Tina Kotek on Welfare & Poverty

We've invested in statewide shelter system

Drazen: Our economy is tied to our reputation. People are thinking about homelessness and addiction that we can't seem to get our arms around. And for us to be an attractive place for people to grow, we do need to fix our reputation, but it's not just the business reputation. North of 27,000 people are homeless or unsheltered homeless across Oregon right now. It's unacceptable.

Kotek: When it comes to what we've been doing on homelessness, we have reduced unsheltered homelessness across the state, and we have made investments to have a statewide shelter system. We have improved housing. We are up 11% since the beginning of last year in terms of housing starts. We're putting more housing production into the pipeline. And that 11% being up is compared to where the nation is, which is down or flat. So we are putting everything we can into making sure housing can happen here.

We know housing supply is the long-term solution

We need both homeless shelters and long-term solutions

A: Here's one of the things that I think voters should know about me. I'm not an either/ or person. I'm a both/and person. We have an immediate urgent crisis. People are unsheltered in an unhealthy way and we have to serve them. We also need long-term solutions. I've done my part at the state with the largest investment ever for this two-year budget--$765 million statewide to build more housing. But you have to do both.