Recent news reports have suggested that Portland Oregon might have lost around $1 billion or more between 2020 and 2021 as people have picked up and moved outside of the state for a number of reason.
Why are people leaving Portland/Oregon?
The growing homeless population seems to be taking a toll and is frequently cited as to why people and businesses are leaving Portland Oregon. Is the issue being dealt with effectively enough? If it goes on and gets worse what sort of economic impact might that have on Porland? Can the region withstand to in a sense ignore this issue and leave it unresolved forever? No matter how many people might leave and take their businesses and funds elsewhere?
Can they attract new people to the area to take the place of those who are leaving? How long until they too see issues they don't want to tackle with and pack up and leave to go elsewhere?
Portland one of the fastest shrinking cities
Is Portland Oregon one of the fastest shrinking cities? That is what one report has suggested with thousands of people who have left the region already since 2021. More people are allegedly moving out than in, the homeless population in the meantime seems to be getting worse. If people don't feel safe then they are going to look to move somewhere else.
cost of living challenge
It isn't only the homeless population, drug issues, crime etc, that might be pushing people away. The cost of living is another factor why people are leaving. Some have said their local representatives seem rather ineffective at solving these problems and that much isn't working as far as facing those challenges that top the list of concerns for many. How much worse will it get before things take a turn? Do representatives care or are they too out of touch to be able to truly resonate with and understand the issues that average citizens are facing in the region?
One of my sister-in-laws lives near Portland (haven’t been there since 1975 myself). FWIW, her biggest gripe about Portland is the density of traffic. Fewer people might help alleviate that a bit?
I think these sorts of reports forget to mention that Portland was one of the US's fastest growing cities for 5-10 years prior. It was the last "affordable" cities on the west coast and two big employers in the area Intel & Nike were growing like crazy... causing property to basically become unobtainable. Since the pandemic, both employers have solid remote work policies and so a lot of people have moved to more affordable areas.
I doubt crime is far less of an issue than simply available housing. It's still hard to build in the area and property is still very expensive. I know people that sold their homes extremely quickly in Portland and and others trying to buy into the area and just completely unable to purchase a property to move.
Ideally the trend of more people moving out than moving in continues until Portland housing stock can meet the demand.