Clark County’s latest homelessness report lays out a stark reality: at least 8,202 people from 3,830 households experienced homelessness at some point during 2025. That count includes 2,334 children and a disproportionate share of Black, Indigenous and People of Color, who made up 42 percent of those affected. More than half of those tracked, 55 percent, were classified as newly homeless.
The strain on the system showed up on the phones too. The county’s housing hotline fielded more than 50,000 calls last year, while 2,549 households sought emergency shelter. Only 1,292 of those households were actually able to get a shelter bed.
What the report found
According to an annual system report by Council for the Homeless, the figures come from Clark County’s Homeless Management Information System and are compiled in the 2025 Homeless Crisis Response System report. The data shows there were 443 year-round shelter beds in 2025, an increase of 22 beds over 2024.
Once people make it inside, they are spending a bit less time there. The average shelter stay dropped from 111 days to 91 days, a 20-day improvement compared with the previous year. Even with that progress, the same report notes that more than 3,200 households were assessed for housing programs in 2025, yet fewer were ultimately placed into those programs than in 2024.
Local leaders react
Council for the Homeless Chief Executive Sesany Fennie-Jones warned that the modest improvements do not mean the pressure is off local families. Too many households, she said, are still right on the edge.
“Too many of our neighbors are still one financial setback or one rent increase away from losing their housing,” Fennie-Jones said, as reported by KATU. County officials and partner agencies that contributed to the data say they intend to use the report to fine-tune how resources are targeted under the county’s five-year homeless housing plan.
Why people became homeless
The reasons people lost their housing are not exactly mysterious, according to Council for the Homeless. In the report, 20 percent of respondents said they became homeless because they could not afford housing, while 19 percent cited domestic violence.
The vast majority of people experiencing homelessness in the report had local roots. The data shows 87.6 percent had previously lived in Washington, 81.4 percent had previously lived in Clark County, and 46.8 percent were last housed in Vancouver. Taken together, those numbers point to housing affordability and local system capacity as the main drivers behind Clark County’s homelessness totals.
Policy and next steps
Clark County’s official response is organized around a five-year Local Homeless Housing Plan adopted in November 2025. That plan aims to expand shelter options and increase deeply affordable housing, according to Clark County.
Local media and advocates have been tracking similar warning signs for months, including shifts in Point-in-Time counts and the rise in families losing housing that was highlighted in earlier coverage of more kids landing on the streets. County and nonprofit leaders say the fresh system-wide numbers will now guide how they prioritize shelter placements, diversion funding, and rental assistance as they work to implement the plan.
