Staff and volunteers from Blanchet House of Hospitality are mourning Jennifer Drain, a regular meal guest gunned down April 7 in Portland’s Old Town.

“I’m particularly struck (and angered) by Jennifer's failed experience trying to navigate the housing application process,” said Scott Kerman, executive director of the Catholic-founded ministry.

Kerman said Blanchet House had asked Multnomah County to fund a housing specialist to partner with the peer support crews that Blanchet House spearheaded. The helpers aim to help individuals like Drain find houses one-to-one.

But in the weeks before her death, Drain had told the Oregonian of her struggles in an attempt to find housing.

Drain, a 33-year-old who suffered from methamphetamine addiction, died near Sixth and Burnside, close to St. André Bessette Parish. Friends placed a vase of flowers outside her tent.