After hundreds of conversations of deep listening and sharing ideas, we are ecstatic to release our new report, created in partnership with Sisters of the Road – Finding Home: Lasting Solutions Rooted in Community Expertise.
This study captures the voices of people experiencing homelessness using innovative participatory action research methods. The project asks what they need to stay housed, leading the way in research that centers those most impacted by the housing crisis.
Advised by researchers from Portland State University and Oregon Health & Science University, and conducted using a community-based participatory research model, the two-year study followed high ethical and academic standards and was grounded in lived experience.
The findings are clear — 91% of respondents said they would move into housing if they could afford it. The top solutions they identified include rental assistance, supportive services like peer support and case management, and the freedom to live with loved ones. Respondents strongly preferred apartments or houses over shelters or living outside, and named safety, autonomy, and stability as essential to successful housing.
You can take action today to ensure the solutions supported by those most impacted are enacted in our region. Sign the petition linked below to ask the Portland City Council and Multnomah County to stop funding the expansion of mass shelters and sweeps and instead, listen to the perspectives of people most impacted and enact solutions supported by the Finding Home Report: eviction prevention, peer support services, rent assistance, and the purchase of existing apartments and hotels to convert to rent-reduced housing. These are all solutions our leaders could start enacting today to ensure everyone can find a safe place to call home.