OPINION: Clackamas County reduced homelessness by 65% — here's how

Years of failed policies and empty promises have conditioned Oregonians to accept the homelessness crisis as an unavoidable reality. Residents have been forced to endure lower living standards, businesses have suffered debilitating losses and — most tragically — those experiencing homelessness have been abandoned in their most desperate moments.

By rejecting the disastrous Portland Creep in favor of rational and effective policies, Clackamas County has successfully reduced homelessness by 65% between 2019 and 2023! We have far exceeded our annual goals thanks to the hard work of community leaders and the due diligence of our commissioners. A recent report highlighted our success in further detail.

Here are some key metrics:

Clackamas County has rehoused 128 households (314 people) in half a year which is 6% over our target.We’ve helped 591 households (1,369 people) avoid evictions, nearly doubling our initial goal.Our county has provided permanent supportive housing for 223 homeless households (429 people).

While Clackamas County is overshooting its targets and restoring hope for thousands of people, Multnomah County is sinking into a woke swamp of its own making. The ideologues in charge remain stubbornly committed to deadly policies that have manufactured one of the worst homelessness crises in the country. In the same period Clackamas County reduced homelessness by 65%, Multnomah County has overseen a surge of 29% in unsheltered homeless people between 2022 and 2023 alone.

Clackamas County’s success isn’t just exceptional when compared to Multnomah. We’re solving homelessness considerably faster than the national average. In fact, according to the Annual Homeless Assessment Report assembled by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, rates of homelessness increased by 12% in 2023! Through the turbulent years following the COVID-19 pandemic and record inflation, Clackamas County has still made progress while other states flounder.

Our county has given hope to Oregonians around the state by proving that homelessness is a solvable issue. Now, the Clackamas Way for fixing homelessness is a blueprint other counties follow to improve the homelessness plight and secure a better life for all members of society. We’re addressing the root causes of homelessness, properly funding our law enforcement officials and offering housing solutions that work.

This is a victory for the people of Clackamas County who refused to follow the blind leaders in Portland. You directed your representatives to abandon ideologically driven policies in the name of sane, humane and effective strategies. The Clackamas County Commission put its differences aside to listen to the needs of its constituents and the result has been unprecedented success. We only have the people to thank.

We should be proud of reducing homelessness by 65%, but we still have 35% to go. Now is NOT the time to get complacent. These numbers represent the most vulnerable members of our community in the most dire circumstances. Eliminating chronic homelessness is possible, we only need to continue what we’ve been doing. This commission needs your support in 2024 to put an end to homelessness once and for all.