Three Years Into Kotek’s Homelessness Response More Funding, Promises, Homelessness as Oregon’s Count Doubles Since 2015
Oregon — Oregon’s 2025 count identified 27,202 people experiencing homelessness, compared with 13,226 in 2015. The increase of about 106% was steeper than the increases recorded over the same period in California and Washington. Oregon also counted 16,500 people living outside shelter in 2025, more than twice its 2015 unsheltered count of 7,395.
The figures come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s point-in-time reports, which count people in shelters, transitional housing and unsheltered locations during a designated period. They offer a consistent starting point for comparing states, but they are not a count of everyone who experiences homelessness during a year. HUD also warns that local changes in how people are found and counted can affect results. files.hudexchange.info
| Year | Oregon | California | Washington |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 13,226 | 115,738 | 19,419 |
| 2018 | 14,476 | 129,972 | 22,304 |
| 2020 | 14,655 | 161,548 | 22,923 |
| 2022 | 17,959 | 171,521 | 25,211 |
| 2024 | 22,875 | 187,084 | 31,554 |
| 2025 | 27,202 | 181,934 | 31,721 |
Across the full decade, California’s count rose about 57% and Washington’s about 63%. Oregon’s increase began well before Gov. Tina Kotek took office in January 2023: its count had already risen to 17,959 by 2022. The subsequent increase does not, by itself, establish what effect her policies had.
Who was counted in Oregon
Adults in households without children made up the largest group in Oregon’s 2025 HUD report: 23,042 people, or about 85% of the total. That category includes adults living alone, couples without children and groups of adults. People in households with at least one adult and one child accounted for 3,678, while 482 were counted in households composed only of children. About 61% of everyone counted was unsheltered.
The largest racial or ethnicity category in the 2025 report was White, with 17,759 people, or about 65% of the statewide count. The report also lists 2,368 Black people; 2,068 people in its “Hispanic/Latina/e/o Only” category; and 1,270 American Indian, Alaska Native or Indigenous people. HUD changed how it presents race and ethnicity in recent reports, so those categories should not be treated as directly interchangeable with every earlier year. Nor do the raw shares alone show whether a group is overrepresented relative to Oregon’s population.
HUD identified 10,207 people as chronically homeless, about 38% of the 2025 total. Its report separately lists 6,014 people with severe mental illness and 4,977 with chronic substance abuse. Those categories can overlap with each other and with chronic homelessness; they cannot be added together to describe distinct shares of the population.
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What the latest increase can and cannot show
Oregon’s statewide count rose from 22,875 in 2024 to 27,202 in 2025, an apparent 19% increase. Its unsheltered count rose from 14,191 to 16,500. Those statewide changes require particular caution because Multnomah County changed its counting methodology. The organization coordinating counts across much of rural Oregon says the change precludes a direct year-over-year comparison for that county. Excluding Multnomah County, it reports that unsheltered homelessness declined 6.4% in the remaining counties.
The governor’s office has emphasized that 6.4% decline in comparable counties. It is a relevant measure, but it is not a statewide decline: the published statewide HUD totals rose, while the change in Multnomah County’s methods prevents a clean assessment of how much of that increase reflects a change on the ground. Portland State University researchers, in work funded by Oregon Housing and Community Services, likewise attribute the broader increase to a combination of actual growth, expanded shelter capacity and improved data collection.
Kotek’s response and the spending behind it
On her first full day in office, Kotek declared a homelessness emergency in regions where unsheltered homelessness had risen sharply. Her initial goals included preventing homelessness for 8,750 households, adding 600 low-barrier shelter beds and rehousing 1,200 unsheltered households. The administration subsequently extended and expanded the emergency response while pursuing a statewide housing production goal.
In October 2025, Kotek and OHCS reported that their efforts had rehoused 5,539 households, created or supported 6,286 shelter beds and provided prevention assistance to 25,942 households since 2023. Those are program activity figures reported by the agencies running the response, not an independently established reduction in statewide homelessness. The shelter figure combines beds created with beds maintained, and helping a household avoid an immediate housing loss does not prove it otherwise would have appeared in a future point-in-time count. The October release describes 5,539 households rehoused; a later governor’s release describes 5,539 people. The administration’s differing units make that particular claim difficult to compare without its underlying records.
The funding is substantial, though budget totals cover different activities and should not be presented as homelessness spending alone. The Legislature’s 2025–27 housing agency budget bill drew attention for its roughly $2.6 billion total. Within the approved housing stabilization funding, OHCS lists $204.9 million to maintain shelters, $50.3 million for rehousing and $87.4 million for long-term rental assistance. It lists $44.6 million for eviction prevention across two bills. OPB reported that lawmakers funded eviction prevention and rehousing well below Kotek’s requests, despite preserving major shelter funding.
