"We have to take big swings at big problems and move forward with constant and continuous improvement. We cannot get complacent during a crisis." — Mayor Keith Wilson
Like many cities, Portland witnessed a dramatic rise in homelessness during the Covid-19 pandemic. The problem surged to crisis proportions, leaving thousands of people living unsheltered under conditions that are dangerous, degrading, and deadly, and putting extraordinary strain on the social fabric of the city.
In 2024, at least 372 people died without a home of their own in Multnomah County.
Homelessness is fundamentally a problem of housing, but it also has deep roots in addiction, structural inequality, disability, illness, mental illness, domestic violence, poverty, and unemployment. Fixing it means more shelter, more transitional housing, more supportive housing, and more affordable housing. It means more drug treatment. It means dismantling systemic barriers that perpetuate inequality. It means better health care and better mental health treatment. It means more support for folks with disabilities. It means better ways to prevent and respond to domestic violence. It means helping more people lift themselves up out of poverty and train for the jobs of the future.
Learn how the City of Portland is taking decisive action to solve this problem.
What we're doing
The Portland City Council passed the Shelter to Housing Continuum in 2021, paving the way for the City's first alternative shelters. Portland has made significant progress since then. The City has:
- Opened seven alternative shelters offering tiny-homes and safe parking for RVs. These sites collectively host 706 shelter units that sleep about 865 people on any given night.
- Opened life-saving overnight shelters so that people on the streets can get a safe, warm, dignified place to sleep at night and start their journey home. These shelters have a total capacity of 1500 beds.
- Expanded its day centers, opening one and expanding a second so people can connect with services like housing navigation, mental health referrals, and job readiness assistance.
- Launched an eviction defense program that has served 3,800 families facing eviction.
- Opened 2,787 units of affordable housing, including 1,166 units of deeply affordable housing and 695 units of permanent supportive housing, since 2018. Another 1,226 units are on the way.
- Reduced impact of homelessness through job opportunities, day storage, and garbage removal. In the last fiscal year, the Impact Reduction Program received 128,274 reports, did 43,532 risk assessments, performed 8,303 campsite removals, and collected 6,180 tons of garbage.
- Launched a homeless reunification program that helped more than 200 people reconnect with family or loved ones in 2025.
- Resumed enforcement of the camping ordinance.
The City is fortunate to have vital partners in this work, including Multnomah County, Metro, the State of Oregon, the federal government, and nonprofit service agencies. Solving a problem of this magnitude requires action from all levels of government and the local community. We are truly in this together.
Outreach
The City Street Outreach Team brings services to people where they are. Instead of holding hours in an office or clinic, outreach professionals work outside, helping make services for people experiencing homelessness more accessible. Street outreach providers have a wide variety of lived and professional experience. The City team includes staff with specific training in trauma-informed engagement, clinical social work, emergency medical services, nonviolent conflict resolution and case management.
Shelter
The crisis is driven by a sharp rise in unsheltered homelessness – people who are sleeping outside. The City has responded by standing up overnight shelters. These are designed to provide safe, supportive spaces for people to meet immediate needs.
The City also maintains several alternative shelters that serve as starting points for people on their way to permanent housing. All alternative shelters include case management with wraparound behavioral and mental health services. The shelters offer several models, including an RV park, a dormitory-style shelter, and tiny-house villages.
The City operates day centers where people can connect with services to help them get back on their feet and move into permanent housing. These centers offer a safe, welcoming space during the day where people can rest, access restrooms and showers, as well as receive support services such as housing navigation, mental health referrals, and job readiness assistance.
The City maintains a day storage facility where people can store their belongings for up to 30 days.
Housing
Portland needs more housing, particularly affordable housing. To solve the crisis, it also needs specialized housing such as permanent supportive housing.
In 2016, voters approved the Portland Housing Bond, raising $258 million for affordable housing in the city. Two years later, the Metro Housing Bond, raised $653 million to create permanently affordable homes across the region, allocating $211 million of that to Portland.
Since 2018, the Portland Housing Bureau has used Bond funds to leverage an additional $1.95 billion in outside funds. To date they have opened:
- 2,787 units of affordable housing for people with incomes at or below 60% of the area median income, including
- 1,166 units of deeply affordable housing for people with incomes below 30% of the area median income.
