After years of consistent increases, the country saw its homeless population decline by 3% in early 2025. But that pattern wasn’t replicated in Oregon.
According to a report released Friday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, roughly 27,200 people experienced homelessness in Oregon in January 2025, a 19% increase from the previous year. That’s the second largest increase by any state in the U.S., trailing only North Carolina, which was forced to open thousands of emergency shelter beds in late 2024 in response to Hurricane Helene.
The data point — now more than a year old — isn’t a perfect snapshot of Oregon’s homelessness crisis, due to the unique way Oregon cities and counties collect data. Some argue the high count simply demonstrates that the state is doing a better job at collecting data than others…