Oregon needs better planning for the homeless (Opinion)

Brad Perkins

I question why Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury is considering selling the Wapato Jail for $9 million when the public has invested $90 million to build, finance and maintain the building. Investing another $1 million to make changes necessary to temporarily house over 500 people is an incredible bargain compared to a recent downtown affordable housing renovation project by REACH which cost $514 per square foot and another project by Central City Concern which costs over $1,000 per square foot, which is three to six times the normal cost to renovate buildings.

Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith and candidate Eric Zimmerman's attempt to open the mothballed Wapato facility makes economic sense and quickly addresses a great need. They wish to take a more sensitive approach to temporarily shelter people at Wapato and provide medical assistance to those who want help so that they can be properly evaluated for longer term placement and assistance elsewhere.

A more permanent solution to the homeless crisis will take multifaceted resources and focused, hard work by those willing to evaluate all state, county and city properties for diverse uses. As a society we must work to put together a multifaceted program to adequately address the worsening homeless situation in a humanitarian way.

Once a Portland housing commissioner, I had the opportunity to meet many good people and nonprofit groups who are sincere about helping people in need. Political leaders need to gather experts in related fields, meet weekly and strategize a plan to use our human, monetary and physical resources to address the problem head on and not worry about political correctness.

City and county leaders should look to the successful plan that worked well west of Troutdale more than 100 years ago: Multnomah County's Poor Farm, now McMenamins' beautifully renovated Edgefield. The former tenants there maintained the property, prepared food, raised livestock and tended fields for themselves and other public institutions. In return, tenants had stability with access to food, shelter and medical care.

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Leaders should also consider building sustainable communities as they plan long-term, multi-service approaches to provide shelter. There's no reason why we cannot build inexpensive, affordable housing that satisfies the needs of homeless singles and families in the same quad-style complexes built for university students across the United States since the 1970s. Each quad is an efficiently designed four-bedroom space sharing a kitchen and bathroom. These housing communities could be built on cheaper land outside the central city with nearby or incorporated medical and job training facilities. This humanitarian approach to helping those in need should allow police and counselors the power once again to enforce vagrancy laws on those who refuse help and continue to violate the law.

Building self-confidence through counseling, proper medication, work training and stable, long-term living solutions provide the greatest return on investment for society. Insensitive short-term fixes when police try to force the homeless to "move on" is not a good use of public resources and only serves as a Band-Aid on thousands of cuts.

Brad Perkins is a real estate broker and resident of Northeast Portland.

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