PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Barbra Weber lost her son in 2022 to a fentanyl overdose. That led her to co-found Ground Score, one of the 10 organizations working together in the Portland region to remember friends and family who died while homeless on the National Homeless Persons Memorial Day.
Each year on the winter solstice, communities around the country gather to remember those who lost their lives without a home. Several cities in Oregon are among the communities who gathered for special ceremonies, adding names of those who died to a memorial wall made out of tents.
"I think that we see poverty. We want to sweep poverty away to where we can't see it," Weber said. "And sometimes that puts a lot of pressure on people that are struggling, you know? And so I think that we have to bring compassion."
Liz Starkey, the development director for Rose Haven -- another of the 10 groups involved in this project locally -- said, "tonight is for Ingrid and Trish and Ariel, all of which were Rose Haven guests that we're really, really going to miss."
On Friday, Multnomah County released their latest "Domicile Unknown" report, which showed a surge of deaths among homeless people in 2023.
The annual report — which reviews deaths among the county’s homeless population — found at least 456 people facing homelessness died in 2023. This is not only an increase from the more than 315 deaths reported in 2022, but also marks the highest number of homeless deaths since Multnomah County started publishing the reports.
Among those 456 people who died in 2023, more than half of those deaths (251) were linked to fentanyl. However, health officials believe the report shows a peak in the fentanyl crisis and are hopeful for the future.
The local groups involved in the National Homeless Persons Memorial Day put together a list of the unhoused who died in 2024 -- but said it's just a fraction of the accurate total.
KOIN 6 News will have more information later.
