New SPH & HRAC Study Maps Complex Journey Through Homelessness In Final Pathways Report

A new report from Portland State University’s Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative (HRAC) and the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health offers an in-depth examination of how individuals navigate, survive and attempt to exit homelessness in Multnomah County. Titled “Without a Map: A Lived Experience Study of the Paths People Create Through Homelessness,” the publication serves as the second and final part of the Multnomah County-funded Pathways study.

The first part of the study, released in April 2026, established through 541 surveys that 98% of unhoused participants want permanent housing. This final installment combines those survey findings with 29 in-depth journey-mapping interviews to show how people navigate homelessness and homeless services, what helps them move toward housing, what gets in the way and the many ways in which progress can sometimes stall or unravel. By co-designing the research with the Transformational Research for Equity and Experience in Shelter (TREES) committee — a group composed entirely of people with lived experience of homelessness — the study offers an insider perspective on how individuals experience housing service systems.

“Our findings show that navigating homelessness is about much more than finding a service and saying yes to it,” said Kathleen Conte, lead investigator and assistant professor in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. “People are trying to stay safe and meet their basic needs while also figuring out a complicated service system, proving they qualify for help, keeping important relationships intact, advocating for themselves and pushing forward through long waits and repeated setbacks.”

To read the full press release, please visit the Portland State University News article. You can also find out more by reading the Oregon Live news report.