Another West Coast state is scaling back its financial support for a homelessness program, withdrawing more than $2.6 million, following a slow rollout and poor progress in getting Portlanders off the streets and into housing.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, announced Wednesday that she would be taking back some of the money promised to the state’s most populous county and redistributing it to others as officials try to find a way out of their growing homelessness problem.
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In March, Kotek signed the Emergency Homelessness Response, a $200 million financial aid package aimed at helping 1,200 Oregonians transition from sleeping on the streets to finding housing as well as creating 600 new shelter beds by Jan. 10, 2024. The largest portion of the money, $18.2 million, went to Multnomah County, which encompasses almost all of Portland.
Kotek first brought up concerns in April over how Multnomah County and Portland officials lacked focus on how they were going to spend the money, which was vague, at best. She also criticized them for failing to answer basic questions on ways to address the crisis. She added that she was shocked that the state’s most populous county and biggest city, where homelessness has been the dominant issue for years, couldn’t provide any clarity on the issue.
“I’ll be honest, I was disappointed,” Kotek said following the meeting.
Oregon has experienced a 63% increase in unsheltered homelessness over the past six years. There are about 18,000 people who are unhoused in the state, but there are only 5,200 year-round shelter beds available for them. Oregon has one of the largest housing supply gaps in the country and experienced one of the nation’s largest increases in homelessness between 2020 and 2022, according to the latest federal data available.
The number of people experiencing homelessness in the state grew 23% during the two-year span, an increase of about 3,304 people. Oregon’s rate eclipsed the national average of less than 1% growth in people experiencing homelessness and had the unfortunate distinction of topping Washington, which saw a 10% increase, and California, which saw a 6% increase, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2022 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report given to Congress.
Oregon voters have grown frustrated with elected officials doing nothing to improve conditions. Frustrations over homelessness played a major role in the 2022 election, where Kotek barely eked out a win in a state that has been consistently blue and has backed a progressive agenda.
Since taking office, Kotek has made homelessness a priority, which includes declaring a state of emergency on homelessness, establishing a statewide housing production target of 36,000 new homes per year, directing state agencies to prioritize reducing unsheltered homelessness, and signing the $200 million legislative package to help the state start to reverse the tide on homelessness. Elisabeth Shepard, a spokeswoman for the governor, said even with the $2.6 million clawback, Multnomah County still has more resources than other areas in the state.
“Given this, the state can be nimble in how the Emergency Homelessness Response dollars are allocated to make the greatest possible progress towards the state’s overall rehousing goal,” Shepard told Oregon Public Broadcasting, adding that the funds taken from Multnomah will be given to Clackamas, Marion, Polk, Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties.
Multnomah County Chairwoman Jessica Vega Pederson told Oregon Public Broadcasting that the funding cut will “not at all” affect the county’s response to homelessness.
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“The governor and I both recognize that Multnomah County has more resources than other parts of the state,” she said. “Our investments and goals — and the impacts they will have on our Homelessness Response System and our ability to allocate targeted resources to this crisis — will not change.”
Multnomah County was also called out in May after it announced it hadn’t spent more than $40 million in new regional tax money that was earmarked for homelessness programs. County officials blamed it on staffing shortages and low wages at the nonprofit groups they typically work with. The county was also sitting on $50 million in additional revenue from the region’s supportive housing service tax and another $12 million in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.