…Creating upwards of 1,200 new shelter beds and having 500 more on standby in less than a year is a major political victory for Wilson, one many political watchers doubted he’d achieve, as The Oregonian/OregonLive has reported.
Having capacity to help the homeless is great, but it is of course the wrong metric:
Still, the mayor has not yet achieved his larger campaign promise of ending unsheltered homelessness in Portland. In fact, the problem is worse.
Nearly 7,500 people are living outside or in their vehicle in Multnomah County, the vast majority of them in Portland, according to the county’s latest data. There are about 1,000 more people living unsheltered now than when Wilson took office in January, though the total has remained fairly steady since April.
And the new beds that do exist aren’t getting used every night. City data shows two shelters that opened in August have yet to fill more than half of their beds on average each night. The Moore Street Shelter in North Portland has had the highest usage, with nightly rates between 70% and 91% since Feb. 1.
Meanwhile, the Nordstrom Rack just closed in downtown Portland. They didn’t say why, but I have a guess.