Oregon Governor Extends Emergency Order As High Rate Of Homelessness Continues To Plague State

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek extended the homelessness state of emergency, which she declared on her first day in office on Thursday for the third year.  Despite several interventions by the state, Oregon’s homelessness rates remain one of the highest in the US.

Oregon Homelessness State Of Emergency Extended

With thousands of people living outside, a federal report released at the end of 2024 indicated that Oregon has one of the highest rates of homelessness countrywide.

A January 2024 count undertaken by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual point in time Department of Housing and Urban Development showed that of Oregon’s roughly 4.2 million residents, 22,875  experienced homelessness, and around 62% lacked shelter.

Despite the attention and record sums given to keeping people in precarious situations from losing their homes, helping homeless people find housing, and sheltering more people, Oregon and 42 other states experienced an increase in homelessness between 2023 and 2024.

Kotek’s 2025-27 budget proposal includes $700 million intended to shelter homeless Oregonians and keep them from falling into homelessness, together with around $1.4 billion in bonds and infrastructure funding to help the state build its way out of a decades-long housing shortage.

In her statement, Kotek said there has been progress and estimates that by the end of June, the state will have prevented  24,000 households from becoming homeless, helped 3,300 families experiencing homelessness back into housing, and funded 5,500 shelter beds. She said, “We must stay the course on what we see working.”

Oregon’s homelessness state of emergency will remain in place until the end of June 2025.