More people moved into shelter and permanent housing in Multnomah County through the region’s homeless service agency in the past 12 months than in recent history.
Michael Jones stands in a community room at his apartment complex in Portland's inner eastside on March 1, 2024. Jones moved from the Clinton Triangle shelter into a studio apartment in November, where his rent is paid for an entire year.
Alex Zielinski / OPB
Related: Portland’s largest outdoor homeless shelter brings uncertainty for people seeking permanent housing
According to data released Wednesday by the Joint Office of Homeless Services, nearly 5,000 people moved into homes, and nearly 7,900 entered a shelter in the last fiscal year, which spanned from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024. That’s a 28% increase in people moving into housing and a 35% increase in shelter use compared to the previous fiscal year. It’s the most people the Joint Office has recorded moving into shelter and housing in a single year since the agency was established in 2016.
This data follows years of critique — both from within local government and the public — that the Joint Office has fallen short in swiftly addressing the metro region’s homelessness crisis.
“These outcomes show that we are on an upward trajectory,” said Joint Office Director Dan Field in a statement. “We are leaving the past in the past, taking the lessons with us into the future, and pushing forward together.”
The county, which operates the Joint Office, attributed this surge in housing and shelter placements to the regional supportive housing tax, which pays for shelter and programs that help people access and retain housing. That tax on high-income households and large businesses has consistently overperformed since 2021, leaving the county scrambling to spend all the revenue. According to the county, the Joint Office has spent all of the $140 million in supportive housing tax dollars it received in the past year. This is the first year the agency has been able to spend down all the annual tax revenue it received within a year’s time.
The county said more than 42% of people who moved off the streets into housing in the past 12 months received support from the tax. The others turned to federal, state, and other local revenues to get them into housing.
The data comes months after the city and county passed an agreement to continue their shared oversight of the Joint Office. City leaders have historically expressed frustration with a perception that the Joint Office has prioritized spending money on housing over shelter, and battled county leaders to have more control over the program’s purse strings. The new agreement gives the city more control over the Joint Office’s finances and policy decisions.
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson mentioned these strengthened partnerships in a media statement.
“Anyone who sees these outcomes can see that these partnerships are working to change what’s happening in our County for the better,” she said.
The Peninsula Crossing Safe Rest Village is a temporary housing shelter located in North Portland, opened in May 2023. The Portland Housing Bureau site features 60 sleeping units, with case management, and on-site access to mental and behavioral health services.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
