FY 2025 Q1 Results

More than 1,000 people housed by Homeless Services Department providers in first three months of FY 25

Between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2024, the Homeless Services Department in Multn and its network of providers helped 1,044 people leave homelessness for housing and sheltered 4,388 people.

These outcomes from the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2024-25 come from recently released reports: the Homeless Services Department’s online dashboard, which shows systemwide numbers, and a recently published quarterly report focused on the Supportive Housing Services Measure.

The Homeless Services Department also showed that it is continuing to efficiently use voter-approved Supportive Housing Services Measure dollars, with $28 million spent in the first quarter of FY 2025 — above its financial targets set with Metro, and more than three times what it had spent by that time last fiscal year.

Homeless Services Department FY 2025 Q1 outcomes

Icon of a house 1,000 people housed
Shelter bed 4,338 people sheltered
Key 2,775 people served with eviction prevention services

'We are hitting our marks'

  • In just three months (July-September 2024), the Homeless Services Department and its providers sheltered thousands of people, and helped more than 1,000 people leave homelessness for housing.
  • Underspending is old news. The Homeless Services Department is exceeding its Supportive Housing Services spending target for the fiscal year, and already spent three times more in the first quarter than it had by the same time last year.
  • Since 2020, the County and the Homeless Services Department have opened 17 shelters, in addition to nine other shelters opened by the City of Portland. Several more are in development to open over the next year, showing an ongoing commitment to expanded shelter services.

While an above-target spending rate isn’t an outcome in itself, efficient spending directly correlates to additional housing, shelter and eviction prevention services in the community.

“These reports show that we are hitting our marks and doing what the community has asked of us: effectively using our resources to house and shelter people experiencing homelessness. Despite continued rhetoric to the contrary, we have turned the corner and spent Supportive Housing Services dollars efficiently,” said Homeless Services Department Director Dan Field. “That being said, our work is far from over, and we are working urgently to respond to the ongoing homelessness crisis in our community.”

A row of tiny home shelter pods

Highlights from the first quarter of FY 2025

  • Providers helped 1,044 people leave homelessness for housing — with a significant portion (421 people) housed with Supportive Housing Services dollars. 
  • Providers sheltered 4,338 people with funding from the Homeless Services Department.
  • Providers supported 2,775 people with eviction prevention services funded by the Homeless Services Department.
  • 92% of people in permanent supportive housing were still housed one year later.
  • 88% of people who had used a rapid rehousing voucher were still housed one year after their subsidy ended.
  • The Homeless Services Department spent $28 million in Supportive Housing Services dollars — above its financial targets set with Metro, and more than three times what it spent this time last fiscal year.

Outcomes build on previous year’s work

The first-quarter outcomes show a continued significant turnaround in the department’s ability to effectively use its allocation of Supportive Housing Services dollars. Last fiscal year, the Homeless Services Department spent every dollar it received from the Metro Supportive Housing Services Measure and also began significantly reducing carryover funding from previous years.

Changes being contemplated by Metro to the Supportive Housing Services Measure will result in more uncertainty in future spending, and fewer available services. This also comes as Metro collected fewer dollars than forecast for the current fiscal year.

As previously shared, in fiscal year 2023-24, the Homeless Services Department’s providers helped 5,477 people leave homelessness for housing, with a significant portion (2,322 people) housed with Supportive Housing Services-funded programs. Providers also sheltered 9,101 people, with 1,160 people served in Supportive Housing Services-funded shelter beds.

Since 2020, the County and the Homeless Services Department have opened 17 shelters, and several more are in development to open over the next year.

Those 17 County-opened shelters are in addition to nine other shelters opened in the same timeframe by the City of Portland, all contributing to a significant and ongoing expansion of emergency services during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.