Frustrated with the performance of Multnomah County’s drug-crime deflection center, Commissioner Shannon Singleton proposed a set of reforms aimed at tying it more closely to county bureaus that handle homelessness and behavioral health.

Singleton’s most immediate concern is getting deflection participants into shelter and other forms of housing. Nine in 10 people who arrive at the Coordinated Care Pathway Center are experiencing homelessness in some form, the county reported this month.

“Today Multnomah County’s deflection center operates in isolation,” Singleton said in a press release. “Because of that, we’re not seeing the outcomes that voters and lawmakers expected. When 92% of the people law enforcement take to the deflection center are experiencing homelessness, it’s common sense

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