Empowerment Initiatives
825 NE 20th Avenue, Suite 130
Portland, OR, 97232
(503)249-1413

Sustainable Housing Brokerage Program

Eligibility for this Program:

  1. Are you living in a group home or in a psychiatric unit in a hospital and interested in finding your own place to live in the community?
  2. Are you between the ages of 16 and 24, diagnosed with a mental illness, and in need of stable housing in the community?
If so, you may be eligible!

So what would the Brokerage mean to me?

EI is about to start our Second year for the Sustainable Brokerage! Based upon the customers stated desire to move, the Sustainable Brokerage Program in conjunction with the customer's treatment team, will provide the necessary supports and resources to transition the individual to a residential setting of greater independence. Individuals will work with a resource broker to create a person-directed plan. This plan will help you set goals for yourself in many areas of your life. The Brokerage program offers individuals the freedom and the resources to investigate, determine and secure the products and services they themselves consider most effective for their mental health and well being. You will have a personal spending account available to help you make purchases that will assist you to achieve these goals. Your resource broker will work with you during the plan year to help you with implementing your plan, making purchases, and accessing various community resources to help you achieve your goals. The Brokerage provides you with more personal control of your recovery than ever before. The Brokerage gives you an opportunity to become more proactive in your treatment and recovery process. We believe that life goal planning and access to resources to implement your plan is invaluable for mental health stability, growth, and recovery.

So how does the Brokerage work?

Based on individual needs Resource Brokers will assist customers through:
  • Working closely with all relevant parties to ensure unified support for the customers successful transition.
  • Identifying new residence appropriate to persons needs and level of functioning.
  • Ensuring necessary wrap around services are in place for individual success.
  • Providing grant funds to assist customer with move in costs and home making needs.
  • In some cases contracting with a personal care attendant to provide any additional services needed by the customer.
During your planning process your resource broker and you will keep the following in mind.
  1. Recovering from your mental illness/ mental health challenges
  2. Becoming more independent
  3. Achieving your goals
When you leave EI, our hope is that you walk away with a set of skills and resources that you will continue to build off of as you become empowered and successful.

Customer Quotes

  • "The Brokerage has help me reach some of the goals that I am really trying to achieve."
  • "Today I feel like have options to help me get back on my feet again."

Eligibility

This application packet contains three (3) parts that need to be completed and returned to Empowerment Initiatives, Inc.
  1. Participant Selection Criteria - your case manager, house manager, or house staff where you live fills this out.
  2. Application To Be A Customer - YOU fill this out to tell us about you and why you want to work with us.
  3. Authorization to Disclose Protected Health Information (also called Release of Information) - YOU initial and sign this to give us permission to speak to your case manager or house staff.
At this time this program can only enroll 15 participants every other year.

In order to receive an application you must meet any of the criteria:

  1. Living in an Extended Care Management Unit (ECMU) group home and interested in transitioning to more independent living.

    OR

    Aged 18-24 with an institutional history or diagnosis of serious mental illness and in need of an independent stable living situation in the community

  2. Receiving Multnomah County mental health services

How to apply:

We now accept applications on an on-going basis for the brokerage. We are now creating a waitlist for new opening positions. Click on the link for Sustainable County application.

Bus Lines location by us are: 10, 12, 70, 74.

Applications can be mailed or dropped off between 8-4pm at our office:

Empowerment Initiatives
Attn: Amy Zulich
825 NE 20th Avenue, Suite 130
Portland, OR, 97232