Celebrating 10 years at Path Home
Housing Manager, Carl Knudson, celebrated ten years at Path Home last month. Carl helped create the first Housing First program in Multnomah County in 2012 to help families move back into homes, which was replicated across the whole county. Since then he has helped hundreds of families move back into housing. When Carl started, he was one of two Housing staff, now he co-manages our Housing team of eleven people.
We are so lucky to have Carl's expertise, kindness, and humor at Path Home. Hear from him about what has inspired his work for so many years.
What initially brought you to Path Home?
Carl with Path Home Executive Director, Brandi Tuck, and Program Director, Fay Schuler, at the 10-year celebration brunch.
I was referred to Path Home by Marc Jolin (who was the Executive Director at JOIN at the time). I had just moved to Portland from Denver, where I had spent the last 10 years working with homeless youth and chronically homeless adults. I had some crossover working with families, but never in such a direct way as with Path Home. I liked the idea of working at a smaller organization that was not very admin-heavy (less paperwork), and that prioritized funding that directly helps families in need through the housing first approach. Sometimes organizations are so reliant on government funding that staff ends up spending the majority of their time tied to a computer doing documentation, rather than actually having face time and interactions with the people who need the help. Path Home continues to prioritize meaningful, direct work with families to help them get back into housing and stay there. This is why I am here 10 years later.
What was the organization like when you started?
Carl with other founding Path Home Housing Specialist, Mary Babcock, and County Chair, Deborah Kafoury, winning Multnomah County’s “Program of the Year” award in 2013.
Path Home was Portland Homeless Family Solutions and was located at the First United Methodist Church in the Goose Hollow neighborhood. Everyone in the organization shared the same office (Executive Director, Brandi, included!). I think there were only 10-12 staff (maybe less) and I was one of 2 Mobile Housing Specialists, the other worker was Mary Babcock who was already legendary at Path Home. We spent very little time in that office because there was little privacy. Most of our time was spent in coffee shops, Fred Meyers, or Libraries meeting with families. It actually worked out well because our job was to be out in the community, meeting families where they were so we could help in their transition back to housing. It really helped us to work remotely and be creative in meeting with families on neutral ground. It can be intimidating to families to come into an office, and I think they appreciate our flexibility in meeting wherever is most convenient for them. Our housing team continues to be mobile to this day.
What is Path Home like now?
Path Home is way different now! Early in my tenure at Path Home, I would describe us as a small organization that does big things. Now we are a medium size organization that does bigger things. The housing team is as large as the whole organization was, and housing now has a budget of more than 1 million dollars to help families! Having the Family Village Campus still feels dreamy every time I walk in. But there is a part of Path Home that still feels the same - that we are really focused on finding housing and helping families stay there. Path Home does a great job of sticking to the mission and not trying to change what we do when an enticing new funding source comes our way. I feel like although the look, location, and physical size have changed, the heart of the organization is the same. We can still quickly get more families back into housing and help them stay there or prevent them from becoming homeless with our prevention program.
How is your job different now than when you started?
I started off as a Housing Specialist, and now I am the Housing Manager with my co-manager Paty Elguera. Managing is very different from direct service work but very fulfilling. I get to support staff doing the work I did for so many years.
What inspires you to keep doing the work?
The families! And ensuring we have enough resources to support them as long as they need our help. I also enjoy my co-workers and all the staff at Path Home. I feel we have a wealth of experience but everyone is so humble. Nobody thinks they have all the answers and we rely on each other through thoughtful conversation to help guide our work.
Is there anything else you’d like to share as you reflect on ten years of service?
Just to continue to advocate. I have found through 20 + years of working in this field is that there is less and less focus on youth and children in this country. When you learn people’s stories, over time, you learn that things start early in life, sometimes before the kids are even born. Housing is a basic human right and we need the resources, political willpower, and community support for that. If we cannot supply that for everyone today, let’s at least start with the most vulnerable: children and their parents.
