Alternative Shelter Network
About
Alternative Shelter Network was launched in March, 2022 by advocates from Portland-area homelessness response initiatives including WeShinePDX, Shelter Now, Beacon Village, Agape Village, Housing Alternatives Network, and the office of Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran.
$250,000 was allocated in the FY 2023 County budget to the [City/County] Joint Office of Homeless Services to support ASN.
Mission
MISSION: We are an inclusive network that collaborates, advocates, communicates, and learns together to create and foster a wide variety of shelter alternatives across the Portland region.
VISION: That all people have access to a choice of shelter that meets people where they are, offers healing and community, and where they are treated with dignity and humanity.
Shared Beliefs
Shelter alternatives should be fairly distributed across the hearts of our neighborhoods rather than out of sight in service deserts.
Unhoused people need trauma-informed, anti-oppressive and person-centered alternative shelter choices.
There is a place for government action and there is a place for community action. Both are required for a complete set of solutions.
There is an immediate and ongoing need to act responsively and intentionally.
Building a sense of community and mutual engagement between shelter guests and housed neighbors is critically important.
There is a need for ongoing tracking and learning about best practices, and how to address challenges, with regular reports to the public.
There is a need to elevate the voices of BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, those with disabilities or who are neurodivergent, and other marginalized communities and to center the needs and voices of those with lived experience of homelessness.
[ALTERNATIVE SHELTER NETWORK – FINAL MISSION STATEMENT: 7/19/2022]
Mailing List
You can sign up for the list and view postings at: https://groups.google.com/g/alternativeshelternetwork
Twitter
Project Directory (Google Drive)
"Alternative Shelter Network" folder on project Google account alternativeshelternetwork [at] gmail.com.
(formerly hosted in Shelter Now organization's Google Drive, until 2022-10-04).