Who we are
Background information about the JOHS
The Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) was established in 2016 to oversee the delivery of services to people experiencing homelessness in Multnomah County. The office represents a shared commitment between Multnomah County and the City of Portland to address homelessness by providing housing assistance, shelter, outreach, case management and other services.
What We Do
The Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) works with community-based organizations and local governments partners to provide participant-driven, coordinated and equity-based services focused on people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
The JOHS contracts with direct service organizations and monitors funds issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care program. We also conduct homeless street counts, manage systems of care, and oversee system reporting and evaluation.
Mission
The JOHS works with community-based organizations and government entities to provide participant-driven, coordinated, and equity-based services focused on those who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless.
Our vision and values
Vision
The JOHS seeks to create an equitable community in which all people have safe, affordable, and accessible housing.
Values
Our guiding values are collaboration, equity, inclusion, integrity, creativity and quality.
- Collaboration: We recognize our interdependence as individuals and as an organization, and approach our work with a spirit of partnership and shared power with those experiencing homelessness and other stakeholders.
- Equity: We commit to achieving equity for all individuals. We acknowledge the existence of structural racism and develop, implement, and evaluate policies and practices that achieve equitable outcomes with a focus on eliminating the disparities that people of color experience. We believe that focusing on racial equity will allow us to more effectively serve all communities.
- Inclusion: We foster within our office and within the community that we serve a culture of safety and belonging that ensures that the voices of people who have been historically excluded, including people of color, women, people with disabilities and LGBTQIA2S+ people, are truly heard and shape the direction of our work.
- Integrity: We strive to be humble, honest and fair in our roles, function and actions. We are open and accountable to each other and to the community that we serve. We encourage asking and answering tough questions or having difficult conversations.
- Creativity: We are always open to approaching problems and solutions in new ways, taking calculated risks, and testing innovative ideas. We recognize the importance of not letting the possibility of failure dissuade us from experimenting with promising new ways of doing things. We realize that sometimes our current policies and practices pose barriers to change and improvement.
- Quality: We commit to doing the highest quality work, and to continuously evaluating and improving our internal operations, contracting and community planning efforts. We recognize that it is our responsibility to be good stewards of the public resources entrusted to us and to ensure that those resources achieve the best possible outcomes for our community.
