On Monday, Oct. 30, self-described “homeless consultant” Kevin Dahlgren was indicted in Multnomah County on 19 charges. According to the indictment, Dahlgren is facing seven charges of theft in the first degree, seven counts of identity theft or aggravated identity theft and five counts of official misconduct in the first degree.
Dahlgren is facing the charges related to his work in the City of Gresham, where he worked as a “homeless services specialist,” according to the indictment. After hearing sworn testimony from eight witnesses, the Multnomah County Grand Jury moved forward with an indictment and issued a warrant for Dahlgren’s arrest. Dahlgren was arrested the morning of Oct. 31. According to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, the investigation is ongoing and additional victims have been identified but not located.
“In March 2023, City staff discovered suspicious activity that had taken place by a City employee,” said Sarah Cagann with the City of Gresham. “Staff acted quickly to place the suspected employee on administrative leave while working with a third-party organization to conduct an investigation. Shortly after being placed on administrative leave, the employee resigned.”
On July 13, Sheriff Shane Nelson hired Dahlgren to do consultant work for Deschutes County. Dahlgren’s contract with the DCSO instructed him to provide population counts as well as identify resource and service needs of houseless individuals in Central Oregon. The Multnomah County indictment lists Dahlgren’s alleged offenses as having occurred between July 2020 and March 2023 – ending just months before Nelson hired Dahlgren for work in Deschutes County.
Phase One of Dahlgren’s $18,000 contract with DCSO required him to complete a research, service and resource report at China Hat, one of Deschutes County’s larger encampments.
“The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and requested assistance regarding an active open criminal investigation on Mr. Dahlgren, at which point Sheriff L. Shane Nelson terminated the contract immediately on August 23, 2023,” read a statement from a DCSO press release on Tuesday.
Dahlgren is a Portland resident who offers up his “consulting” services through his website. Dahlgren, who also creates videos and writes blogs on Substack documenting houseless individuals and their stories under the name, “truthonthestreets,” has over 25,000 followers on social media platform, X. A description of himself on the platform says he works as a “disruptor of the homeless industrial complex.”
Phase One of Dahlgren’s $18,000 contract with DCSO required him to complete a research, service and resource report at China Hat, one of Deschutes County’s larger encampments. According to Sgt. Jason Wall, Dahlgren’s contract with DCSO concluded as of September.
Dahlgren released a report, including an estimated Point in Time Count, as well as a list of shelters, services and information he collected during his time in Deschutes County. The seven-page report was questioned by several service providers in September, as many found it misleading.
Related
A One-Man Point in Time Count
The report, which was handed over to Deschutes County Commissioner Tony DeBone on Aug. 17, was mysterious to county leaders as well.⯔The sheriff and I didn’t communicate about that,” DeBone told the Source Weekly in September. Debone was not aware of the report before receiving it via email from Dahlgren, he told the Source Weekly.
—This story will be updated.
This article appears in Source Weekly October 26, 2023.
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Cool, now find out what his split with Shane was!
Another con artist hired by Nelson, who is either in on the take or a grade A dupe. Dahlgren reportedly met with County Commissioner Patti Adair before he hooked up with Nelson. And he reported to Bailey, the guy Shane has endorsed to be his replacement. When will voters wake up and elect an honest sheriff.
The Homeless Industrial Complex : Such a complex is said to pursue its own financial interests regardless of, and often at the expense of, the best interests of society and individuals.
Just an example of shoddy work by a DCC and the Sheriff who in reality just want to wish away the problem. The contract was a scam and these two were duped by hiring this guy who really had no qualifications other than a web site and a Twitter Account…
Bend Bulletin threw out two of my attempts to question their Sunday editorial that excused Sheriff Nelson’s “mistake” due to inadequacies in the County hiring “process.” I was trying to point out that Dahlgren may have been hired as a political stunt to damage the reputation of our indefatigable local service providers and to delegitimize the “housing first” approach to helping the unhoused.
Could it be that the Sheriff and his two ideological allies on the County Commission were feeling threatened by the success of projects already underway, such as Central Oregon Veterans Village, St. Vincent DePaul cottages, safe parking programs, Desert Streams Village, Rainbow Motel renovation, and the Lighthouse?
How better to undermine these valiant local efforts than to bring in someone to debunk the findings of the annual Point in Time Count, a long-standing, meticulous, comprehensive survey that delineates the demographics of homelessness in Central Oregon.
The Dahlgren version of the count inflates the incidence of drug addiction by a factor of seven, while ignoring causes such as disability, medical illness, poverty, ethnic marginalization, and domestic abuse.
In so doing he creates a narrative more closely attuned to the worldview of certain County officeholders, who see the homelessness crisis more as a criminal and personal matter than as a matter of economic inequality, treatment and staffing shortcomings, and violations of civil and human rights.
Apologies to the Bulletin. The Algorithm must have been on duty this past weekend. Both of my submissions have since been published in the digital edition.