Blog
2025 Point in Time Count = Escalating Homelessness Crisis
The Portland tri-county region faces a homelessness crisis of unprecedented magnitude, evidenced by the 2025 Point in Time Count (PITC). This review reveals a crisis driven by structural funding inequities, catastrophic failures in addiction triage, and a strategic adherence to a "Housing First" model that is inadequate for the region's complex, high-acuity population. The escalating crisis is concentrated almost entirely within Multnomah County, demanding an immediate and decisive pivot to a "Treatment First" strategy supported by robust clinical accountability.
Is Consolidation the Fix for Portland's "Doom Loop?"
Multnomah County has been in the news a lot lately, for all the wrong reasons. Last week's Partnership for Progress newsletter reported on Multnomah County's failed "Housing First" approach to homelessness. Last month, it was the Central Library's safety crisis. Before that, the county's flawed Deflection Center program.
It's the same story, over and over again: The county fails to deliver on its core statutory responsibilities, the city has to scramble to fill in the gaps, and residents get stuck with the bill — and the consequences.
What if Portland had just one government instead of two?
Homelessness: Housing First to Treatment First
For years, Multnomah County has doubled down on a “Housing First” model—placing people directly into subsidized housing with no preconditions for treatment or sobriety. Recent reports and research—including the Central City Concern’s “Engaged Social Housing” white paper (Sept. 2025) and Dr. George Galster’s “Can Housing First Beat Fentanyl, Meth, and Psychoses?” (2025)—paint a clear and troubling picture: the Housing First orthodoxy is failing the very people it was designed to help while creating a negative impact to needed affordable housing and our neighborhoods.
Parks in Peril: Why Portland’s Favorite Spaces Are Failing and What Must Change
The Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) system is facing an unprecedented infrastructure crisis driven not by a lack of appreciation, but by decades of poor management, misguided spending, and flawed financial oversight. The crisis is a direct consequence of PP&R’s failure to act as a proper steward of its assets, prioritizing short-term projects over long-term stability. The November levy (Measure 26-260) is a large 75% tax-rate increase that mostly pays operations; only ~2–3% goes to capital maintenance.
County Negligence Endangers Our Libraries
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson has presided over a safety crisis at the Central Library that can no longer be ignored. Despite years of warnings — from the County Auditor, from library staff, and from the community — the County has failed to act decisively. The result? A public library that feels less like a place of learning and community, and more like an unsafe day shelter plagued by violence, drugs, and disorder.
Why Housing First Isn’t Enough: The Case for a New Approach in Portland
When addressing addiction and homelessness, a new approach is needed. Focusing on healing and recovery first, combined with housing and support, leads to lasting change and a healthier community.
The Vienna Trip Reality Check
What Portland Politicians Will See on Your Dime – And Why It Won't Work Here
You’ve probably heard that three city councilors – Jamie Dunphy, Candace Avalos and Mitch Green – and their staff are going on a taxpayer-funded “junket” trip to Vienna, Austria, to study their 100-year-old social housing model.
While Portlanders are dealing with skyrocketing rents and watching homeless camps expand, our elected officials will spend a week touring European apartments that house 60% of Vienna's residents at below-market rates.
Sounds impressive, right? That's exactly what politicians want you to think. But here's what they didn't tell you about their expensive field trip.
Don’t Let City Hall Legalize Secrecy
From day one, Partnership for Progress has advocated for transparency in local government. It’s one of our four policy pillars and has guided our calls for clear data on homelessness, the deflection center, and budget priorities. That’s why the latest revelations out of City Hall are so troubling—and why the City Attorney’s response is even worse.
A Tale of Two Counties: Multnomah’s Flawed Deflection Program vs. King County’s (Seattle) Proven LEAD Model
The Multnomah County Deflection Center program, launched as an untested model, is not only failing to deliver results but is doing so at an astonishing and rising cost. It's time to ask a serious question: why are we investing in a failing program when a proven, cost-effective alternative exists just a few hours north in Seattle?
Op-ed: Affordability in Portland is facing death by a thousand cuts
Local governments are steadily layering new taxes, fees, and rate hikes—often under the radar—on the same group of residents and small businesses already struggling with affordability. While housing costs remain a central issue, the real problem is broader. From utility bills to permitting fees, and from local taxes to new surcharges, Portlanders are facing a steady stream of financial hits. Taken together, they represent a “death by a thousand cuts” that’s quietly but relentlessly undermining the city’s livability for working families.
