Stability doesn’t happen over night. Moving beyond shelter takes time, trust and consistent support. For many, it’s the difference between surviving and truly rebuilding a life.
When we talk about homelessness, the conversation often turns quickly to numbers. How many people were served. How long they stayed. How many found housing.
Those numbers matter. But on their own, they don’t tell the whole story.
A recent Multnomah County Adult Shelter Review for Fiscal Year 2025 helps put those numbers in context by looking at how shelters across the county operate, who they serve, and what actually supports people in moving toward stability. Within that broader picture is Kenton Women’s Village, a Catholic Charities of Oregon program created to give women a safe place to land and the support to begin rebuilding their lives.
The bigger picture behind shelter outcomes
Across Multnomah County, more than 6,700 people were served by housing-focused adult shelters in a single year. About one in three were chronically homeless, meaning they had been unhoused for long periods of time while also facing serious health or disability-related challenges.
What the report makes clear is that shelter outcomes are shaped less by effort and more by access. Programs with housing placement support, flexible funding, and available housing options help people move forward faster. Programs without those tools are working uphill, even when the care and commitment are strong.
“Shelter data can be misleading without context,” says Rose Bak, Catholic Charities Chief Operating Officer. “Programs that serve people with the highest barriers often show slower outcomes, not because they are failing, but because the work is harder and the resources are fewer. Understanding that difference matters if we want real solutions.”
Where Kenton Women’s Village fits
Kenton Women’s Village is an alternative shelter model, often called a village. These programs are intentionally smaller and tend to serve people with higher barriers to housing, including long histories of homelessness and significant trauma.
According to the county review, women at Kenton Women’s Village were more likely to be chronically homeless than the system-wide average. Stays were longer than at large congregate shelters, which reflects a reality we see every day. When someone has been without stable housing for a long time, progress takes time.
The report also notes that staffing shortages early in the fiscal year affected occupancy at Kenton Women’s Village. Even so, the village remained a critical resource for women who needed safety, consistency, and community while working toward their next step.
Why longer stays are not a failure
It is easy to assume that faster exits always mean better outcomes. The data tells a more nuanced story.
Across the shelter system, people who exited to permanent housing stayed more than twice as long, on average, as those exiting to any destination. That is because finding housing today is notedly difficult. Rents are high. Subsidies are limited. And many people face barriers like poor credit, health challenges, or past evictions.
For women at Kenton Women’s Village, many of whom are survivors of trauma or long-term instability, a longer stay often means they are being supported long enough to move into housing they can actually keep.
Housing placement is the missing link
One of the clearest takeaways from the report is the role of housing placement support. Programs with access to housing navigators, inreach services, and flexible housing funds helped more people move into permanent housing. Programs without that access struggled, regardless of the quality of on-site services..
Kenton Women’s Village, like many alternative shelters, has limited access to these resources. That gap directly affects outcomes and reinforces a simple truth. Shelter alone is not enough. Housing-focused shelters need housing-focused systems behind them.
What support is needed next
The Adult Shelter Review points toward solutions, not blame.
For Kenton Women’s Village, that means sustained staffing support, expanded housing placement resources, and continued community investment in a model that prioritizes dignity, safety, and long-term stability. These supports do not just improve metrics. They improve lives.
At Catholic Charities of Oregon, we believe people deserve more than a temporary place to sleep. They deserve the time, care, and resources it takes to move forward with stability and hope.
Kenton Women’s Village is one part of a larger shelter system, but it plays a vital role for women who might otherwise have nowhere safe to turn. When we pair compassion with the right support, stability becomes possible.