April 5, 2017 - Oregon cities and counties are making it a crime for people to be homeless. Our new report, Decriminalizing Homelessness: Why Right to Rest Legislation is the High Road for Oregon, shows that basic acts of survival are being criminalized all across the state. 

 

Our research found that Oreogn's most populous cities and counties have 224 laws that criminalize necessary life-sustaining activities like sitting, lying, resting, or eating in public. When someone has nowhere else to do these things, fines, fees, and a criminal record only further entrenches them in homelessness. Oregonians living on the street are forced make impossible choices to go about their daily lives.

 

Homelessness and housing are a growing problem in Oregon.

 

 

The region has seen the third highest increase in homelessness nationwide, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In 2015, HUD counted 13,100 adults and children experiencing homelessness in Oregon. Of those Oregonians experiencing homelessness, HUD found one-in-ten was a military veteran, one-in-seven was identified as having a serious mental illness, one-in-five reported being a victim of domestic violence, and nearly one-in-three were families.