Portland Homeless Family Solutions Receives Grant

BIG NEWS!

PHFS Receives $2.5 Million Bezos Day 1 Families Fund Grant

As many of you know the Transitions to Stability Action Team has endorsed and encouraged your donations to Portland Homeless Family Solutions as one of our featured charities.  I am excited to share that Brandi Tuck, PHFS Executive Director announced on November 17th that they are the recipient of a grant from the Jeff Bezos Day 1 Families Fund in the amount of $2.5 million over five years!

This monumental news is a tribute to the fine work PHFS has done in providing important services to families in a trauma-informed design environment that emphasizes safety, welcome and care.  As Brandi Tucks says, “We know the solution to ending homelessness is not shelter. The solution to ending homelessness is helping people move back into housing, and then providing services to help folks keep their housing.”

The grant award will allow PHFS to immediately add capacity to their housing team and help more families in shelter move back into housing.  Plans provide for further investment in their Family Village Campus including on-site housing as well as wrap-around services like domestic violence advocacy, mental health care, employment training, and childcare to help families end their homelessness for good.

With the holiday season upon us, please become a part of the PHFS Village and support Portland Homeless Family Solutions with your donations or join in volunteer efforts.

Make checks payable to Portland Homeless Family Solutions or PHFS
Mail to:  Portland Homeless Family Solutions
6220 SE 92nd Ave
Portland, OR 97266

Website: http://www.pdxhfs.org/

Dave Albertine

Transition to Stability Action Team Co-Chair

Good News for Workers!

News from Oregon Center for Public Policy, Alejandro Queral, Director

Alejandro Queral

Hello Friends at Interfaith Alliance on Poverty

I’m excited to share news of a big victory for workers and for equity in our state.

 The Oregon Senate has just enacted Leave No Worker Behind Act as part of the omnibus tax expenditure bill. Governor Brown is expected to sign the legislation.

Leave No Worker Behind corrects an injustice in Oregon’s Earned Income Tax Credit — an otherwise excellent tax credit for working families. Up until now, Oregon had been following the federal rules as to who qualifies for the EITC. Those rules exclude workers who file their taxes using an Individual Taxpayer Number (ITIN), often undocumented workers. These are workers who cultivate and process the food we eat, care for our kids and elders, care for us when we become ill – and who perform many other vital roles in our communities.

Like other workers, these workers have families to support and bills to pay. But unlike other workers, they have been denied the benefits of the tax credit for families struggling to get by on low wages. Until now.

The Leave No Worker Behind legislation removes the barrier to Oregon’s EITC for a quarter-million Oregonians, many in mixed-status households, including one in 10 Oregon children. Yes, the change is far-reaching.

Your support has helped advance this issue of basic fairness. Thank you. 

The Center played a catalyzing force in the campaign to rid Oregon's EITC of the exclusion of ITIN filers. We enlisted two of Oregon's immigration rights organizations – Causa and Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN) – to lead the campaign. Together we built a strong and diverse coalition to push for change. The Center’s research, advocacy, and communications capacity was an essential part of the effort.

Other important victories and advances were included in the omnibus bill and other legislation this session. We look forward to updating you on those in the coming days.

  Victories like this are only possible because of the support of generous Oregonians like you. I hope you’ll help us build on this momentum by making a gift today. 

Thank you for standing with us as we work towards policy solutions that advance economic and racial justice.

 Alejandro Queral
Executive Director 

Home Share Oregon

Homes are damaged by winters storms, photo by Jan Mallander, Pixabay

Home Share Oregon: A partner organization at work Alleviating Poverty and homelessness

www.homeshareoregon.org

There are not enough affordable housing units in Oregon.

●       Oregon builds 63 market-rate units of housing for every 100 new households in the state

There’s not sufficient housing assistance either.

●       In 2018, 209,000 households in Oregon spent more than 50% of their income on housing. Of those, only 56,000 received assistance. Providing assistance to all 209,000 would cost the state over $1 billion dollars.

Seniors are more likely to live with housing insecurity due to poverty.

●       Of the 737,565 seniors in Oregon, an estimated 55,317 live at or below the poverty line.

●       258,148 senior homeowners in Oregon spend 30% or more of their income on housing.

●       55% of renters 65 and older spend more than one third of their earnings on rent.

Communities of color are disproportionately affected by housing-insecurity.

●       65% of African American Oregonians live at or below 65% of the median income.

●       There are 3.5 times as many American Indian and Alaska Natives who are homeless in Oregon as there are in the general population of Oregon citizens.

There are more than 1,000,000 spare bedrooms in Oregon.

Affordable housing can be accomplished by moving people into compatible, compassionate, affordable, shared housing arrangements today.

Home Share Oregon:

Home Share Oregon, powered by Silvernest technology, pairs homeowner/members with compatible renters through a safe and secure web-based application software. Those who need additional support can access help through our local service partners across the state. These services will be free to those living at or below 60% of the median family income in Oregon.

 ●       Compatibility Matching Technology

●       Complete Background Check

●       Property Management Tools: Lease Templates, Insurance, etc

●       Listing Service

●       Legal Aid

For more information and a detailed report contact: Marissa Cade (503) 853-9352 marissa@homeshareoregon.org