Dozens die on Portland’s streets

County official: Homeless deaths there ‘not normal’

PORTLAND, Ore. — Eighty homeless people died on the streets in the Portland metropolitan area last year, adding to a tally of more than 350 people who have perished while homeless in the past six years, local authorities have reported.

The number marks a 70 percent increase in homeless deaths in Multnomah County, home to Portland, since officials first began tracking them in 2011 and is in line with similar large jumps in homeless deaths in other large West Coast cities where the homelessness has surged.

Portland uses the annual report as a barometer to track its progress addressing a crisis that has also overwhelmed cities from Seattle to San Diego.

In Seattle, a similar count found 91 homeless people died in 2016 and 115 perished in San Diego. In California’s Sacramento County, that number was 71 people, and in Santa Clara County, 132 homeless people died in 2016 — a 164 percent increase since 2011, according to data from county medical examiners in those counties.

“These neighbors are literally dying right in front of us,” Deborah Kafoury, chairwoman of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, said. “This is unacceptable. This is not normal.”

Numbers released earlier this month by the U.S. Department of Housing and Development found the overall homeless population in California, Oregon and Washington grew by 14 percent over the past two years.

The part of that population considered unsheltered — living in vehicles, tents or on the streets — climbed 23 percent to 108,000, in part due a shortage of affordable housing.