Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative at Portland State University

Registration is open for a free housing forum on Oct 8 hosted by Northwest Pilot Project, Inc. and PSU's Institute on Aging titled "Our Invisible Neighbors: Understanding & Addressing Elder Homelessness." The forum is intended for the community to support better understanding of the trends and needed actions related to housing, homelessness, and services for older adults. Keynote speaker Marisa Espinoza, MPA -- Policy Analyst at UCSF's Benioff Homelessness & Housing Initiative -- will discuss findings from the recently-released report "Toward Dignity: Understanding Older Adult Homelessness." A panel moderated by Dr. Michael Parkhurst will follow, focused on aging, health, housing and homelessness; panelists include faculty from PSU's Institute on Aging (Dr. Paula Carder) and Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative (Dr. Marisa Zapata) and Oregon’s Center of Excellence in Behavioral Health & Aging housed at OHSU/PSU (Dr. Walt Dawson), as well as experts from Northwest Pilot Project and UCSF (Yoni Kahn and Marisa Espinoza).

There are more children experiencing homelessness across the U.S. than there are children living in Oregon -- and in 27 other states. A sobering statistic from National Alliance to End Homelessness that illustrates the scale of the effort needed to address child homelessness.

A study by SchoolHouse Connection shows that although more than 3% of infants and toddlers in Oregon are experiencing homelessness, only a fraction of them are enrolled in supportive programs. As explained in the report, "The period of life from prenatal through age three is critical for physical and social-emotional development, but the experience of homelessness jeopardizes healthy growth and can have long-term consequences. Early childhood development programs can mitigate the impacts of homelessness on child development, and connect families to housing and services." https://lnkd.in/gXJdUjcK

A 16-page comic drawn from years of research on K-12 homelessness, these composite stories - of Jackie, Angel, Ben, and Kayla - represent a slice of the varied experiences of student homelessness across the country. Available to download for free at the link. Written and Researched by Alexandra Pavlakis, Meredith P. Richards, and J. Kessa Roberts. Written and Illustrated by Ashley Robin Franklin. Book Designed and Edited by Kacy McKinney, HRAC Artist Scholar in Residence.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness has released their yearly "State of Homelessness" report with detailed information on homelessness across the United States and in every state. This report is both a great starting place to learn about homelessness and an important update for policymakers, journalists, and the public.

Center Director Dr. Marisa Zapata was interviewed by OPB in an article on how people who are unhoused are being forced into more remote areas by sweeps. Without any kind of trash collection, more and more of their trash is ending up in rivers, on top of illegal dumping by housed neighbors and local businesses.

Center Director Dr. Marisa Zapata was quoted by OPB in an article on challenges to the city-county partnership that funds and oversees local homelessness services.

HRAC research on tiny home villages for people experiencing homelessness was recently featured in an article by The New York Times. In the article, HRAC co-founder and Portland State University CPID Assistant Director Todd Ferry discusses challenges with how some cities are applying the approach.

The Denver Basic Income Project (DBIP) is a program providing unconditional cash transfers to unhoused people living in Denver. The aims of the program are to test the feasibility and impact of guaranteed income for unhoused people. OHSU-PSU School of Public Health & HRAC faculty member, Dr. Marisa Westbrook, leads the qualitative arm of the mixed methods study to explore the impact of receiving a guaranteed basic income. The DBIP Year 1 Research Report demonstrates improvements in housing outcomes, financial wellbeing, and overall wellbeing, among other outcomes.

Natalie J. Cholula, a researcher from the Evicted in Oregon team, was interviewed by KGW-TV about the new report "Fight, Flight, Freeze: How Access to Support Shapes Tenant Responses to Eviction." The report talks about the harmful impacts of eviction filings on households and the rising number of eviction cases across Oregon.