Willamette Week The need for strong, independent local journalism is more urgent than ever. Please support the city we love by joining Friends of Willamette Week. Murmurs: Homeless Will Go Countless In other news: Pot shop woes continue. On the streets of Portland's Old Town. (Brian Burk) Updated January 6 HOMELESS WILL GO COUNTLESS: The Joint Office of Homeless Services is seeking a waiver for the biennial "point in time" count, which takes place every odd-numbered year in late January. That process, in which Multnomah County takes a one-night census of all the houseless people it can find in the county, is part of a federal effort overseen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The count is a key component to ensure "continued eligibility for state and federal funding" for homeless programs, but late last year, the feds said counties could seek waivers due to the pandemic without endangering funding. The feds have already granted King County, Wash., and Los Angeles County waivers. But Multnomah County's situation is unusual: Next year will mark the beginning of expenditures from Metro's $250 million homeless services measure, so this year's count would have provided a baseline for that effort. If it gets the waiver, the joint office plans to count those in transitional housing and shelters this year and count those unsheltered in 2022. "It's a difficult decision, but we don't see a way to conduct as accurate of an unsheltered count as we've done in past years without creating additional health risks for thousands of vulnerable people and our provider community," says Marc Jolin, director of the joint office. "That's not a trade-off we're willing to make."