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Data released by Mayor Keith Wilson’s office last week shows that over half of his emergency shelter locations are struggling to reach 50% occupancy on any given night.
The release of the data comes as critics, including some members of the Portland City Council’s progressive caucus, question both Wilson’s shelter strategy and his decision to reinstate the city’s camping ban, which has so far this month resulted in dozens of shelter placements, along with dozens of arrests on outstanding warrants unrelated to camping.
Three of the mayor’s shelters failed to reach 50% occupancy in the fall months, the data shows: St. Stephen’s Church in downtown Portland, Central Church of the Nazarene in Southeast Portland, and the SAFES Shelter run by the Salvation Army on W. Burnside Street.
Three other shelters exceeded 50% occupancy in all months documented in the data, including the Northrup Shelter in the Pearl District and the Moore Street Shelter in North Portland.
The data provides more detail to the mayor’s admission to other government officials last month that his campaign to open shelters across the city has led to many beds sitting empty. That disclosure drew pointed criticism from Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson.
Wilson, as is his wont, struck an optimistic note.
“Transparent data helps us make strategic, real-time decisions about how to deploy resources when and where they are needed most,” Wilson said in a statement. “By tracking utilization trends across our shelter network, we can flex beds in and out of operation as needs arise. We are ensuring that we’re both efficient and compassionate in how we respond to Portlanders seeking shelter.”
The mayor and his shelter team have explained in public forums that the new shelters will take time to fill, in part because the city must inform people living on the streets that there are available beds, and also must gain the trust of participants over time.
The steep increase in shelter beds this year, and the latest surge this fall, occurred right as Wilson decided to reinstate the city’s camping ban on Nov. 1.
The council’s progressive caucus, called Peacock, has come out swinging at Wilson’s ban reinstatement, offering sharp words on the dais, social media and in press releases saying that the ban is cruel, expensive and fails to actually prevent homelessness. But Wilson has continued to open overnight shelter beds, and to enforce the camping ban, in his pursuit of ending unsheltered homelessness by the end of the year.