The record shows both services delivered and a problem that remains large. More shelter beds can bring people indoors and make them visible in the count; rehousing can move people out of homelessness even as others lose housing. Oregon’s decade-long rise, its high 2025 unsheltered count and the limitations in the latest county comparison all matter when judging the response. Claims of success require evidence that those efforts are reducing homelessness sustainably statewide, beyond the number of services funded or households assisted.
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A Bill of Particulars on Oregon.
We, the Oregon Statewide Jural Assembly, are the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God involved in a jure ARTICLE I Section 1 provisional government on Oregon. The Constitutional republican form of government, exactly. The United States of America’s Constitution circa 1859 and Oregon’s Constitution circa 1859 that is the contract on Oregon. Every new state and Amendment made the previous iteration an artifact. That is how it was designed. There has not been a new state or amendment since 1859. All Federal Horse-radish or something else.
Martial Law, Lieber Code, FEMA color of law, de facto, incorporated for governance not government. That is what we have. It is all written down and we, on Oregon, have followed the prompts. We are no longer deceived.
8 years step by step-by-step. The State of Oregon aka STATE OF OREGON is a RICO Organization operated by the Oregon State Bar and its flunky non attorney sycophants. Our Offices of Sheriff are without Sheriffs with proper credentials and have not self corrected.
We do not violate the laws of the land and soil. We even function in the jure against your de facto without violating your ORS. You do not abide by the ORS. Did you get 5 years of Constitutional education starting no later than the 8th grade? That ORS.
Kate Brown violated the Militia and the NG acquiesced. The OSP did murder. Kate and the Legislature condoned murder. They made it OK to kill Lavoy. Tina Kotek has no honor. Nor do you when you do not stand and deliver and stand and receive. The old Legislature did pass a law and the AG stated it was unConstitutional and everyone agreed. To violate our unalienable rights. It all comes back to “Oregon State Bar Attorneys.”
Oregon is the 33rd and last state among the several states in Congress Assembled. The other 17 are territories. As defined by Bouvier’s Law Dictionary 6th ed 2 vol 1856. Read the opening of Nevada’s Constitution.
The United States of America is a Confederation and perpetual Union that was replaced by a Coup March 1861. It is reversible by jure states taking the proper action against de facto incorporated governance. We are no longer deceived.
Our ARTICLE I Section 1, http://WWW.ORSJA.ORG shows 8 years of discoveries on Oregon. They are accompanied by a proper solution to the discoveries. On our website, on the You Tube and Brighteon Libraries, weekly archives of 3 CTV channels ½ hour weekly for 6 years. Not one rebuttal from way over 38 Prosecutors on Oregon; way over 36 Sheriffs; two OSP Superintendents; two ONG Generals; seven Sec of State, three SoS Deputies, 2 A.G., DOC. DAS. Also the USDOJ, USMS, FBI, Courthouse 740, DHS, ICE, USMC. USSoS identify many that have been notified, and acquiesced and defaulted. No doubt the attorneys told them what to do. They chose their de facto (Amended) VII and they need to abandon the positions you cannot lawfully occupy. Self correct or leave.
Trust, however verify as is required; every single detail. The only Sheriff in the current 36 with a seat at the table is Sam Elliott on Yamhill County. The rest of you failed miserably. Sam stands and delivers and he stands and receives, he needs to self correct. Now, that he and the Yamhill Commissioners know where the deficits are. You do not fail at the first defect. You correct the errors and go on. Judiciary Act 1789 Article 32. Oregon is a common law state.
Ask your County Trial Court Administrator about calling a Grand Jury. Or ask the DA. Their jury pool is US citizens. That is de facto (Amended) VII that is the jurisdiction of “He who can be deceived let him.” That is not ARTICLE VII 1859, or Article IV Section 4 as we are guaranteed.
OSJA has called nine (9) Grand Juries. All nine appeared over the last eight (8) years. In which they have found True Bills and Presentments. From our jury pool of several hundred Oregonian men and women on the land and soil, ARTICLE I Section 1 social compact on Oregon. People, men and women with our progeny, on the land and soil of Oregon the state. Without ruler or subjects, sovereign by definition Bouvier’s 6th .
15 Trial juries for our Article III one supreme Court Claiming original jurisdiction ARTICLE VII, Amendment VII Civilian common law and equity Court of record with ex parte Milligan implemented.
Many or most of you won’t look up a thing. Won’t do the work but still think you have an opinion. You have to know what is being discussed and by whom. This is a function of your job. Not to be ignorant and realize stupid has no cure. This has been and still is a slog. A difficult and rewarding social compact for eight (8) years.
Our responsibility is Oregon. Then you need to decide! Do you want to do it as a person, a slave to the de facto? Or one of the people with all of your unalienable rights without infringement. And you are educated and conscientious enough to know it. On Oregon.
Do you have a Jural Assembly for your state (32) or territory (17). It takes 5 to assemble a social compact and 30 days with lots of effort and $200.00 FRN for a seal and postage to get the paper work completed. You must do it yourself, no one can do it for you. We cannot do it alone.