At Community Warehouse, we see how close our neighbors are to losing their housing. We meet families sleeping on the floor after finally securing a roof overhead. We see how one job transition or medical emergency can unravel a family’s stability. And we know: keeping people housed is not only the humane and right thing to do. It’s the most cost-effective and efficient way to reduce homelessness.
That’s why I’m deeply frustrated — and frankly baffled — by a trend we’re seeing at local, state, and federal levels: an overreliance on shelter investments while homelessness prevention services like emergency rent assistance and eviction defense are gutted.
The latest example comes from Salem, where the Oregon Legislature just cut 74% of the funding needed to maintain eviction prevention services, slashing the budget from $173 million to just $44.6 million. That means programs that kept over 27,000 households housed last year will now reach fewer than 6,000. Let that sink in: over 20,000 Oregon households left unsupported and at risk of eviction and homelessness during a declared statewide housing emergency.
A 2022 Portland State study estimated evictions could cost Oregon $720 million to $4.7 billion annually in downstream impacts — costs to shelter, healthcare, child welfare and the justice system. Compared to this staggering cost (let alone the long-term human impact of housing instability), restoring these cuts in prevention funding would be a bargain. I can find no logical justification for this disinvestment.
Meanwhile, funding for shelters — the most expensive and least-preferred intervention — continues to rise.
Shelters matter. But they are not housing.
The Housing First model, the most evidence-based approach to ending homelessness, proves that immediate access to permanent housing with long-term supportive services that center recovery, participant choice and community reintegration works. This holistic strategy is more affordable, effective and far less traumatic than shelters or rehousing after eviction.
And it’s what people want. People want housing, not a shelter bed. They want a table to eat at with their kids, a safe place to sleep and the dignity of a home. At Community Warehouse, we furnish homes for people transitioning out of crises like homelessness, but our work depends on people keeping their housing in the first place.
Unfortunately, that stability is slipping. A recent report from Welcome Home Coalition showed that in 2024, only 1 in 5 people exiting Multnomah County shelters moved into permanent housing. That means 80% of people returned to homelessness, stayed in shelter, or disappeared from the system. Why are we expanding our current shelter programs when they fail 80% of the time to meet rehousing goals?
Shelters should serve as a short-term safety net, an emergency response for people fleeing domestic violence, displaced by disaster or facing an immediate crisis. But shelters are not a long-term solution to homelessness. Without a clear and supported pathway into permanent housing, shelter becomes a holding pattern — not a way out. To truly end homelessness, shelter must be connected to affordable housing and long-term, individualized support.
We’re encouraged to see $166 million in the Portland Housing Bureau’s budget for affordable housing development. But when the combined city and county investment in permanent housing is only 20% more than shelter spending, something is deeply off balance.
As this year’s legislative and budgeting sessions close, the consequences of these decisions are just beginning. We urge local and state government agencies to look at how to rebalance investments: prioritizing affordable housing preservation, rent assistance, eviction prevention and supportive services in proportion to shelter spending. We must center the voices of frontline providers and people directly impacted by homelessness by investing in long-term, community-rooted solutions. Let’s finally commit to a system that prevents housing loss, rather than reacting to it.
We can’t afford to wait. And we can afford to do better.
Anna Kurnizki is the executive director of Community Warehouse, a Portland-based nonprofit that provides essential home furnishings to thousands of families each year. She began at the organization as an intern 13 years ago and has since served in multiple leadership roles, including development director. Her work is grounded in the belief that stable, furnished housing is a critical part of preventing homelessness and building long-term community wellbeing.
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This article appears in July 23, 2025.