The city responded to an increase in homeless deaths by intensifying encampment sweeps and adding emergency shelter at the expense of permanent housing.
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.
...although the city spent roughly $200,000 per homeless resident (since) 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.
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.
damn, but i'd like to see more of this type of stories from Street Roots.
https://www.streetroots.org/news/2025/06/11/portland-homeless-deaths-multnomah-county
