A total of 12,034 people were homeless in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties in January, when outreach workers and volunteers spent a week asking people two dozen questions, including where they slept on the night of Jan. 22.

The so-called Point-in-Time Count remained high despite a Supportive Housing Services tax that has raised $1.3 billion since wealthy metro-area residents began paying it in 2021. The money is distributed to the counties to spend as they see fit.

It’s tempting to compare the 2025 figure to one from 2023, the last time the three counties conducted a PIT count, but doing that is fraught because much of the increase—61%—is likely due to better counting by Multnomah County, which has the vast majority of people experiencing homelessness: 10,526, or 87% of the

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