Portland said it was investing in homeless people’s safety. Deaths have quadrupled | The city responded to an increase in homeless deaths by intensifying encampment sweeps and adding emergency shelter at the expense of permanent housing. Experts say this has perpetuated the problem

> As the city of Portland, Oregon, clawed its way out of the pandemic, it faced a new set of crises: The city’s homeless population was growing. Tents lined some city blocks. High-powered business associations held press conferences demanding the city remove homeless people and touted self-funded surveys saying that without action, businesses and residents would flee the city.

> By late spring 2021, the city committed to a new strategy that then-Mayor Ted Wheeler said would “reprioritize public health and safety among homeless Portlanders,” ultimately allocating $1.3 billion by the end of 2024.

> But although the city spent roughly $200,000 per homeless resident throughout that time, deaths of homeless people recorded in the county quadrupled, climbing from 113 in 2019 to more than 450 in 2023, according to the most recent data from the Multnomah County Health Department. The rise in deaths far outpaces the growth in the homeless population, which was recorded at 6,300 by a 2023 county census, a number most agree is an undercount. The county began including newly available state death records in its 2022 report, which added about 60 deaths to the yearly tolls.

> Homeless residents of Multnomah County now die at a higher rate than in any major West Coast county with available homeless mortality data: more than twice the rate of those in Los Angeles County and the Washington state county containing Seattle. Almost all the homeless population in Multnomah County lives within Portland city limits.

> These deaths came during the same period that Portland began a two-pronged response to public pressure over homelessness. City leaders began moving homeless people out of public view by removing tents at a rate far surpassing those of its West Coast peers. Since 2021, it carried out 19,000 sweeps, and it dismantled over 20 encampments per day in 2024, according to city records.

> At the same time, the city reduced money for stable permanent housing while dramatically increasing its investment in temporary shelters. The city spent $19.4 million to house formerly homeless Portlanders in 2019, according to the city budget. By 2024, the city budgeted $4.3 million, which housed 391 people.

> These moves have been echoed in Trump administration policy, which has prioritized the forced removal of homeless people from encampments and public spaces. For decades prior, the federal government’s position emphasized stable housing.

> Researchers from four universities told Street Roots and ProPublica that sweep-heavy tactics like Portland’s damage safety rather than improve it, placing homeless people at greater risk of harm or death. Current and former staff members at six local service providers, like Rose Haven Executive Director Katie O’Brien, say the city’s approach failed to do what was promised.

> O’Brien said more people are in crisis when they arrive at Rose Haven, a daytime shelter serving women and transgender people.

> “It is adding to the complexities and the challenges that they are already dealing with, mentally, physically, safety-wise,” said O’Brien.