Lincoln County Homeless Advisory Board

The Lincoln County Homeless Advisory Board was formed with Lincoln County in a first of its kind intergovernmental with  the cities of Depoe Bay, Lincoln City, Newport, Toledo, Waldport and Yachats as well as the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and Community Services Consortium. These entities, each with a voting member.

Along with homeless service providers and community stakeholders, these entities are partnering with Morant McLeod to lead the strategic development of a 5-Year Homeless Strategic Plan (HSP) aimed at reducing homelessness and the creation of a Sustainable Navigation Center providing community access to resources.

Four Homeless advisory board workgroups are listed with graphics

This initiative was made possible through actions from the 2022 Legislature with the passage of HB 4123 to establish locally led, regional housing coordination through eight pilots across the state. 

Lincoln County was awarded $1 million to operationalize coordinated offices, anchored by city-county partnerships, to strengthen their communities’ homeless response. These pilots are intended leverage and coordinate existing work in the community and identify gaps in partnership with existing service providers -- creating a five-year strategic homelessness response plan.

In late winter of 2024, the County submitted its finalized plan to the state as required by HB 4123. Among its findings was that the actual number of people living unhoused in Lincoln County was several times higher than any official count has demonstrated. It estimates 2,000 currently experience homelessness in Lincoln County.

The plan calls for approaching the challenge of homelessness as a continuum -- levels of support from emergency shelter to full housing market independence to make the transition from unhoused stable and permanent.

The full report and additional information can be found on the Lincoln County Homeless Advisory Board website.