Lane County’s homelessness grows amid shortage of affordable housing 

Jon Decker sleeps each night in a tent inside a cavernous indoor facility filled with 86 tents along the 400 block of Garfield Street in Eugene.

Each tent shelters a homeless person from the harshness of sleeping out on the streets. Microwaves and showers are available for clients. Six huts are outdoors for people to sleep in.

The needs are high: About 750 people are on the waiting list for a spot at 410 Safe Sleep Site, run by the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County. 

Decker’s path — and high demand for shelter space — are not unusual in Lane County, a region with a growing homeless population. Lane County’s Point-in-Time count for homeless people, conducted on the night of Jan. 29, found 3,509 people, both living in shelters and unsheltered.

That’s a 14% increase compared to 2024, which found 3,085 people. Lane County’s Human Services Division documents the one-night annual count along with other agencies and groups through a combination of collecting data from programs that serve people experiencing homelessness and outreach surveys to people who are not accessing services. 

Lane County released the results of the Point-in-Time count Thursday. The results underscore the need for more affordable housing in the region, Lane County officials and providers who serve people in homelessness say.

“We’re seeing that households need to have two, three, sometimes even four times the income of the rent that they’re asked to pay in order to qualify for a unit, and that’s very difficult for the average public, let alone someone who has low income,” said Kate Budd, manager of Lane County’s Human Services Division.

For Decker, the low availability of affordable housing is a challenge — and he’s on a fixed income. Decker, 57, once worked as a bouncer at bars. For the last several years, he’s been unable to work due to health problems from diabetes. Doctors had to amputate two toes on his right foot, making it harder for him to balance.

For two and a half years, he’s lived in a tent at the site while waiting for affordable housing. His monthly disability check is about $1,100 — not even enough to cover the costs of a one-bedroom apartment. 

He figures that with other costs, he could afford about $500 a month for an apartment. 

“There ain’t nothing in this town for $500,” he said. “This town isn’t housing-friendly.”

A small fridge in his tent keeps his diabetes medication cold. He has access to showers and a microwave for food. He spends a lot of time in his tent and he said he’s grateful for the space.

“It’s pretty quiet here,” he said. “It’s safe.”

About the count 

Lane County’s Point-in-Time count includes people in different settings, such as shelters like St. Vinnie’s and others across Lane County. The harsh weather on Jan. 29 offered an advantage to counters: Nearly 500 cold-weather shelter beds were opened to save lives. As a result, it was easier to more accurately count people who were unhoused, the county said in a release.

Still, the 2025 count also points to a broader long-term trend of rising homelessness numbers in Lane County. The 2023 count two years ago counted 2,824 people. The 2025 count is 25% higher than that one.

The January count included 914 people in emergency shelters; 96 people in transitional housing that can last for up to 24 months; and 2,004 people without a formal shelter. Another 209 people were in alternative shelter sites, which can include rest stops and designated spots where people can camp in vehicles. 

The Point-in-Time count is used as a snapshot for policymakers, local agencies and nonprofits and it shows long-term trends over time. 

In Eugene and Springfield, another 33,210 units of housing are needed in the next 20 years to meet the needs for housed and unhoused people, the county said. And rental vacancy rates in Eugene-Springfield are 3.5% — the lowest in Oregon’s large metropolitan areas. This makes it a challenge for people who face other barriers, like low credit scores or low incomes.

At St. Vinnie’s, the nonprofit shelters about 450 people at its various facilities and locations. These include an emergency overnight shelter, an overnight dormitory-style shelter for unhoused families with children, the indoor Safe Sleep site and a separate one next to it with 54 spots for a combination of recreational vehicles or smaller vehicles. 

But those figures can change, such as when warming centers open up due to cold weather emergencies. The emergency cold-weather shelter network is triggered when nighttime temperatures are forecast to drop below 30 degrees.

Bethany Cartledge, St. Vinnie’s executive director, said people who lack housing often are employed but face a lack of affordable housing in the region. It challenges the stereotype that homeless people do not want to work or succeed in life, she said.

“These are folks who are getting up, going to work every day, but are still at our shelter,” she said. 

The people who come in have compelling stories, she said. They serve as a reminder that many people live paycheck to paycheck. And they’re stories that can happen to anyone: a single father who lost housing after the house where he lived burned down. A mother who’s fleeing domestic violence. A family with a broken-down vehicle without the money to fix it.

“I always recommend for folks to come and volunteer, because when you come and you work alongside these folks, when you’re serving a meal, when you’re getting to know them and their various stories, it rehumanizes people,” Cartledge said.

As for Decker, he’s waiting for an affordable housing slot to open up.

“Just keep chugging forward,” he said. “That’s all you can do.”