The Portland area made a $20M bet on homeless outreach. Here’s what that looks like

Jaqualynn Dettmer crouched low in front of one of the two tents set up under the Interstate 205 onramp at Southeast Woodstock Boulevard. Both were covered in tarps against the early December chill. Another tarp covered a collection of bicycles.

“Do you want a sandwich?” Dettmer asked after greeting the people staying inside the tent. They did. Dettmer, the leader of the Salvation Army’s mobile outreach team, gestured to one of her colleagues, who brought over several sack lunches.

This is the work of an outreach team, of which there are now dozens across the Portland area, funded almost entirely by money from the Metro homeless services tax. The tax on high-income earners and businesses has funneled nearly $1 billion into homeless services in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties since 2021, fundamentally altering what services local governments can provide. That tax could be up for renewal on the November ballot…

Read the full story on The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Photo by Mark Graves.