New data released Wednesday by Multnomah County officials show a stunning local reality: 14,824 people living in the county were homeless as of February. Of those, 6,796 people were living outside, in a vehicle or in some other place considered unfit for human habitation.
That’s more than double the homeless population recorded in the federally mandated point-in-time count conducted in January 2023. And it is an increase of nearly 3,000 people over more granular estimates from the county in January 2024.
Moreover, the new data make clear that homelessness is increasing every month in Multnomah County, even as leaders have in recent years sheltered and housed more people than ever before…