Portland Mayor Keith Wilson has unveiled an ambitious plan to end unsheltered homelessness, focused on two key initiatives: more overnight shelters and more day centers.
Wilson outlined his strategy in a work session with Portland City Council on January 22, 2025. “What I want to talk about today is a plan to solve the crisis,” he said.
Wilson marshalled sobering statistics to make his case. Portland today has the highest unsheltered homeless rate in the city’s history, with 5,398 people living unsheltered at the last count. Meanwhile, unsheltered people are dying in unprecedented numbers. Some 456 people died unsheltered in Multnomah County in 2023, an increase of 477% since 2017.
“These numbers shock the conscience,” Wilson said. “You cannot look at this and think of one-year plans, or three-year plans, or five-or-ten-year plans. We must think about the best we can do right here, right now. We must change the way we think about this crisis and respond immediately and decisively.”
The homelessness crisis has put extraordinary strain on the social fabric of the city. Ten years ago, a police officer would respond to a priority call in six minutes. Today the average response time is 24 minutes.
“Firefighters, paramedics, even public defenders – they’re all overwhelmed,” he said. “This is the biggest humanitarian crisis our city has ever faced.”
In addition to the human tragedy, Wilson cited many other consequences of the crisis:
- Job creation is among the worst in the nation.
- Local businesses are closing down. “Behind each one of those empty storefronts is a broken dream.”
- Commercial vacancies in the urban core are the highest in the nation.
- The Urban Land Institute now ranks Portland 80th out of 81 cities. In 2017, it was ranked at #3.
- The city’s tax base is declining.
To respond to the problem, Wilson unveiled a blueprint based on several key ideas:
- Unsheltered homelessness is an emergency; treat it that way. Wilson has set up an incident command system to coordinate the work of government agencies and partners, led by Portland Solutions. This system taps into the expertise and infrastructure of the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management.
- Prioritize overnight shelters. Overnight shelters offer a safe bed for the night so that people don’t have to sleep outside. They have few requirements and offer minimal services. The idea is to get people inside safely. Wilson proposed adding 1,500 shelter beds. While this is less than the number of unsheltered people, each shelter bed provides a pathway for someone to get into permanent housing, opening up that bed for the next person who needs it.
- Scale to meet need. Open overnight shelters when need is high and close them down when the need is low. Overnight shelters can often be housed in existing structures with minor alteration. They can be opened and closed quickly. Earlier this month, Wilson, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Pederson, and the Salvation Army announced the opening of two shelters with a combined capacity of 200 overnight beds.
- Add day centers. People need places to go during the day where they can connect with supportive services and get into long-term housing. Wilson proposed opening four new day centers, one in each of the city’s four voting districts, with a total capacity to serve 600 guests per day.
- “No wrong door.” Anyone who needs help getting off the street will receive it, no matter where they start or how they enter the support system.
- Enforce existing laws. The plan doesn’t require any new laws or ordinances. Existing laws are sufficient. The police should enforce them.
For FY2025-26, Wilson proposed a budget totaling $28 million. Here’s the breakdown.
- Adding up to 1,500 overnight shelter beds at a cost of $15,309,000.
- Adding new day centers with a combined capacity of 600 guests per day at a cost of $11,974,920.
- Adding new space where 1,200 people can store their belongings for the day at a cost of $216,000.
Wilson’s plan builds on the Homeless Response Action Plan, a joint initiative by the City of Portland and Multnomah County to reset the community’s response to homelessness. He reiterated many of the goals of that plan, which require funding from a wide range of agencies:
- Adding 100 psychiatric secure residential treatment beds, along with high-intensity services.
- Adding 150 residential substance use disorder, withdrawal, and dual diagnosis beds.
- Adding 20 civil commitment beds.
- Adding 20 subacute and stabilization beds.
- Adding a 27/7 drop-off sobering center.
- Adding 200 assertive community treatment slots for people in severe mental distress.
Wilson emphasized that any coherent response to ending homelessness depends on partnership among many government agencies, nonprofits, religious groups, advocates, and community leaders who champion fundamental issues like affordable housing, recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, social work, disability rights, community health, and mental health.
“Heroic work has already gone into helping thousands of our unsheltered neighbors,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of great people who’ve done a lot of great work. That work is vital and must continue.”
However, the Mayor underscored that the council needs to make tough decisions to help the city recover from this crisis. “We have 456 of our neighbors that died. That’s totally unacceptable. We’re treating it like a crisis. And I’m asking you for your support.”
Learn more about the Mayor's plan
- Read a detailed presentation on the Mayor’s blueprint for ending unsheltered homelessness.
- Watch the Mayor present his blueprint to Portland City Council.
- Learn more about Portland Solutions, the agency leading the city’s response to the homeless crisis.
- Learn more about City Shelter Services.
- See what we’re doing to reduce the impact of urban camping on neighborhoods.