Portland Street Response Year 2 Evaluation Report
This evaluation examined the overall effectiveness of the Portland Street Response (PSR) program, listed suggestions for program refinement and adaptation, and provided recommendations for sustaining and institutionalizing PSR as a permanent part of the first response system in Portland. HRAC recently released an evaluation of the program's second year.
PSR responded to 7,418 calls in the second year of the program with only one call (a co-response with police) resulting in an arrest. The PSR team made 894 referrals during the initial contact, and the team’s community health workers and peer support specialists made another 216 referrals in 1,518 follow-up visits with clients for everything from housing and financial benefits to medical treatment and pet care. The team also helped 10 people find permanent housing during the second year of the program. The program resulted in a 19% reduction in police response on non-emergency welfare checks and dispatches coded as “unwanted persons” calls.
