Addressing Homelessness

Portland and our entire region have received the national spotlight for the homelessness epidemic raging here. Janine believes we must address homelessness with compassion, keeping our streets and sidewalks clean and safe. That means expanding funding to the homeless services team and for mental health while enforcing statutes that keep Gresham beautiful. Gresham’s homeless services team does incredible work and Janine will continue to be an advocate for expanding the resources available to help combat homelessness in all its forms.

What We’ve Done

• Allocated $5.2 million of federal ARPA funds used to support public safety.
• Hiring incentives for Police officers and six non-sworn police department positions
• Supported expansion of the Police Mental Health/Services Coordination Team to add two new clinicians.
• Supported an additional four firefighter limited-term positions.
• $1 million Federal ARPA funds toward the youth violence prevention Program.
• Supported funds to support community-based organizations that provide services for youth.
• Fought to ensure Gresham led the region in getting $500,000 ARPA grants to small businesses quickly during COVID to protect jobs during shutdowns.
• Led the way for continued incentive programs for small and large companies, extended the garage to storefront program, and supported the enterprise zone program which creates higher wage jobs and training programs for Gresham’s residents.