Why the Multnomah County Deflection Program is Failing: A Critical Analysis
After reviewing the recently released Deflection Program First Quarter and Second Quarter reports, we at Partnership for Progress find alarming and worsening evidence that this program is not only underperforming but represents a massive misallocation of public resources at a time when overdose deaths continue to devastate our community.
Portland's Path Forward: A Bold Plan to Reclaim Our Streets and Restore Hope
Portland's homelessness crisis has reached a breaking point. Even though Multnomah County spent over $500 million in 2024 on homeless services, the number of people living on our streets continues to rise. Tragically, despite large increases in county and city funding for homeless services, the number of deaths in the homeless community has actually increased by 37% per year from 2019 and 2023 (the last year we have data). Importantly, the impact to public safety and neighborhood vibrancy should not be ignored. Our community's safety, public health, and reputation are all at stake.
The brutal truth: Our current approach has failed.
Rethinking Portland's Tax Narrative
Multnomah County’s “Preschool for All” (PFA) tax was launched with high hopes: an ambitious, progressive funding model aimed at providing universal early childhood education. But three years in, the results paint a starkly different picture. Revenues are falling, migration data signals a loss of high-income earners, and the program’s implementation is lagging behind its promise.
Even Governor Tina Kotek—long a champion of early childhood education—has now publicly called for urgent reforms, citing the program’s unsustainable tax model and operational failures. This article analyzes why Portland’s unique and overlapping tax structure is driving economic strain, how the PFA tax contributes to out-migration, and why reform is not just prudent—it’s imperative.
Your Voice, Your Impact: Success Stories
Your Voice, Your Impact: Success Stories
Over the last three months, Partnership for Progress (P4P) has proven that when Portland residents unite behind common sense policies, real change happens. Through strategic advocacy campaigns, P4P has galvanized community voices to secure critical wins for public safety, fiscal accountability, and government transparency. Here's how your engagement made the difference.
A Pivotal Moment for Portland’s Future
Portland is at a crossroads. With crime still disrupting too many lives, police response times still too slow, and livability concerns mounting, our city needs strong, smart investments in public safety now more than ever.
As Mayor Wilson explained, "We're looking at how the decision to remove $1.9 million in proposed PPB funding may impede our efforts to recruit a next generation of law enforcement first responders who will represent and serve our community, as well as the critical missions that get pounds of fentanyl and human trafficking victims off our streets."
City Council Votes to Cut Public Safety...For Now
The recent council budget vote demonstrates a dramatic divergence between public opinion and the council voting record. Taken together, the polls show that 77% of people surveyed felt that “nonemergency” police services were essential or very important; 69% supported doubling police staffing; and 55% disapproved cuts to the police budget. Yet the majority of City Council voted to cut the Mayor’s proposed public safety budget.
The Chief of Police has noted that the budget cuts will result in a reduction of essential services. Recruitment and hiring will be impacted as well as specific crime reduction missions that PPB is conducting in high-crime areas as well as special operations to disrupt criminal activity and improve neighborhood safety.
City Budget: Unsurprising new poll reveals that people actually like safe streets and neighborhoods!
This Wednesday, May 21st, our City Council will make critical decisions on the FY25-26 budget, decisions that will directly impact the safety and prosperity of our city. The results of recent polling are clear: Portlanders demand a well-staffed public safety system. We must act now to ensure our voices are heard.
Protect Progress: Invest in Public Safety and Justice in Multnomah County
Despite ongoing public safety challenges, the District Attorney's Office faces potential funding cuts that could undermine recent progress and jeopardize essential services.
Multnomah County Deflection Center: Costly Fiasco?
The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners launched its deflection program in September 2024 as an alternative to arrest for individuals with substance use disorders. After reviewing the recently released Deflection Program First Quarter report, we at Partnership for Progress find alarming evidence that this program is not only underperforming but represents a massive misallocation of public resources.
City Council Budget Survey
Portland faces a critical $93 million budget shortfall that will require difficult decisions. A recent survey of 600 residents conducted by DHM Research reveals how our city views potential solutions.