MultCo, City of Portland 'aligned today' on homelessness
Jillian Schoene joined Ken Boddie for a conversation on Eye on Northwest Politics.
Watch the video for the full report.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Jillian Schoene has a wealth of experience working with elected leaders at all levels, including the United State Congress. In December, she was appointed the new director of Multnomah County's Homelessness Response System.
But for 7 years, she also ran Emerge Oregon, a non-profit which recruits and trains women to run for elected office. One of those women was former City Commissioner Carmen Rubio, and Schoene spent 4 years at City Hall with her.
Asked why she left city hall for a job with the county, she said, "I'm going to give you the nerdy answer, Ken. I love local government. I love working for the city and I knew I wanted to stay at the local level where we're really trying hard to change things on the ground for our city and our county."
Multnomah County's Homelessness Response System will work closely with the Joint Office of Homeless Services, she said.
"But the Homelessness Response System is the renewed structure" where Portland, Gresham and other key partners in healthcare and housing "come together to collaborate on the work we have to get done and to hold each other accountable for the progress."
She said that in the work flow, the Joint Office of Homeless Services will be part of the Homeless Response System. The Joint Office is changing its name to the Homeless Services Department.
Schoene artfully dodged answering whether Mayor Keith Wilson's stated goal of ending homelessness in a year is achievable. She noted Wilson wants to try nighttime-only shelter beds again -- "we did it before and we'll try it again," she said -- then added, "We're going to give it a shot."
There are now 200 nighttime-only shelter beds at Salvation Army as of January, she said.
Wilson and County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson appear to have a better relationship than former Mayor Ted Wheeler had with Pederson. When she was asked if the city and county's relationship will get better, Schoene laughed.
"Well, that's my job, to put a finer point on it," she said.
She admitted there was a time when, for a variety of reasons, Portland and Multnomah County weren't aligned.
"In that moment of crisis when we were trying to figure out who does what -- when the city and the county have very distinct roles -- and those roles are actually coming together in this moment of crisis but it took us a helluva time to figure that out. I will admit that," she said. "But there is alignment today."