Healthcare Provider Gives $2.27 Million to Help House Homeless in Portland

"Kaiser Permanente Northwest announced Monday that it's donating $2.27 million to seven nonprofit organizations to help homeless people with mental illness and addiction problems find a permanent place to live," reports Aimee Green.

The grants will be awarded to seven charities in Oregon, covering a geographic are from Cowlitz County in the north to Lane County in the south, according to Green. The seven charities receiving the funding from Kaiser Permanente Northwest: Catholic Charities of Oregon, Catholic Community Services of the Mid-Willamette Valley and Central Coast, Love Overwhelming, Outside In, ShelterCare, the Urban League of Portland, and Willamette Family Inc.

Green also explains Kaiser's reasoning behind the donation:

Kaiser decided to focus its money on housing for homeless people after hearing that the lack of a stable home made it virtually impossible for them to get meaningful treatment, said Andrew McCulloch, president of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan of the Northwest.

The article details how some of the charities plan to use the grant funding, as well as data on efforts to house the region's homeless—an issue of acute importance after a series of storms has left Portland covered in snow and ice for over a week.