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The housing shortage in Portland seems to be improving – until you look at why. It’s not because Portland (with some of the most housing unfriendly policies in the country) is building more houses (they are a little bit) but because people are leaving.

What is happening in San Francisco—and in Portland, to a lesser extent—is that the housing shortage is temporarily improving, not because of the construction of new housing but because people are moving away to cheaper places.

In a case study on San Francisco, the Up for Growth report noted an issue that a report from the Common Sense Institute Oregon highlighted earlier this week.

“Household formation in these areas significantly decreased. Driven in no small part by the high cost of housing, households that could have formed in these communities formed somewhere else instead

Article

• https://www.wweek.com/news/2024/11/02/national-report-on-housing-shortage-places-oregon-among-10-states-struggling-most-to-produce-new-units/

The fantastic choir at St Mary’s Cathedral in Portland will be having an hour of singing and carols from 11:00pm until midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

Come in, listen or sign along, and find some peace and joy in a world so desperately in need of both.

If you want to know all the things going on around Portland for Christmas, here’s the best guides:

TravelPortland Guide

Portland Holiday Events

Portland Christmas Guide

Portland Christmas Guide 2024

Portland Holiday Events: Bazaars, Shopping, Christmas Lights, Local Markets

PDX Monthly’s list of holiday and light displays and events in and near Portland: https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/best-holiday-lights-displays-near-portland

Starts late Nov:

• Nov. 29 to Dec. 30 – Christmas Festival of Lights at the Grotto
• Nov. 22 to Jan. 5 – Portland Zoolights/Brewlights
• Winter Wonderland – Christmas lights at Portland International Raceway
• Hillsboro activities
  • Downtown tree lighting
  • Ice Skating and winter village at Orenco
  • Lightopia at Hillsboro stadium – KOIN
• Pioneer Courthouse Square Tree Lighting
• Holiday Food & Gift Festival
• Vancouver
  • Holidays on Franklin – complete with live entertainment, Santa, and blowing snow

Dec:

• Dec. 15–31 Peacock Lane Christmas Lights
• TUBA Christmas Concert
• Christmas Ship Parade
  • Tualatin Ship Parade and Sauna+Solstice party
  • Milwaukie Solstice and Ship viewing
• SantaCon – though now there are multiple competing groups and none are even remotely as interesting as the original Cacophony Society ones late 90’s early 2000’s.
• Pittock Mansion Holiday Display
• Benson Hotel Gingerbread Masterpiece

Comical googly eyes have appeared on statues and murals around the city of Bend, Oregon in December. The city has asked residents to top adding them since it costs money to remove them safely without damaging the art, but one Facebook user responded with “It would cost $0 to leave them on”

Article:

• https://news.sky.com/story/us-city-tells-residents-to-stop-sticking-googly-eyes-on-its-statues-13273478

In the ‘you can’t make this stuff up’ department, a stripper who was apparently having a mental health crisis at the local Casa Diablo vegan strip club stabbed the DJ 4 times in an apparent random attack – nearly killing him.

The DJ Duncan Allen was rushed to the hospital, underwent multiple hours-long surgeries, and is currently recovering at Legacy Emmanuel Medical Center.

Peyton Lathan, the stripper that stabbed him, was found by the police hiding in bushes alongside the road. During her arrest she said she is “pleading insanity”. She will be arraigned on her indictment Tuesday morning.

Article

• https://www.kptv.com/2024/12/14/portland-dj-hospitalized-after-being-stabbed-by-stripper/

Liz McCarthy, an Oregon Health Authority epidemiologist, released the finalized overdose data for 2023 and it shows a tripling death rate since legalization and harm reduction efforts were passed. Even worse – the rate is increasing dramatically with a doubling rate of almost every 2 years.

Even worse, most of the rest of the country are seeing a dramatic DECLINE in overdose deaths – so this is clearly a local/policy problem.

The newest numbers show 1,833 people died in Oregon from a drug overdose last year, compared to 1,383 in 2022, 1,189 in 2021, 824 in 2020 and 626 in 2019

This increase mirrors the same timeframe of drug decriminalization and hundreds of millions spent on harm reduction efforts in Oregon. The tripling of the overdose death rate in the same time is yet one more data point that proves that legalization and supposed harm reduction efforts do the very opposite.

Dramatically more people are dying now than even arrest and jail time. Jail was actually saving more lives than legalization and harm reduction.

Anyone that has compassion for the plight of drug addicts should demand change of policy. The sad reality is that many Oregonians continue to support these ideological policies when it’s clear they’re killing hundreds more people every year.

Articles:

• https://www.oregonlive.com/health/2024/12/oregon-overdose-deaths-grew-33-in-2023-health-data-shows.html

Despite record spending of up to $500 million per year ($531 million in 2023 alone), Oregon’s homelessness is becoming even worse. In fact, it’s the worst in the nation. Oregon is now #1 in rate of homeless families.

Axios reports that Oregon’s rate of unsheltered homelessness among children is 19.9 for every 10,000 kids, according to the report, which relied on point-in-time survey data, a census count conducted on one night.
The second-ranked state, Hawaii, had a rate less than half that of Oregon, with 7.2 of every 10,000 kids experiencing unsheltered homelessness. The national average was just 1.4.

Article:

• https://www.axios.com/local/portland/2024/12/06/homeless-families-children-shelter-women

I found out that the Prost brewery here in Portland hosts a free annual Thanksgiving meal. They ask for volunteers to help serve and offer the food free. That’s pretty cool.

Find other free and cheap things around Portland here.

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