Newberg, St. Paul see slight increases as improving economy fails to reach many across the state

Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic

According to the Oregon Department of Education, the state saw an 8 percent increase in the number of students experiencing homelessness during the 2014-2015 school year.

The total number of K-12 students affected rose to 20,524, a level not see in the state since the 2010-2011 school year.

The majority of the increase was in the number of students identified as “unsheltered,” meaning they live in vehicles, tents and other forms of substandard housing.

“For many of our families, the economic recovery has not yet become a reality,” State Deputy Superintendent Salam Noor said. “Families are still looking for work, struggling to get by and trying to provide a sense of stability to their children. 

Both Newberg and St. Paul saw their numbers rise slightly, with Newberg increasing by 20 to 203 and St. Paul adding five for a total of 20 in 2014-2015.

Unlike the state, however, Newberg saw a sharp decline in the number of students in the unsheltered category, falling from 30 in 2013-2014 to five or below in 2014-2015 (data for districts with one to five students is suppressed by the state to protect confidentiality).

Newberg saw its increase come mostly in the “double-up” category, those who are staying in the residence of another student or couch surfing, going from 138 to 181.

Newberg’s district homeless liaison Shyla Jasper said she believes district staff have become better in recent years at spotting the signs of homelessness and students so she can both reach out to families to provide support and get an accurate count in the district.

“A common theme that I’m hearing now is that a lot of people have vouchers, but there’s no place to live,” Jasper said. “So they have Section 8 vouchers, but they absolutely cannot find a place to live.”

St. Paul had zero unsheltered students in both years, with doubled-up students rising from 9 to 14.

St. Paul superintendent and elementary principal Joe Wehrli said that St. Paul’s numbers have been stable for the past seven or eight years and believes the message from the state that the improving economy is still not reaching all corners of the state applies to St. Paul as well.

“I think parts of our economy have recovered very well and I think there are pieces that are lagging behind,” Wehrli said. “I think some of the folks that we are recording are in some of those lag areas.”