A plan aimed at rectifying Multnomah County’s slow spending of tax money to tackle homelessness drew pushback from several county commissioners Thursday who said they should have had more say in developing the proposal.
The county underspent its homeless services tax dollars last fiscal year by $44 million, according to updated figures provided by the county Thursday. The board must still vote on how to spend $17 million of that $44 million.
The underspending drew the ire of the Metro regional government, which allocates the tax dollars. It directed the county to work with it to create a corrective action plan, which was presented to the county board Thursday.
County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said the plan was the product of weeks of negotiations between staff at the county and Metro.
Commissioner Sharon Meieran, however, said she felt the spending plan was created in secret without engaging the board.
Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards similarly expressed disappointment and said she was discouraged that the commission was only allotted limited time Thursday to discuss the proposed spending because Commissioners Lori Stegmann and Susheela Jayapal had to depart for another commitment at 12:20 p.m.
“The most important agenda item today is scheduled for last and getting cut short,” she said. “We’re not having significant discussion among commission members. The fact that I am being asked for questions and comments at 12:10 p.m. when we have a hard cutoff at 12:20 p.m. is disappointing. … It feels like this is being railroaded through.”
Vega Pederson said the board will have an opportunity for a lengthier discussion on Tuesday.
Under the spending plan, the county would spend the underspent $44 million as follows:
- $4.7 million for pods at Portland’s mass alternative shelter sites.
- $10 million for nonprofits to increase worker salaries and hire more staff.
- $23 million for various rent assistance programs.
- $1.9 million for an employment program that pays people to pick up trash.
- $3.6 million to expand shelter beds.
- Less than $1 million for outreach and coordination costs.
Only a portion of the plan will require approval from the board. The board will vote on Sept. 8 whether to spend $17 million on rent assistance and nonprofit staffing.
Metro’s supportive housing fund, which voters approved in May 2020, is a 10-year tax meant to boost the area’s social services programs to address gaps in housing. It is funded by a tax on high-income earners and big businesses in the Portland area. The tax went into effect in January 2021 and counties were provided their first tranche of funding to run programs in July of that year.
Preliminary data released Thursday by Metro shows that the tri-county area housed more than 3,310 people in the 2023 fiscal year thanks to the homeless services tax, almost double the number of people housed in the program’s first year. Multnomah County, however, only placed 387 households into permanent supportive housing, reaching just 71% of its goal for the fiscal year.
During the first three quarters of the 2023 fiscal year, the city-county Joint Office of Homeless Services largely underspent the portion of its tax money intended for long-term rent assistance, short-term housing assistance and permanent supportive housing.
It ramped up spending in the last quarter, allocating more money than it did in the first three quarters combined and slightly reducing the amount of underspent money left to tackle.
The corrective action plan does not address the potential for any extra tax revenue that is beyond what Metro and the county expect to receive.
Overall, the city-county joint office has a near $280 million budget for this fiscal year with 26% dedicated to shelters and street outreach, 22% for rent assistance and case management, 21% for long-term housing and temporary recovery housing and 11% for data collection and community outreach, according to county documents.
Brim-Edwards and Meieran said Thursday that the board needs more time to discuss how the tax money will be spent and what performance metrics the county should expect.
Meieran said she doesn’t think the joint office should give more money to nonprofits for capacity building or rent assistance without also coupling those grants with required performance measures and a requirement for data tracking.
If the county is handing out money for rent assistance to nonprofits, Meieran said she wants to know how many people are being placed in housing and staying housed.
Brim-Edwards said she is concerned that permanent long-term rent assistance is being promised to people using the tax revenue, despite the tax having only a 10-year lifespan. She worries that when the tax sunsets, those promised a lifetime of support will be left helpless.
Jayapal said metrics are important, but “we can’t expect our partners to perform to metrics if we are not giving them what they need to perform.”
She said she believes the $10 million for nonprofits to increase wages and staff needs to go out immediately because without proper staffing, nonprofits struggle to spend the money as quickly as they are receiving it. She said she also wants to make sure nonprofit staff members aren’t so underpaid that they require the housing support services they are providing to the community.
Nicole Hayden reports on homelessness for The Oregonian/OregonLive. She can be reached at nhayden@oregonian.com.
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