Understanding the Issue
Homelessness is defined as living in a place not meant for human habitation, including emergency shelters, transitional housing, or anywhere one is only temporarily staying with nowhere else to go (motel, someone's couch, healthcare facility).
Who experiences homelessness in Multnomah County?
4,008 students experienced homelessness during the 2022-23 school year (according to Oregon Department of Education).
6,297 people experienced homelessness in the 2023 Point in Time Count.
# of units needed to house every family and individual without housing:
multnomah county
oregon
The History of Homelessness
With few job opportunities, men would leave their families at home and travel the country looking for work, which led to the use of the term "homeless" for the first time.
colonial america
The rise of trains and industry brought people to work in the cities, overcrowding them and leaving people without homes.
industrial revolution
The war left communities broken. Morphine helped vets with injuries, but opiate addiction ran rampant and vets had a hard time finding work and housing.
civil war era
Families suffered poverty and lost their homes. The New Deal response included the Public Housing Admin to build and maintain public housing.
great depression
WWII stimulated the economy. The government began significant investment in housing infrastructure; because of this investment, homelessness was largely eradicated through the next four decades.
the golden age of housing
Gov't policy closed inpatient mental health facilities and folks with severe and persistent mental illness were left without care or housing.
mental health shifts
Fed Gov't cut housing budget from $80B to $20B/yr. Construction halted, infrastructure fell into disrepair. Homelessness skyrocketed.
budget cuts
The government built emergency response systems like shelters, clinics, and outreach.
emergency response
We don't have enough housing units. Since the 80s, there hasn't been meaningful investment in our nation's housing infrastructure.
modern day
Causes of Homelessness
Housing is too expensive and jobs don’t pay enough
In Portland, we don’t have enough homes for every person who needs a place to live, and new people are moving here faster than we can build homes. When supply is low and demand is high, price goes up.
Housing is considered “affordable” if it costs no more than 30% of a household’s income.
# hours per week
minimum wage workers need to work to afford a 2-bedroom apartment
of renters are cost burdened
2 out of 7 renters pay more than 50% of their income on rent
Persistent oppression and discrimination
The housing market has intentionally and systematically denied homeownership opportunities to people of color, people living with disabilities, immigrants, and other minority groups.
Things like redlining, discriminatory lending practices, and displacement through gentrification have created generations of poor people of color without any accumulation and transfer of wealth between generations.
Lack of affordable healthcare
Even with the ACA, families still face high deductibles, expensive prescriptions, and large co-pays. These expensive costs can push a family over the edge – deciding whether to pay a $1,500 deductible for a medical emergency or $1,400 in rent is a hard decision to make.
shortage of affordable childcare
The average cost of childcare for one child in Portland is $1,020 per month. For a person making minimum wage, that is 52% of their pre-tax income. Parents need childcare to get a job interview and get a job, but need income from a job to be able to afford childcare.
income level |
cost of "affordable rent" |
|---|---|
| $57,640/year ($27.50/hour) | $1,600/month (the average cost of a 2-bedroom in Portland) |
| $26,520/year ($12.75/hour) Minimum wage |
$663/month (which is not a reality in our community) |
did you know?
The average white family transfers $140,000 between generations. The average Black Family: $9,300
did you know?
The subprime mortgage crisis took $200 billion in assets from families of color and transferred it back to white-owned banks.
Effects of Homelessness
Experiencing homelessness is hard
Families work hard every day at their jobs, getting their kids to and from school all over town, and trying to find an affordable place to rent. All while not having a place for kids to do their homework, eat dinner, or brush their teeth.
But it’s more than just trying to raise a family without a home
Brain science helps us understand what’s going on in the brain when someone experiences something as stressful as homelessness.
type of stress | examples | brain's response: |
|---|---|---|
| eustress positive stress | weddings, home buying, new puppies, finals week | focused attention, emotional balance, rational thoughts |
| distress negative stress | abuse, domestic violence, neglect, homelessness | fight, flight, or freeze mechanism. survival mode. |
Survival mode
When you’re experiencing distress, you can’t learn new skills or pay attention at school because survival mode literally turns off the part of the brain that’s responsible for critical thinking, language, and logic. Survival mode makes it so you can only concentrate on survival – food, shelter, clothing, and hygiene. The brain doesn’t have critical thinking and logic available, so the world is confusing.
The Result: People feel unsafe, depressed, overwhelmed, and hopeless. This hopelessness leads to engaging in harmful behavior like unprotected sex, substance abuse, and criminal activity. These activities lead to disease and disability, which leads to early death.
did you know?
When you're exposed to stress, the brain releases a combination of chemicals to help deal with that stress.
did you know?
The average life span of a person who experiences homelessness is 49 years old.
Solutions to Homelessness
Program solutions
Preventing homelessness before it even starts.
Rapid Re-Housing to help families get back into housing quickly.
Long-term support and case management to help families keep their housing and build a community of support they can turn to over time.
Trauma-Informed Care to build dignity, restore power, and promote autonomy.
Service coordination so families don’t have to tell their story over and over, wait on multiple lists for services that contact you at different times, or travel all over the metro area to get different types of support like mental health care and domestic violence advocacy.
What this is going to take
Build housing since we don’t have enough affordable units in our community. We need to build in all neighborhoods if we ever have a chance of ending homelessness.
Coordinate services and systems so people can get the help they need when they need it.
Partnership that includes everyone’s voice at the table.
Tenant protections like relocation assistance after a no-cause eviction and a tenant’s bill of rights.
Resources and funding to build housing and provide services. It’s going to take something big, like reforming the home mortgage interest deduction, to make the kind of change we need.
What you can do
Volunteer or donate to Path Home or one of our partner agencies and help support compassionate services.
Become a member of the Oregon Housing Alliance. Learn about housing policy and how you can support legislative advocacy efforts.
Engage with people who are living outside. Buy papers from Street Roots vendors, smile and talk to people who are panhandling, and donate food and supplies if you can.
Be a YIMBY and say “Yes in My Back Yard!” when it comes to things like increasing density through duplexes and ADUs, creating shelters and services, and building affordable housing.
did you know?
60% of federal housing assistance goes to the top 20% of income earners through the mortgage interest deduction.