Homeless people live openly in Portland neighborhoods as never before, and results of a KGW poll released Thursday show most Portland residents are dissatisfied with Mayor Ted Wheeler's handling of the issue.

So Wheeler held a City Hall press conference Friday designed to provide his perspective on the poll results and get ahead of news coverage he knows is about to cast more public light on how well he and other officials have addressed the city's housing crisis.

The Oregonian/OregonLive will publish an indepth look at how homelessness is playing out in Portland neighborhoods. And KGW is scheduled to broadcast a one-hour special on homelessness from KGW called "Tent City, USA" Monday evening.

Wheeler's main message to the press Friday: Portland isn't awash in homeless residents due to a particular failing of local leaders. Rather, all West Coast cities are grappling with consistently growing homeless populations, and Portland population is smaller per capita and growing more slowly than Seattle's.

Wheeler admitted that the briefing, which excluded anyone not with an established media outlet, was intended to lessen the impact of an upcoming one-hour special on homelessness from KGW called "Tent City, USA." He especially took issue with the name, which he said implies that homelessness is a Portland-specific problem.

He is correct that most West Coast cities have large and growing homeless populations, and Portland is not different.

Portland's overall number of people without homes grew 10 percent between 2015 and 2017, according to a federally mandated study performed this winter.

Wheeler pointed out that Seattle saw a 16 percent increase. Per capita, Seattle has more homeless people than Portland does.

Portland managed to place more people into some form of shelter -- emergency, permanent or transitional housing -- than some other cities, the federal survey found.

Nevertheless, the KGW poll found that 81 percent of people polled think that Portland's homeless problem is worse than that of other similarly sized cities. The poll results underscore that residents are upset with the growing homeless population, regardless of strides the city and county-funded Joint Office of Homeless Services has made in the last few years.

The poll, by respected Portland firm DHM Research, reached 300 people broadly representative of the city's population by race, age and part of town. It has a relatively large margin of error of plus or minus 5.7 percent.

Most people polled say they see the symptoms of homelessness every day -- tent camping, human feces and homeless people in their neighborhoods.

Although the ubiquity of used needles is a common refrain at city and neighborhood association meetings, 31 percent of people reported they had never seen needles or drug paraphernalia on the street. Among those who reported they had, it occurred about two times per week.

Wheeler said the city fields about 600 calls a week about what he calls "livability" issues. A reporter and photographer for The Oregonian/OregonLive spent time investigating that topic, including interviewing Wheeler about his track record, for a report coming Sunday.

Wheeler said he has invested more money than ever in cleaning camps and towing decrepit RVs, as well as increased police patrols in areas with large homeless camps.

"Criminal activity is unacceptable regardless of who engages in it," Wheeler said.

The poll illustrates a paradox in how Portland residents are funneling their dissatisfaction.

The overwhelming majority told pollsters they have not volunteered their own time or money to support homeless services, contacted local officials or even spoken to a homeless person. Yet, the majority also expressed sadness and compassion for people living on the streets.

Surprisingly, more than 20 percent of poll respondents said they had experienced homelessness themselves. And almost 20 percent said they have a friend or family member who is currently homeless. That number doubled when pollsters asked if they know someone who was formerly homeless.

Still, 34 percent of Portlanders said they considered moving to another city because of the effects of high homeless counts in Portland. Roughly 23 percent said they have considered moving to another neighborhood because of people living on the streets and in parks in their current one.

Yet, poll respondents indicated they were evenly split on whether the city should allow people to sleep in tents on public property until there are enough shelter beds for the more than 4,000 people who need one.

Responses to many questions in the KGW poll revealed equally contradictory responses -- perhaps mirroring the debate between city officials and advocates about how to spend money and whether homeless camp sweeps make life better for residents.

A majority of people polled said sleeping in public places is better for homeless people than in abandoned warehouses or under bridges. A majority also said allowing camping in public spaces would encourage people to never seek permanent housing.

A majority of city residents polled don't want the city to seize people's tents and gear and trash them or require a fee to get them back -- but they also told pollster DHM they want homeless people sleeping in public places arrested.

A majority polled said they think that the conditions many homeless people live in are unsafe and unhygienic. But a majority also said they oppose offering free toilets and showers.

Wheeler announced Friday he wants to start mobile bathroom and laundry services. He said he wants the business community to shoulder at least part of the cost for those programs, in line with his contention that the amount the city is spending on homeless services is unsustainable.

Both the city and county are devoting about $25 million to ameliorating homelessness in their current budgets -- an historic amount. Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury cut services in other departments to come up with some of that money. Wheeler has said that while the city has enough money now, revenues are expected to drop in a few years.

He said he wants a new revenue source for homeless services that is not a property tax. He hasn't identified what that would be, but said he is talking it over with service providers and officials.

Wheeler also blamed the federal government for decreasing its investment in homeless services since the 1980s. Under the current White House, even less money is expected to be dedicated toward existing federal housing programs.

"While we own our piece of it here and we'll hold ourselves accountable here at the city of Portland, I as mayor can't solve the problem," Wheeler said.

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com

503-294-5923

@MollyHarbarger