The Goal: Functional end to homelessness. 

A functional end to homelessness includes the idea that the number of people exiting homelessness matches the number of people entering it.

This balance ensures that homelessness remains rare and brief, with systems in place to quickly provide housing and support, preventing it from becoming a long-term issue. The focus is on sustainable solutions that address root causes while ensuring rapid re-housing for those affected.

The Reality: A $700 million-a-year mess.

Local decision makers are pouring upwards of $700 million this year alone into homelessness, housing, mental health, drug addiction. 

Yet, the number of people living outdoors keeps rising.

Why? 

Because this massive $700 million in spending is siloed, piecemeal, and lacks accountability. 

Without a unified, coordinated approach, all this spending risks being ineffective.

Changes underway: Not near enough. 

The modest Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) organizational changes agreed to during the contentious Portland and Multnomah County IGA renewal earlier this year are nowhere near enough. 

Our growing homelessness crisis continues to expose systemic inefficiencies, and these small changes barely scratch the surface. We need a major shakeup and overhaul.

The County and its partners must reorganize and treat outdoor homelessness for what it truly is—a full-blown emergency. 

This isn’t just another policy issue. The crisis is urgent, growing, and impacts every community member. 

Without bold, decisive action, this situation will only worsen. We must act now before more time and resources are wasted.

The HRAP: Hope fades. 

Seven months ago, the County gave us hope with the announcement of the Rapid Homelessness Response Plan (HRAP). It promised real results with clear numbers and deadlines. But after the initial fanfare, near silence.

HRAP was barely mentioned in the Chair’s budget, and after a six-month delay, it’s hard to see how they will meet their deadlines or effectively implement the plan.

Unnecessary: Sobering delays and weak deflection. 

Too often, it’s as if the county can work well on one issue at a time. This proposal will expand the expert capacity of the county. The sobering and deflection centers need to happen together NOW and in doing so contribute to an overall unified County and cities homeless this proposal calls for. 

These delays also reveal a larger issue—ongoing confusion between the County and local cities over who’s responsible for what. And this is symptomatic of poor internal organization at the County level.

A Path Forward: One Person in Charge, Not Dozens.

County must lead, really lead, on homelessness. For complex, urgent problems like homelessness, clear leadership is crucial. Right now, no single entity oversees the entire issue, leading to a fragmented response. 

The voters also deserve to know what government is accountable for outdoor homelessness. 

To stop the scattershot strategies, the County must step up, take full responsibility, and align cities behind this unified approach. Only then can we move forward with real progress.

Multnomah County, with its public health expertise, is best positioned to be in charge. The County can address two root causes—mental illness, addiction—and ensure the necessary services are delivered effectively.

Cities should lead on housing production. As the County tackles homelessness, Home Forward, State, Metro, Portland and other local cities must focus on solving the housing shortage. 

Cities have the tools to expedite affordable housing development through urban planning and development incentives. Zoning, permitting, and funding processes must be streamlined to build housing quickly and efficiently.

Multnomah County should support this effort by ensuring resources are aligned to meet the needs of newly housed individuals. This division of responsibilities will allow both homelessness and the housing crisis to be addressed more effectively.

Solutions to Drive Progress on Homelessness:

1. Appoint a Unified Homelessness Czar

   The buck has to stop somewhere, or we will continue to get nowhere anytime soon. Elevate Dan Field, Director of JOHS, to be the cross jurisdictional unified Homelessness Emergency Czar, with emergency powers to coordinate all homelessness services across the County, Portland, other cities, and—if the Governor agrees—the state’s work within county boundaries.

2. Create a Homelessness Working Group

   We need a bigger group of doers. Building on the Street Services Coordination Center we built in 2021, establish a daily operational group to tackle prevention, encampment removals, shelter placements, rapid rehousing, and one-intake client care management. The County should lead, with cities supporting.

3. Develop a Unified Homelessness Budget

   Follow and track outcomes of every dollar. The Homelessness Czar must create a joint budget for approval by the Multnomah County Board, Portland City Council, Home Forward, and local state agencies. This budget should cover all homelessness-related spending, including ambulance, EMT, Portland Street Response, and police services.

   A unified budget will allow us to find cost savings, close gaps, reprioritize less important spending, and track outcomes.

4. Establish a Unified Client Care Portal

   This should be done ASAP. Create one care tracking system for all services. This will ensure clients receive the help they need, allow caregivers to follow up, and provide taxpayers with transparency.

5. Phased-in Regulated Countywide Ban on Camping

   Allowing hundreds of often moving camps to scatter across the 466 square miles of Multnomah County is not a compassionate public health approach to homelessness. It’s ideology- and magical-thinking-based policymaking. 

   We have enough resources to get resources to a dozen of official outdoor camps but not hundreds of self-sited camps. 

6. Do Public Outreach and Honest Public Yearly Reporting  

   The County’s public outreach must change. Quarterly in-person updates on results should be provided at city council meetings, neighborhood meetings, and business district meetings. Feedback should be requested and received.

   Require mailing to every address an annual public report card of joint homelessness efforts—not just siloed ones—so the public can see what’s being done, whether goals are being met, and what actions are being taken.

We Can Get to a Functional End to homelessness!

The current approach to homelessness is fragmented, inefficient, and lacks accountability. Without unified leadership from Multnomah County, this crisis will continue to spiral out of control. We have the resources, but we lack the structure and coordination to make meaningful progress.

By appointing a Homelessness Czar, creating a unified budget, aligning efforts across government levels, and ensuring public accountability, we can stop the scattershot strategies that have failed us. The stakes are too high to delay any further.

Let’s take bold action now.