In 2009, our community achieved significant successes in helping families and individuals find permanent housing and support. Please read the 2009 Annual Report of Portland/Multnomah County’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness for more details. Highlights from this past year include:

• 1,932 households moved from homelessness to housing. Of this number, 576 individuals were chronically homeless and 361 were families.

• 1,043 households avoided homelessness through rent assistance and eviction prevention funds provided through the Short-Term Rent Assistance (STRA) program. Of these, 81% were still housed 6 months after the end of rent assistance and 81% at 12 months.

• 757 individuals were connected to housing and services at the time of discharge/release from institutions (including hospitals, psychiatric institutions, jails, and the foster care system) to prevent their exiting to homelessness.

• Celebrated the ground-breaking of the Resource Access Center (RAC) in November 2009. This landmark building will provide 130 units of housing, 90 beds of shelter, as well as daytime services with linkages to housing and services for Portlanders experiencing homelessness. The RAC is projected to open in early Summer 2011.

These are just a few of the many successes our community accomplished over the past year. As we look forward to next year, we will build on the effective and successful approaches and collaborations from 2009 and prior years.

We will also need to include new strategies that effectively address current needs and garner the required resources and support to ensure a safe home for all Portlanders. These topics will be more fully addressed in the Home Again Mid-Plan Report to be released in Summer/Fall 2010.