Molly Harbarger
Every two years in January, counties across the country conduct a one-night count of homeless people living outside and in shelters. The count presents a snapshot of how each area is dealing with housing issues.
In Oregon, homelessness looks different depending where you live. The Oregonian/OregonLive just visited Redmond to explore the sometimes invisibility of rural homelessness. In Multnomah County, it's more in residents' face.
Beth Nakamura/Staff
But almost every county in Oregon is dealing with homelessness, and in much of the state, those numbers are increasing. The state publishes the numbers in an interactive table that we used to break down some basics on each county's one-night count numbers.
Jamie Hale | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Clatsop County counted two fewer homeless people in 2017 than 2015 -- about a 0.2 percent decrease. The vast majority of those 680 people, even the families with children, are unsheltered. Unlike many counties, most of the homeless people in Clatsop County are under 18 or over 24 years old.
Laura Frazier | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Columbia County cut their homeless population in half in two years, even as their population is estimated to have grown in that timeframe. They counted 158 people in 2017 -- down from 317 at the last county in 2015. Most of those people are unsheltered, but the number of people in shelter has steadily increased over time.
Dan Germoose/Flickr Creative COmmons
Tillamook County’s homeless population more than doubled when counted in winter 2017. They made huge strides sheltering more people in 2017, when very few of 2015’s 106 homeless people had a roof over their heads. However, the overall homeless population grew to 231.
Hannah Leone/The Oregonian
Washington County’s homeless population decreased nearly 8 percent since 2015. The ratio of people in shelter compared to the streets decreased proportionally to the overall reduction from 591 people counted in 2015 to 544 in 2017.
Andrew Theen
Wallowa County saw a 65 percent decrease in homeless people counted between 2015 and 2017. However, those numbers are slightly misleading -- that’s a jump from 23 people to eight people. Rural homelessness can be hard to accurately count, because it is often more invisible than in urban areas, where services are concentrated.
Eder Campuzano | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Union County saw a 42 percent reduction, going from 75 homeless people counted in 2015 to 43 two years later. The county has about 26,000 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Almost none of the people counted on one night in January were in shelter, a drastic change from 2015.
Kale Williams | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Umatilla County had an almost 7 percent increase in homeless people counted in 2017, which translates to just three more people. In 2015, 52 people were counted, nearly half of which were in shelter. Two years later, 55 were counted, with more sleeping outside.
Oregonian file photo
Morrow County did not report any homeless people in 2015 or 2017, so there’s been no change.
Mike Zacchino | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Gilliam County also did not report any homeless people in 2015 or 2017, so there’s been no change. The county only has about 1,854 people in it, according to the Census.
Eder Campuzano | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Sherman County reported one homeless person in 2017, a 100 percent increase from no homeless people in 2015. Sherman County has a population of 1,710.
Terry Richard/Staff
Wasco County had one of the biggest leaps with a 315 percent increase in the counted homeless population. In 2015, 47 homeless people were counted in a county of more than 26,000. That number jumped to 195 two years later, mostly in people living outside.
Oregonian file photo
Hood River recorded a one-person increase in 2017, bringing their homeless population counted on one night to 70. What’s more significant is that nearly half of them were in shelter in, whereas nearly all of the 69 people counted in 2015 were sleeping outside.
Andrew Theen | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Clackamas County is another area where the increase in homeless people counted remained largely the same. In 2017, 497 people were counted -- just three more than 2015. Fewer people were using shelter in 2017 than 2015.
Ross William Hamilton
Yamhill County counted two fewer homeless people this year, finding 493 on one night in January. Fewer were in shelter than in 2015, when there were 495 homeless people counted overall.
Grant Butler | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Lincoln County’s homeless population appears to have tripled since 2015. Fifty-four people were counted in 2015, half of whom were in shelter. In 2017, 186 were counted, with nearly all of the newly homeless living on the street.
Courtesy of the Nature Conservancy
Polk County saw a more than 140 percent increase in homelessness between 2015 and this year. In 2015, 42 people were counted on one night in January. In 2017, that number was 102.
Marion County’s homeless population grew 43 percent in two years. In 2017, officials counted 1,049 people, the vast majority in shelter. In January 2015, officials counted 732.
