SALEM, Ore. - This week, an army of volunteers visits shelters, food pantries, tent cities and even jails in an attempt to count the number of homeless people in every state. In the 2008 survey, Oregon topped the list for the highest per-capita number of homeless people, at just over one-half percent of the population.

Tonight in Salem, about 100 people will attend an orientation to learn to do the surveys in Marion and Polk counties.
Janeen Baker, who directs the Resource Assistance Program at the Salem YWCA, has seen a record turnout of volunteers - and says for many, assisting with the count will be an eye-opening experience.

"One of our outreach teams actually found a woman and her family in the briar bushes behind Salvation Army, near the river. That's where they were staying. I don't think people really understand that it's the children who are homeless. The average age of a homeless person is nine years old."

Last year's one-night tally counted just over 17,000 Oregonians, including 4,300 children. The information is used by the federal government to develop housing policies and allocate money for service providers to the homeless.

In Portland, the street count is done every other year. This year, they'll do a shelter count instead, focusing on those who show up at warming centers and homeless shelters. Marc Jolin, executive director of the homeless outreach group JOIN, says many shelters in the Portland area are full.

"One of the things that we count with a shelter count is all of the people who came and wanted shelter, and couldn't get it. So, one indicator of whether the situation has gotten worse for people out there would be that a higher number of people were turned away this year, than were turned away last year."

Neil Donovan, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, says the one-night count is a valuable resource, but it won't reflect a growing category of homeless people: those staying with relatives or friends temporarily, because of foreclosures and job losses.

"Right now, the indicators are much more episodic: The homeless people are gonna be homeless for a month, and then they're not homeless; homeless for a month, not homeless. To take a snapshot on one day is not going to count the true impact of what's happening."

The homeless counts have been criticized for being unscientific and even political, but Donovan says they give social service groups an opportunity to find out more about the populations they serve. In most communities, the counts are taking place this Wednesday or Thursday.



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As Virginia evictions rise, one group is helping low-income renters fight back.

Before the pandemic, evictions peaked at 16,000 in January 2020. An eviction moratorium kept renters housed during part of the pandemic but evictions are growing again.

Phil Storey, director of the Eviction Defense Center at the Virginia Poverty Law Center, said his office helps people navigate housing court.

"We wanted to provide not just information about things they can bring up to the judge to try and affect what happens but also some tools that'll help them do that without having to act as if they were experienced lawyers," Storey explained.

He added eviction laws are better for tenants, although they still give landlords an advantage. Affordable housing significantly declined in the state leaving many people unable to afford housing. The Eviction Defense Center operates on two websites. English speakers can use FightMyEviction.org and Spanish speakers can use NoDesalojo.org.

While the Eviction Defense Center is still relatively new, Storey is looking for ways to improve and build on it. He added they want to learn from the users taking advantage of the tools being offered.

"Obviously, we'll be able to go sort of peek behind the curtain and see which paths people are following through the information," Storey noted. "If some of them end up as dead ends or if people end up backing out of the decision tree, or things like that. We'll learn things about how to make that all better."

New York's 2025 budget takes proactive steps to address rural housing.

In the budget, $10 million was allocated for improvements to rural housing built by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Section 515 program. Rural housing organizations asked for $25 million but are grateful the state is taking action.

Mike Borges, executive director of the Rural Housing Coalition of New York, said another bill the Legislature should pass makes the Mobile and Manufactured Home Replacement Program permanent.

"Basically what that does is provide grants to low- to moderate-income people to replace their mobile homes that are dilapidated and unsafe," Borges explained.

He would also like to see administration fees increase for nonprofits taking part in the Access to Home Program, which provides accessibility modification for low- to moderate-income residents. Reports showed it got requests totaling $12 million but only got enough funding for $1 million in improvements. The Senate is poised to pass both bills, leaving the Assembly as the final hurdle.

However, the budget was not perfect for rural housing. Borges said one shortcoming of the 2025 budget were cuts to the RESTORE program, which provides emergency repairs for low-to-moderate-income seniors. He said New York should take action now to continue improving rural housing preservation and development.

"We need a comprehensive housing initiative that looks at the obstacles to building and renovating, repairing housing in rural communities," Borges contended. "The three main obstacles to that are local capacity, infrastructure and targeted programs for rural housing."

He added rural areas do not often have the same resources and capacity as urban communities. Because rural housing is in short supply because of the aging housing stock, there have been stark population declines from rural New York communities.

Orange County's Supreme Court reversed a decision letting the city of Newburgh implement state tenant protections.

The city declared a housing emergency in 2023 when a study showed a vacancy rate less than 4%. The lawsuit overturning the protections found that the study was flawed, leading the court to invalidate it.

Daniel Atonna, political coordinator for the group For the Many, said this leaves tenants in a precarious position.

"This rips away protections for tenants in over 730 apartments in the city of Newburgh," he said, "at a time when tenants all across the Hudson Valley, all across New York, are facing difficult conditions as landlords are trying to evict them and raise their rent."

The petitioner's attorney said if unchecked, the city's actions would have made drastic changes to the rental market without legal basis.

This ruling also keeps Newburgh from setting up a rent guidelines board to decide whether rent-stabilized tenants' rents should stay the same, increase or decrease. Atonna said he hopes the city redoes the survey and implements these protections.

Atonna thinks Newburgh should opt into the newly passed Good Cause Eviction protections. This could better protect tenants, although some housing advocates feel these protections are ineffective. He said many residents support having tenant protections.

"Because it's meant stabilization for the community, right? It means a strong community where their neighbors aren't getting uprooted and evicted every couple of years," he said. "So, this was something that was going to be good for everyone."

A 2021 survey found 77% of Newburgh residents would leave the city because of high rents. It also found that people spend more than 30% of their income on rent.


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