PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Both Portland and Multnomah County leaders acknowledged that one-time homeless services funding has been heading toward a known financial cliff for years, but what became abundantly clear in their joint meeting Tuesday is that the edge of that cliff is now here.
“When one time money for homelessness stuff expires, the only pot of money we can use to make that up is the general fund, and in the city the general fund mostly goes to police fire and parks,” said Councilor Steve Novick.
He and other councilors and county commissioners pointed out that no one wants to make cuts to much needed shelter services, but they pointed out that residents are also unlikely to want to make cuts to other general fund buckets.
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The funding deficit is a result of one-time pandemic-era funding expiring alongside a reduction in Supportive Housing Services tax revenue. The county’s Homeless Services Department has already proposed cutting roughly 675 shelter units.
The city still has not made those types of considerations, but as they both head into budget deliberations this spring, they met jointly to discuss how to make the best of the limited funds. Consensus seemed to center around the city scaling back its shelter services and leaving that to the county while increasing support for initiatives like building more permanent supportive housing and low-income housing.
“Before COVID the city spent a lot of money, around 20 million, on programs like rapid rehousing, supportive housing and permanent supportive housing, and currently that is significantly lower, I think it is around 5 million, and so we have seen on the city side an increase in sweeps putting people into temporary shelters,” Councilor Angelita Morillo said.
When asked by Council where she believed cuts should be made, Jillian Schoene, the director of the Joint Homeless Services Response System, suggested the city only needs a little over a quarter of the current overnight-only shelter beds than it has.
The notion runs contrary to Portland Mayor Keith Wilson’s plan to scale up shelter beds, which was part of his campaign promise. He boasted about delivering on that promise by standing up roughly 1,000 overnight shelter beds.
Schoene told councilors she believes the city could do with 200 to 300 overnight-only beds.
In his comments toward the end of the meeting, Wilson defended his scaled-up shelter plan.
“I always go back to outcomes, and I also go back to what are we really trying to measure, and what is the measure that is really most important, and I go back to and I look at lost lives. In 2023 and 2024 we lost 800 Portlanders to suffer and die homelessness in Portland, and we had to act. We simply could not continue on, and we all were elected to act. I’m proud to say that my new overnight shelter system has provided over 100,000 nights of safe sleep to vulnerable people,” Wilson said.
The City Council has already begun initial budget work sessions, with Wilson expected to propose his draft budget by May 5. Councilors will have the opportunity to approve all or parts of that budget and propose amendments. The process last year was painful and lengthy with many conflicts between councilors with opposing views along the way.
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson will release her proposed budget on April 16.