(The Center Square) – Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has been in office for a full year as of the start of this week, and she took action in hopes of reducing homelessness via executive order.
She signed two executive orders regarding homelessness at a time when the state has exceeded its three goals set by her homelessness state of emergency issued last year.
“One year ago, I told Oregonians that the homelessness emergency order was only the first step and that it would take collaboration to act at the scale and urgency this humanitarian crisis demands,” Governor Kotek said. “Now, we are continuing the fight to bring housing stability to more Oregonians. I want to thank legislators, local governments, shelter providers, and housing providers for stepping up last year and delivering results to address our homelessness crisis. We’ve seen that together we can make an impact, and we will continue to push this work forward until every Oregonian has a safe and stable place to call home.”
State data shows that in the past year, Oregon has worked with local partners to create 1,032 low-barrier shelter beds, beating the goal by 432 beds; rehouse 1,293 households experiencing “unsheltered homelessness”, according to the release, beating its goal by 93 households; and prevent 8,886 households from becoming homeless, exceeding the initial goal by 136 households.
This week, Kotek signed EO 24-02 to “maintain the added capacity to the state’s shelter system, rehouse people experiencing homelessness, and prevent homelessness,” according to the release.
The state will announce more specific action to meet these goals by the end of February.
Additionally, Kotek also signed EO 24-03.
It will “refresh the state’s Interagency Council on Homelessness and direct them to develop plans for the Governor’s consideration in response to the analysis done through EO 23-03, an order also signed last January that directed state agencies to prioritize reducing both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in all areas of the state using their existing statutory authorities,” according to the release.
The Council will meet next week to discuss its next steps.
The declaration of victory and plans to go farther come ahead of the State’s annual count of its homeless population in late January that may show a rise in homelessness despite Kotek’s efforts. Moreover, the state may not know the real number of homeless people, especially in rural areas, due to its counting method. The state uses a “Point in Time” count — a physical headcount by homeless service providers that happens over a couple of days near the end of January each year.
Jason Beasley, a man who has been homeless in Lebanon, Oregon, for over four years, had never heard of the headcount, nor had he ever been asked to participate in it, he told KPIC.
