A report released Tuesday on how Multnomah County spent its portion of the Metro homeless services tax in fiscal year 2026 showed that, once again, the county sheltered and housed thousands of people even as thousands more lost their housing.
Annual reports show that in every year since at least 2020, when voters approved the regional tax, more people have become homeless than have become housed. Detractors argue this is proof that the tax is failing to deliver on its promise to voters that it could “end our homelessness crisis.”
Andrew Hoan, president of the Portland Metro Chamber business association and an architect of the original tax, told The Oregonian/OregonLive earlier this year that he sees the measure’s failure to achieve that goal as evidence of its “horrific failures” and “squandered” resources…