- 695 units of permanent supportive housing.
The Portland Housing Bureau has another 1,226 Bond-funded units in development, including:
- 306 units of deeply affordable housing for people with incomes below 30% of the area median income.
- 97 units of permanent supportive housing.
Additional Metro Bond funded units are expected to be announced next year.
The City is working on other initiatives to build more housing:
- In July 2025, the Portland City Council approved an exemption to service development charges for new residential projects, which has been popular with new single-family and middle housing developers. Since the program went live, the City has issued 424 permits, representing 1,144 units.
- The Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of remote work has emptied out many downtown office buildings. The City has launched a task force to find ways to convert office buildings into homes.
Prevention
The best way to solve homelessness is to prevent it from happening in the first place. The City provides free legal support for Portlanders facing eviction. So far this service has helped more than 3,800 households.
Reunification
The City's homeless reunification program helps people reconnect with families and loved ones who can support them in getting back on their feet. In 2025, this voluntary program helped more than 200 people reunite.
Better data
Track our work through maps, reports, and data dashboards. We provide real-time data on shelter participation, housing creation, homeless camp cleanup, emergency response, and more.
Our partners at Multnomah County have developed a groundbreaking "by-name" system to track people entering and exiting homelessness. Learn more at their Homeless Services Data Dashboard.
Public safety
Homeless people are often exposed to dangerous and unhealthy conditions. Our homeless community members experience traffic injuries and fatalities at much higher rates, are much more likely to be victims of crime, and often lack access to medical treatment. The City maintains specialized public safety teams who respond to crises, emergencies and non-emergencies and help people get into better situations.
Campsite cleanup
Using empathy and innovation, the Impact Reduction Program minimizes the impacts of homelessness while partner programs expand access to safe, affordable housing. The Impact Reduction Program provides garbage removal, day storage, resource referral and job opportunities – and removes campsites that pose the highest risk to health and safety. In the last fiscal year, they received 128,274 reports, did 43,532 risk assessments, performed 8,303 campsite removals, and collected 6,180 tons of garbage. The program also offers job opportunities for people with lived experience of homelessness.
Camping enforcement
Portland's Public Camping Ordinance prohibits camping in public spaces when people have access to reasonable alternate shelter. It also sets rules for camping that threatens health and safety. Camps can't block pedestrian access, set fires, dump trash, hurt people, or damage the environment.
The City paused enforcement in February 2025 and resumed enforcement in November 2025.
If a police officer observes a violation of city code, they may issue a citation. At this time, officers are not arresting individuals for violation of the ordinance. However, if officers witness other criminal behavior or find that a person being cited has existing warrants, they may make an arrest.
People who receive a citation will be given a date to appear in court. If they plead or are found guilty, the court may impose any sanction contemplated by the code. The Mayor's office has given guidance that individuals should be referred to resources (shelter, detox, etc.) whenever possible, but the court will, ultimately, determine any penalties.
In the first five weeks since the City started enforcing the ordinance, police contacted 299 campsites, found 421 people violating the ordinance, and issued 388 warnings and 20 citations. Some 111 people accepted services such as overnight shelter; 65 were arrested. No one was arrested solely for camping. Get more details about the first five weeks of enforcing the camping ordinance.
Derelict RVs
Aging RVs, travel trailers and lived-in vehicles parked in public spaces pose serious health and safety risks to occupants. RVs on the street have no access to power. The lack of electricity can force occupants to use flames from cook stoves and candles that pose extreme fire risk. Fuels from appliances inside can further feed flames. Those same fuels can also leak into the confined interior of an RV, putting occupants at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. RVs also pose health and safety risks both the surrounding community.
The City maintains an RV safe park where folks can sleep in their vehicle while storing it safely as they go to work or access services in the community.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation's Vehicle Inspection Team tows any illegally parked lived-in RVs from city streets. They can also give RV occupants connections to services and resources, including referrals to available shelter, such as the RV safe park.
Homelessness and Housing Committee
Portland City Council has a standing Homelessness and Housing Committee that focuses on:
- Housing investments, permitting, and the continuum of housing supports.
- Sheltering and the City's role in homeless services.
- The needs, programs, policies, and bureaus addressing housing, homelessness, and homeownership.