Homelessness PDX Connection Winter 2024
Homelessness PDX Connection Winter 2024
Downtown view of Portland, Oregon at night

HOMELESSNESS PDX NEWSLETTER        Winter 2024
Map of homelessness rates in Oregon counties
County homelessness rates per 1,000 residents, 2023

Statewide Homelessness Report Released

Homelessness in Oregon increased by 8.5 percent from 2022, according to our new report by Assistant Director Jacen Greene and Senior Research Associate Franklin Spurbeck. The report used 2023 Point In Time (PIT) count data on the number of people experiencing homelessness, as well as data from the Housing Inventory Count (HIC) on the number of shelter and housing bed totals, along with data from school districts. The report highlights several key points:
  • Homelessness continues to rise across most of the state, reaching 20,110 people in 2023.
  • The gap between shelter/housing capacity and the number of people experiencing homelessness continues to grow, contributing to a 65% rate of unsheltered homelessness.
  • Many people of color experience homelessness at disproportionately higher rates than their White neighbors, in particular, Oregonians who identify as American Indian, Alaska Native, or Indigenous; Black, African American, or African; Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; or Multiracial.
  • While the total number of people experiencing homelessness are highest in Multnomah, Lane, and Deschutes County, homelessness rates are highest in Clatsop and Sherman Counties.
  • In the 2022–23 school year there were an estimated 21,478 children enrolled in Oregon
    school districts who experienced homelessness, 3.9% of all students.
The report was featured in news coverage by KOIN, KATU, and the Portland Tribune.
Read "2023 Oregon Statewide Homelessness Estimates"

Homelessness: A Guide for Public Transportation Report

For public institutions like transit agencies, the increased presence of people living on or using land for unintended purposes has shifted their attention from their traditional areas of work. Now bus drivers, park rangers, and maintenance crews function as what homelessness services describe as “front-line” workers. These public agencies now find themselves trying to meet their missions, manage their property assets, serve users, and be part of a response to homelessness.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have released a previous report on the topic, and for this project HRAC has built on it to create a "guide for public transportation agencies and concerned stakeholders on effective approaches and best practices that are responsive to those who are experiencing homelessness." 
Read "Homelessness: A Guide for Public Transportation"

New Award from the National Alliance to End Homelessness

HRAC recently received a $100,000 grant from the National Alliance to End Homelessness to fund a project focusing on the needs of BIPOC communities. The grant was awarded to Marisa Zapata, center director and associate professor of land-use planning, and Marisa Westbrook, assistant professor in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. Zapata and Westbrook will partner with the Portland/Multnomah County Continuum of Care to understand how people of color are most effectively supported in permanent supportive housing. This work will include examining how culturally specific providers conceptualize and operationalize permanent supportive housing, and how these groups are innovating to better serve their communities.

HRAC in the News July through December

  1. The Promise and Plight of Portland Street Response, KGW
  2. Your Renters Rights - Including How to Communicate With a Landlord, KQED
  3. Portland's daytime homeless shelters say they need Portland Street Response, KGW
  4. Dozens of organizations urge Portland City Council to reinvest in Street Response, OPB
  5. PSU Food Pantry undergoing remodel, The Vanguard
  6. Former Portland Street Response manager blames exit on city leadership shortfalls, OPB
  7. Can Tiny House Villages Be a Homelessness Fix?, Bloomberg
  8. Gov. Tina Kotek’s downtown economic task force is missing key players, critics say, Street Roots
  9. Portland State University welcomes new president at a challenging time for public universities, KGW
  10. How homelessness in Oregon started, grew and became a statewide crisis, OPB
  11. Here are some solutions to homelessness in Oregon, OPB
  12. It’s been a bruising year for Multnomah County’s new chair. Jessica Vega Pederson says she’s "just getting started," The Oregonian
  13. New data shows spike in homelessness spending amid ODOT service cut-backs, Bend Bulletin
  14. Rental assistance is keeping people housed, but advocates say more is needed, KATU
  15. Why this widespread form of homelessness is often overlooked and unsupported, PBS
  16. Housing insecurity at PSU, The Vanguard
  17. The big bet on “tiny homes” to fix homelessness, Vox
  18. "Growing problem:" Lincoln County among areas seeing rise in homeless seniors, KOIN
  19. Amid record chronic homelessness, advocates and experts say there is a solution, National Catholic Reporter
  20. Programs to address chronic homelessness need more funding, support, say advocates, National Catholic Reporter
  21. Turning Green Into Gold: Urban Alchemy structure, funding and admission, Street Roots
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Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative / www.pdx.edu/homelessness / homelessness@pdx.edu
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