Portland is grappling with a severe affordable housing crisis, characterized by thousands of vacant subsidized units despite a large unsheltered homeless population. Approximately 1,900 publicly subsidized apartments in Portland, accounting for over 7% of the total 25,000 affordable units, are sitting empty. Across the wider metro area, around 2,800, or 6%, of 45,000 affordable units are vacant. This contrasts sharply with the estimated 7,800 individuals living outside or in vehicles in Multnomah County.
Affordable housing landlords are experiencing significant financial losses, as regulated rents fail to keep pace with rising costs for insurance, labor, and utilities. In 2024, Multnomah County affordable housing providers lost an average of $411 per unit, a dramatic decline from the $963 per unit cash flow in 2015. The median debt-coverage ratio for these properties in Multnomah County was 0.97 in 2024, below the 1.0 needed to break even and far below the national median of 1.46. This financial distress makes it difficult for providers to meet mortgage payments and secure financing for new projects.
Home Forward, Portland's largest affordable housing provider with around 7,000 units, exemplifies these challenges. As of November 7, 2025, 956, or 14%, of its units were empty. It took Home Forward an average of 185 days to fill a vacant unit in 2025. The agency's debt service coverage ratio plummeted from 2.36 in 2020 to 1.14 in 2024, indicating a much narrower margin to cover its debts. Furthermore, nearly half of Home Forward's tenants (3,335 out of roughly 7,000) were more than 30 days delinquent on rent at the end of last year, leading to $8.4 million in foregone rent revenues in 2025 due to vacancies.
The paradox is further highlighted by the fact that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's maximum allowable rent for a one-bedroom affordable apartment for a household earning 60% of the area median income, at $1,396, is barely less than a comparable market-rate unit at $1,465. This compression in rents, coupled with administrative issues and frustrations over poorly maintained buildings, has even led some low-income tenants to seek market-rate options. In response to the crisis, the Portland City Council approved an $8.8 million bailout fund in April to help landlords reduce debts and lower rents, though the impact remains to be seen.