Terry Richard/The Oregonian
Benton County’s homeless population grew 125 percent over two years. In 2015, most of the 127 people counted were in shelter. While the number of people in shelter has steadily increased, the number of homeless people on the streets has outpaced it. Now, there are 287 homeless people, as of January 2017.
Mark Ylen
Linn County reduced its homeless population by nearly 20 percent in 2017. While most of the 180 homeless people counted in 2017 are staying in shelter, the proportion of people in shelter has declined. In 2015, about a third of the 222 people counted were on the street.
Terry Richard/Staff
Jefferson County’s homeless population declined by 38 percent -- a change from 55 to 34 over two years. At the same time, the county has sheltered a greater portion of the homeless population.
Terry Richard/Staff/2013
Wheeler County had a 100 percent increase in its homeless population over two years -- that is only a jump from zero to 1. Wheeler is Oregon’s least populous county, with just 1,358 people as of the last U.S. Census.
Eder Campuzano | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Grant County reported three fewer homeless people -- a more than 40 percent decrease from seven people in 2015. All seven were in shelter, but none of the four counted in 2017 are in shelter.
Les Zaitz
Baker County cut its homeless population in half -- but again, the numbers are small to start with. In 2015, officials reported 14 homeless people, with all but one staying in shelter. In 2017, seven people were counted with only three in shelter.
Terry Richard/The Oregonian
Lane County has one of the largest homeless populations outside the Portland area. In 2017, 1,529 people were counted, most of whom were living outside. That’s a nearly 4 percent increase from 2015, when about half of the 1,473 homeless people counted were staying in shelter.
Andrew Selsky
Crook County had an almost 20 percent increase from 2015. Officials counted 43 homeless people in 2017, with only about a quarter of them staying in shelter. In 2015, 36 people were counted.
Eder Campuzano | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Malheur County reported a 45 percent increase in homelessness in 2017. The last count in 2015 showed 104 people, about half of whom were staying in shelter. This year, 151 people were counted, with the vast majority living outside.
Mark Graves
Harney County saw a more than 200 percent jump in its homeless population the last two years. Six people were counted in 2015, most of them in shelter. In 2017, 19 people were counted, with all but one living outdoors.
Eder Campuzano | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Lake County also doubled its homeless population since 2015, when six people were counted. All 12 of 2017’s homeless population were unsheltered.
Oregonian file photo
Jackson County reduced its homeless population by almost 7 percent between 2015 and 2017. The majority of the 633 people counted in 2017 are staying in shelter, which was true in 2015 as well.
Courtesy of Department of State Lands
Douglas County’s homeless population grew 14 percent since 2015 -- a fast enough rate that even though more people are staying in shelter than 2015, there are about half as many living outside, too. There were 463 people counted in 2017, nearly 60 more people than in 2015.
Terry Richard/The Oregonian
Coos County reduced its homeless population by 35 percent since 2015 -- one of the largest decreases in the state. In 2015, officials reported 612 people, nearly all of which were sleeping outside. In 2017, all 397 were sleeping outside.
Jamie Francis
Curry County’s homeless population doubled over the last two years. All 86 people counted in 2015 were living outside, as were all 161 in 2017.
Josephine County reduced its homeless population by 26 percent -- another of the state’s largest decreases. The biggest dent came from reducing the number of people sleeping outside. Still, most of the 650 people counted as homeless in 2017 were not in shelter.
Stephanie Yao Long | The Oregonian/OregonLive
The homeless population in Multnomah County increased nearly 10 percent in the last two years: There are now at least 4,177 people without permanent homes on any given night in Portland, the latest survey shows.
But some officials see signs of hope, pointing to more people sleeping in shelters or transitional housing than outside for the first time since 2005.
Molly Harbarger
Deschutes County had a 39 percent increase in its homeless population between 2015 and 2017, the most recent two times the homeless population was formally tallied. On one night in January, 701 people were found residing without a permanent home -- most of whom were living outside.
That number has fluctuated since the 2008 recession, when the Bend area experienced the greatest housing crash in the country, according to real estate website Zillow. Home prices lost nearly half their value between 2006 and 2011.
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