In the span of a year, the Portland, Oregon, area lost $1 billion in personal income tax dollars, and one local activist and attorney says that rampant crime and homelessness — not the effects of the pandemic — are to blame for the mass exodus of higher-income residents.
An analysis of IRS data by Oregon Live found that Multnomah County, where Portland is located, saw net 14,257 fewer tax returns filed in 2021 than in 2020. These residents and dependents took their tax dollars with them, resulting in an unprecedented loss of $1 billion in taxes that would have been collected by the county.
Most residents who left the Portland area during the pandemic were comparatively wealthy, having an average income 14% higher than those who moved away in 2019. During the same time period, the average income of Multnomah County declined, according to Oregon Live.
“Most big cities saw a return of their residents after 2020,” Portland trial attorney Kristin Olson told the Washington Examiner. “Portland did not.”
“What differentiates Portland from other big cities in the U.S. is that we have an enormous homelessness and fentanyl addiction epidemic and extremely high taxes for these same issues that paradoxically only seem to worsen the very problems they’re supposed to solve,” she said.
Portland has become one of the fastest-shrinking cities in the United States, as reported by FOX 12 Oregon. From July 2021 to July 2022, the city lost 8,308 residents.
Multnomah County had a 2.5% population decline from April 2020 to July 2022, according to the Census Bureau, making it the county with the largest population decline in Oregon.
“It won’t be a surprise if more people continue to leave,” said Olson.
Meanwhile, Downtown Dallas, similar to Portland, continues to struggle with crime and homelessness.
For instance, crime rates in Downtown Dallas are notably higher compared to nearby Fort Worth’s downtown area, which is patrolled by a dedicated police unit and private security guards.
A majority of Dallas residents consider both crime and homelessness to be “major” problems, according to a satisfaction survey commissioned by the City government.
Complicating matters further, the Dallas Police Department is also facing a shortage of about 900 officers, according to a City analysis that recommends about three officers for every 1,000 residents, putting an ideal staffing level for Dallas at approximately 4,000.
The City has instituted several initiatives in an attempt to address homelessness and vagrancy. However, most of these initiatives have taken a “housing first” approach, which some experts say has harmful effects on both homeless individuals and communities as a whole, as reported by The Dallas Express.
An alternative strategy championed by many is that of Haven for Hope in San Antonio, which serves as a “one-stop-shop” for homeless services, offering food, medical care, drug treatment programming, and job training in conjunction with housing.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Haven for Hope has been credited with a 77% reduction in homelessness in San Antonio. However, the City of Dallas has yet to pursue this model despite favorable polling among Dallas voters.