in the coming days, and publicly available meeting information will be posted here.
In 2024, the Solutions Council will be launching various sub-committees (see below). Stay tuned for more information regarding the roles of these sub-committees, opportunities to support their work, and their meeting dates!
- Lived Experience Advisory Committee
- Performance Evaluation Technical Sub-Committee
- Equitable Procurement Technical Sub-Committee
- Coordinated Entry Technical Sub-Committee
- Homeless Management Information System Technical Sub-Committee
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Washington County exceeds Governor Kotek’s executive order goals, expanding shelter capacity and rehousing vulnerable community members |  | |
On Jan. 10, 2023, Governor Tina Kotek signed Executive Order (EO 23-02) declaring a state of emergency in much of Oregon due to homelessness. This launched ambitious goals for local Continuum of Care agencies, with an emphasis on serving people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.
In 2023, Washington County opened 175 beds thanks to EO 23-02 and has another 30 beds slated to open next month, greatly exceeding the original goal of 61 shelter beds. As Washington County expands shelter, the goal remains to support people experiencing homelessness on their journey towards long-term, stable housing. Washington County exceeded our rehousing goal and, with EO 23-02 funding, has helped over 140 households transition into much needed stable housing to date.
Early efforts to achieve this goal focused on collaboration with street outreach teams and jurisdictional partners. This collaborative approach increased active engagement with unsheltered individuals, identified system barriers and service gaps, and deepened coordination among our partners. This progress is monumental, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to respond to the homelessness crisis with urgency and compassion.
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A spectrum of jobs in housing are available from entry level to upper management with a competitive benefits package and a dynamic hardworking environment. Click here to view available positions and check back often as our positions' list continue to be updated. | |
Our mission is to provide a continuum of affordable housing options that promotes community strength. The department offers rental assistance to low-income households through various federally funded programs, creates affordable housing opportunities in the community for low and moderate-income households through partnerships with public and private entities, and administers programs to address homelessness. | |  |
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