Where is Our Money Going to Help Homelessness?

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 In 2017, almost $84 million was spent to help housing and homelessness. But how is the money being used? Who is it going to? And is it doing any good?


An analysis that was done to assess exactly how much was being spent in order to fight against homelessness. This analysis looked at which government agencies were spending money and what programs they were spending money, specifically the A Home For Everyone Program. This was done to see which were the most fiscally effective.

A Home For Everyone is an advisory body made up of homeless and housing experts that oversees homeless policy and services in the Multnomah County. They help advise with Joint Office for Homeless Services to see what homeless services should be prioritized and then make budget recommendations.

The review only looked at from the years 2014 (the year that the program was created) to 2017 (the latest full year of the program). In 2014 $20.1 million was spent for supportive, $20 millions for housing placement and retention, $7 million for safety off the streets, $3.4 million for diversion, $2 million for system support and $220,000 for helping people be employed. Whereas in 2017 the amount that was used was almost doubled at a total of $83.8 million.

What they found was that rental assistance programs are one of the most effective ways to keep people in their houses. They also found that a lot more money was being allocated to minorities in 2017 to help alleviate the disparities in their resources. For women there was a 190% increase in spending and for African Americans and Native Americans saw an even bigger increase of 510%.

As long as we can keep this kind of transparency and continue to push funds to where it's needed, I have no problem with the way that this council is running.

  Click here to learn more. 

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