Homelessness is a national issue that is impacting Portland and many other cities. Portland has fewer people experiencing homelessness than other large cities, but, due to a lack of shelter availability for those in need, our unsheltered population is more visible.
Portland used to have a 10-year plan to end homelessness by 2015, base on Housing First model. Unfortunately, the plan failed, along with hundreds of millions of dollars in investments.
About $70 million goes into the production of affordable housing, support services, and homelessness prevention each year. Despite all that effort and all that spending, the number of homeless people continues to grow in the Portland area.
Portland's homeless service response during the pandemic shows how quickly taxpayer money can evaporate without a hitch. In June 2020, the Joint Office of Homeless Services began offering vouchers for motels totalling more than 400 bedrooms across eight buildings by the end of 2020. Invoices monthly to running these programs is more than 2.2 million dollars per month. That's about $1,900 in rent per bed plus $1.4 million in services per month.
But use of these services is largely voluntary, so once funding runs out, the basics that could have left residents in need of such services could easily drag them off the streets again.
Demand for Portland real estate is contributing to the affordable housing crisis, which adds to the limited housing supply for those most in need. In 2015, the City of Portland joined several other US cities and states (including Los Angeles, Seattle, and Hawaii) to declare a housing and homeless emergency. Portland's declaration of emergency was extended for another year in April 2021. While this statement is in part intended to create more temporary housing, we are far from meeting demand.
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Gennie Nguyen
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