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Last week, the top executive of Portland’s largest social services nonprofit unpacked the conditions he’s seeing on the streets. Central City Concern CEO Dr. Andy Mendenhall told WW in an interview that things are getting much worse among the 400,000 Medicaid patients in the tri-county area (“Concerned Citizen,” Nov. 15). His message? People are ingesting more powerful drugs and suffering more severe mental illness, and there are too few places for them to recover. Mendenhall relied on new data, and said he was perplexed that no elected official had asked for it. Here’s what our readers had to say:
Mid County, via wweek.com: “The political powers that be don’t want unbiased data that may disprove the efficacy their latest pet project. So they don’t ask for it and/or cherry-pick from required feedback to inflate their program’s worth. “Good on Nigel [Jaquiss]and WW for yet again shining a spotlight on the political blind spot of the continuing appalling lack of mental health services.”
florgblogle, via Reddit: “Particularly frustrating to read this when it’s been obvious for years that a significant subset of the homeless population clearly needed more than just a roof over their heads. We should have built 20 Blackburn Centers by now.”
Genderless Rodent, via Twitter: “We’ve known about a lack of treatment capacity for years; the issue is funding, building and staffing, and no one seems to have the political will to actually solve those issues.”
sittingpuma08, via Reddit: “This is a tiny little step in the right direction. I work in this field, and it is filled with bizarre, baseless and magical thinking. Thank goodness he spoke up.”
7 Bad Words, via wweek.com: “The clown show in Portugal is now over. I’ve read the articles, the interviews, and watched the video reports. These clueless politicians—primed and puppeteered by the backers of Measure 110—are screaming about access, access, access. If you don’t combine access with mandatory enrollment, all we’ll end up with is a bunch of expensive, unused treatment centers.”
ApplesBananasRhinoc, via Reddit: “Actor Matthew Perry said he spent $7 million to get himself clean from drugs. Now I think of that dollar amount whenever I see someone tweaking on the street. Do we as a society have even one-tenth of that to get each person out there clean? It seems insurmountable.”
A Clarification
I request the opportunity to clarify part of my interview with you and, through this correction, inform your readership.
The Joint Office of Homeless Services does not build housing. They fund supportive housing and shelter programming for vulnerable members of our community. Housing first is a model of providing a housing unit to individuals with needed supportive services and a connection to health care and behavioral health care in order to successfully remain housed. Deborah Kafoury and Marc Jolin were champions of this housing first model. I applaud their leadership and efforts within this space. Meaningful programs and inventory have been delivered and are changing lives.
The housing placement policy was flawed, however: the coordinated entry system which prioritized the placement of unstable individuals in supportive housing programs unequipped to meet client needs, resulting in a housing-only approach to placement. These individuals who would have initially benefited from stabilization first within a shelter or shelter alternative were and are often evicted back to the street after causing harm to themselves, housing facilities, neighbors, and staff.
My sincere apologies for my previous description of JOHS service provision.
Andy Mendenhall, MD
LETTERS to the editor must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: P.O. Box 10770, Portland, OR 97296 Email: mzusman@wweek.com