Mom's not mad at you, Giovanni

I have good news: Giovanni returned home safe to Brooklyn, New York, after living on the streets of Portland for three years. Alone and struggling with a learning disability, we believe Giovanni was preyed upon during his time in our city. 

Our outreach workers asked Giovanni a simple question: Was there someone they could call, someone who cared about him?  

Giovanni told them he had a mother, but he couldn’t go home because she was mad at him. They asked again—can we try to reach her? 

When Giovanni’s mother picked up the phone, she told us we’d found her lost child, and she desperately wished for him to return home.

Watch Giovanni’s Reunion | YouTube

As a city, we’re only as good as our teamwork. Getting Giovanni home took more than a call. Our Portland Solutions team connected with PDX Saints Love, a dedicated Multnomah County Corrections Counselor, our District Attorney, the Portland Police and many more. We verified Giovanni had a loved one ready to help him back and cleared the court issues that would have prevented a fresh start. Reunification efforts like this have historically taken weeks, which risks losing track of the person we’re trying to help. Despite the complexities in Giovanni’s case, we put the wheels in motion within hours. 

We can’t always share our victories. Our outreach workers are deeply sensitive to the dignity and privacy of those we work so hard to serve. We are grateful for the rare permission to share this moving story. It’s also a chance to show that Portland doesn’t do “bus tickets to nowhere” like so many other jurisdictions. We do the hard work necessary for a warm handoff to a loved one. 

I’ve directed all our outreach workers to ask the following questions when they engage with our homeless neighbors. “Are you ready to go home? Is there someone we can call?” We can’t just stand by and wait; we must relentlessly reach out and show better options than a life on the street. 

There’s no easy way to say it, but our city has made it easy to get stuck on the streets. We wait for people to come to us and call them “service resistant” when they don’t. Our various programs too often fail to track individuals and coordinate with each other. We treat shocking living conditions as a viable option instead of unacceptable to a compassionate society. That’s changing as we speak. 

In Portland, we must embrace a “no wrong door” strategy to help those in need. Once we’ve voted in a balanced budget for the coming fiscal year, we must finish our capacity-building phase, flex up enough safe beds for every person, every night, ramp up enforcement on existing camping and RV laws, and ultimately end unsheltered homelessness in Portland. After all, every moment off the streets and in contact with a shelter worker is a chance to get treatment, receive services, connect with loved ones, and take the critical first step on the journey home.  

Giovanni is home safe tonight, and we’ve only just begun.