Latest count indicates homelessness has dropped in the Portland area

PORTLAND, Ore. (KGW) — It may not rise to crisis level like it does in Portland, but there are people living on the streets in Washington County.

“The people experiencing homelessness in our community are really going through some of the most tough times in their lives,” said Emily Roots, housing communications coordinator for Washington County. “We’re standing up new programs and we are working to make it such that homelessness is a brief and rare experience.”

For proof, look no further than the federally-mandated “point-in-time” count conducted in late January. It found approximately 770 people living on the streets in Washington County, a 4% drop compared to last year.

“The programs we worked hard in Washington County to launch over the last couple of years have really started to be effective,” Roots said.

That includes hundreds of new shelter beds and housing for even more houseless individuals.

“The people in our community experiencing homelessness are our neighbors,” Vahid Brown said. “They’re a part of our community.”

Brown is the deputy director of housing and community development in Clackamas County where the count showed approximately 400 people living on the streets — a 31% drop compared to 2022.

“It’s really encouraging,” Brown said.

According to Brown, the Supportive Housing Services measure passed a few years ago has helped a great deal.

“The Supportive Housing Services measure has allowed us to increase the rate and pace of moving folks into permanent housing 10 times over what we were able to achieve prior to this new funding.”

Meanwhile, in Multnomah County there are more than 6,200 people experiencing homelessness. That is more than the year prior, but officials say it is because of improved data collection.

“There’s more work to be done,” Roots said.

Additional work in Washington County entails opening new shelters and launching new programs like rapid re-housing.

“It’s really targeted at folks who slipped into homelessness for a temporary period of time or are in an unstable housing situation,” Roots said. “To help stabilize them and make sure they’re not experiencing homelessness for a prolonged period of time.”