A new report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development finds that Oregon had one of the largest homeless population increases in the country over the past two years.
Here are the basic numbers of the annual report, which was prepared for Congress.
- 42.3 in every 10,000 people in Oregon were experiencing homelessness in 2022.
- 61.7% of the 17,959 who were homeless were unsheltered. That was fourth in the nation.
- 14,586 of those homeless were individuals
- 3,373 were people in families with children
- 1,066 were unaccompanied youth
- 1,460 were veterans
- 6,447 were chronically homeless — meaning they have been continuously homeless for one year or more or has experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years where the combined length of time homeless on those occasions is at least 12 months.
RELATED: Governor Kotek signs emergency homelessness response package into law
RELATED: How new $200M homeless, housing fund will affect Central Oregon
The report found that in Oregon, 3,304 more people entered homelessness between 2020-2022 — the fourth-most in the U.S. That’s a 22.5% increase.
Only California, Louisiana and Tennessee had more people enter homelessness.
The numbers only get worse for Oregon in terms individuals experiencing homelessness — as in, those who are homeless but not with family.
Oregon had the second-largest increase in that two-year span with 2,591 more individuals experiencing homelesness. That’s a 21.6% increase. Only California had more.
In terms of people with children experiencing homelessness, Oregon had the fifth-largest increase at 713 — a rise of 26.8%. Louisiana, Maine, Delaware and Tennessee had more.
But Oregon was worst in the nation in 2022, percentage-wise, in terms of families with children who were living unsheltered at 59%. And it wasn’t close. The second-highest percentage was Idaho at 47.1%.
Oregon had the second-highest increase in veterans experiencing homelessness (131) between 2020-2022.
And the state also had the second-highest increase of individuals experiencing chronic homelessness (2,324) in that span.
A positive number: Oregon had the fourth-largest decrease in the nation in the number of unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness between 2020-2022 (-248).
There is much more to the report, which can be found at this link.
