Least we forget those not included in the survey, including;

-Student.
-Those doubled up and/or couch surfing.
-Those living in an RV (the county receives 1,000 calls monthly requesting towing).
-Those living in a car.
-The transitional working homeless.
-Youth Homeless.
-Airbnb (those sheltering/living short and long term).

When asked to address concerns about the accuracy of the Homeless survey, HUD spokesperson Brian Sullivan responded; "There are those who say that this count does not express the totality of the need out there on the streets of this country to that we say, exactly, yes. We totally agree that this count doesn't express the totality of need in our country. But this is what the count is."

Portland will never adequately address its Homeless Crisis without a campus style care community. I fear the number of unsheltered homeless will continue to rise through 2020.
Homeless shelters do one thing, they save life's, and yes, adequate space is in dire need. However, even if three shelters opened every month between now and December, it would not adequately supply the coming demand as temp drop this coming Portland Winter.

So the number of housed people has increased, yet the number of homeless has also increased and the vacancy rate in existing housing remains historically low.

The fact of the matter is Portland does not have nearly enough housing, and is not building new housing at a sufficient rate to keep up with the demand, so without adequate housing stock it doesn't matter how much money is thrown at the problem otherwise.

Also, if the number of people housed has gone up and the homeless population is still increasing, that indicates that existing and/or future homeless people are moving to Portland to be homeless in Portland. This is a national issue that Portland cannot possibly solve on its own as long as there is a steady influx of homeless and guaranteed-to-be homeless folks of lesser means who continue to move to the city. If each new influx simply replaces/adds to the count on the streets, people are eventually going to get fed up with dumping increasing amounts of money towards the problem without the corresponding social relief of seeing an effect in practical terms for the look and safety of our city.

Bottom line is we need a combination of 1) a lot more housing in Portland, 2) more and better services to assist folks who are homeless or on the edge of homeless and who want/need the help, and 3) significantly stricter enforcement against the population who is homeless as a lifestyle choice, with the associated theft, drug use, and unsanitary results for the rest of us.

The information in this article comes from those paid to shelter people. They are paid a great deal and if you ask people in the shelter system if they feel safe, represented or like the money is equitably spent, they'd have a lot to say. There are empty shelters in Portland.

I drive all over town for work and I'm sorry, i'm just not seeing these good-hearted, law-abiding, "just down on their luck" homeless people.

What I see are countless camps filled with drug addicts and the like. I see more and more RV's typically occupied by white men who are totally tweeked out. I see garbage, stripped bike frames, needles, and burnt out vehicles.

I just drove by Montavilla Park and there was a group of homeless people on the lawn all high on what appeared to be heroin. (Tip: Don't EVER use the porti-potties there; they're filled with discarded needles!)

These types of homeless people don't want to move indoors or to stop using drugs. Why no mention of that? Why is every homelessness article framed like these are just good families who are simply down on their luck?

You can't force an addict to stop using, they have to want it. With this increase in homelessness, it looks like they don't want it.

Portland's social services agencies need to disburse their funding on a triage basis instead of prioritizing those who will never get to the point where they can function in life and at least defray some of their cost by working part-time. I go to Central City Concern, and let me tell you: it's the people on parole, in drug and alcohol treatment, and the severely mentally ill that get more than the lion's share – money wasted on incorrigibles and incurables!

I got into housing after almost five years on a wait list, but now I'm running into the brick wall most aspiring to domestic living do. How in hell am I going to get a job when gas stations and fast food joints run background and credit checks, Latinos own the restaurant workforce, and my body's too trashed from bad genes and even worse living to lump drywall?

I just want to live on a boat in the San Juans, eking out a life of modest comfort writing freelance and developing Android apps. Instead I'm languishing downtown, where normies want nothing to do with me and I want nothing to do with the drunks and freaks who seem to enjoy my company (I quit drinking four months ago). And all the people who would never hire me or anyone like me hate me because eighty percent of my rent is tax-subsidized.

Jello Biafara had it all wrong: it's the Clackistanian Tea Baggers who want to nuke us (only slightly) poor(er) with neutron bombs; the liberals just want to incarcerate us in feel-good-for-them reservations a la Brave New World, where our victimhood will be perpetually reaffirmed and our dependence on social services will end only on the day we die.