Moving women from homelessness to permanent housing and healthy living

February 19, 2019

Catholic Charities of Oregon oversees the Kenton Women’s Village, a transitional housing program for women experiencing homelessness. Dawn Long stayed at the village for less than four months while getting back on her feet and finding a job. She now lives in permanent housing.

Catholic Charities of Oregon is one of five Catholic Charities agencies that will participate in the Healthy Housing Initiative started by Catholic Charities USA. The initiative aims at reducing chronic homelessness by 20 percent over five years in five U.S. cities; decreasing hospital readmission rates for this population by at least 25 percent; and connecting 35 percent of newly housed persons with primary care and behavioral health services.

The other cities participating in CCUSA’s Healthy Housing Initiative are Detroit, Michigan; Las Vegas, Nevada; St. Louis, Missouri; and Spokane, Washington. This multimillion dollar initiative is grounded in active collaboration with the arch/diocese, the Catholic Charities agency, and the Catholic Health systems in the five cities.