City, county leaders: Not 'enough resources' to tackle Portland homless crisis

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Shrinking budgets are making it difficult for local leaders to tackle the homeless crisis in Portland.

On Friday, the Portland City Council and the Multnomah County Board held a joint meeting at Portland City Hall to address the local response to homelessness. While leaders acknowledged some gains have been made, there are still many issues that are difficult to address without more funding.

For instance, recent reports reveal more people have been getting into shelters and have been kept in to permanent housing longer. However, data also shows most of those leaving shelters end up back on the streets. The cost to fix these issues is simply too high to create a dent in the problem, leaders say.

"I think I'm having an existential moment. Just the astounding amount of money being spent here, with the trend line going down," said District 4 Portland City Councilor Olivia Clark. "It's astounding, and I don't think that in the long run we're going to be able to afford this. It means that we're going to start eating programs."

As both the city and county are grappling with a suffocating budget cycle, leaders are forced to reevaluate their ambitious goals for the Joint Homelessness Response Action Plan.

"We're both in the middle of our budget processes and I think it's the right time to ask, are we aligning our resources in the best way to actually reduce unsheltered homelessness?" Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards told KOIN 6 News ahead of the meeting.

The meeting comes as two new reports have surfaced. One is the quarterly report for the Homelessness Response Action Plan, released this month. Another is the Multnomah County Supportive Housing Services reporter for Quarter 3 of FY 2025.

The reports show that while 14,000 people were sheltered in the past year, only 1,200 adults leaving those shelters found permanent housing.

"Right now, there's more people going into homelessness than exiting, so we absolutely, between the city and county, have to align, in my view, align against a plan that we're going to be getting the number of people who are unsheltered on a downward trend and the people who are on a path to housing on an upward trend," Brim-Edwards said.

Mayor Keith Wilson said the city has "not met this moment," noting that the number of people served in the city's adult homeless response shelter system has not significantly changed since 2017, when the Joint Office was created. However, during that same time period, Wilson said the city saw a 330% rise in unsheltered homelessness.

"This is a shelter capacity issue, but this is also an engagement issue," Wilson said. "We're not getting people through the system, into their families, treatment or permanent housing."

Wilson added that the amount of money spent between the city and county to address homelessness today is about 10 times what it was back in 2017. And yet, "all we've seen is additional suffering and dying on our streets."

In Multnomah County, a total of $354 million is currently being invested in reducing homelessness, including $30 million from a Supportive Housing Services Measure. However, there is still a shortfall of needed services, officials said.

Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said she moved $16.7 million from the Multnomah County general fund to help address that budget gap but it's still not enough.

"That still leaves a $32.2 million gap. This is much better than the 25% gap. Nonetheless, we don't have enough resources right now to meet the needs in our current budget," Vega Pederson said.

In addition, city and county leaders have jointly requested $25 million from the state, which is still pending.

Chair Vega Pederson emphasized the need for continued state investment to address the homelessness crisis effectively.

"If Multnomah County isn't able to solve homelessness, if the City of Portland isn't able to solve homelessness, then the region fails on this issue. The entire state fails on this issue. It is not just a question of fairness. It's imperative that we receive the resources that we know we need to make an impact on a complex problem that our community wants to see changed," Vega Pederson said.

The goal is to expand shelter beds to 362 and move 2,600 people into housing annually, officials said. However, budget experts with the county estimate that each individual person placed into housing would cost $13,000 since social security and disability checks no longer cover the cost of rising rents.