Metro, the Portland area’s regional government, has raised $1.4 billion in tax revenue since 2020 specifically to provide homeless services in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties.
That’s a ton of money. Added to all the other homelessness spending in the region – including federal, state and city funding – it equated to roughly $300 per resident in fiscal year 2024. That figure was calculated by dividing the $724 million local economics consulting firm ECONorthwest calculated was spent that year by the tri-county region’s population.
But is it the most spent on homelessness anywhere in the United States?…