Homeless Services outlines three options after state funding drop that threatens shelter and housing placements
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Summary
Homeless Services told the board a 55% reduction from expected state funding creates a $28 million gap across shelter, rapid rehousing and long-term housing. Staff presented three backfill options balancing shelter-unit goals and sustaining people already housed; the board asked for time to review before a vote.
Interim Homeless Services Department Director Anna Plumb told the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 16 that a sharp reduction in state funding put the county's homelessness system at high risk and presented three policy options to the board.
Plumb reported the department expected about $26 million from the state but that amount represented a 55% decrease from the county's adopted budget assumptions. She said the funding shortfall places at risk 214 shelter units already budgeted, the county's ability to sustain roughly 648 people in their current subsidized housing placements, and the ability to newly place about 732 people into housing.
HSD presented three alternatives:
- Option A (preferred by HSD staff): Seek permission and configure funding to create a $4.9 million package that would sustain shelter and current housing placements (approximately 1,051 people sustained across long-term and rapid rehousing categories) but would not add new shelter units beyond those already in budget.
- Option B: If no additional state year-2 funding is available, convert 140 budgeted motel/mass-shelter units to a lower-cost scattered-site motel voucher model and redeploy savings to add approximately 185 additional scattered-site vouchers to reach a 1,000-unit community sheltering goal; under this option more existing housing placements would be at risk (fewer sustained placements).
- Option C: If no additional funding is available, convert 140 units to scattered-site vouchers and use the cost savings to sustain more people already housed; this preserves current shelter counts but does not add new shelter units to achieve the 1,000-unit target.
Plumb emphasized the scattered-site motel approach reduces per-unit cost and accommodates provider requests for culturally specific locations; HSD staff are working to create HMIS data fields to track occupancy and outcomes for the scattered-site model. Plumb said the department had started two pilots with culturally specific providers and that the flexible motel approach both saves money and can better serve some communities.
Commissioners asked for more detail on demographic impacts, flow-through (placement-out-of-shelter) rates and how vouchers would be procured and tracked. Plumb said HSD will provide disaggregated demographic counts and flow-through data and will continue negotiating with the state on the size and timing of year-2 allocations. The board set a time-certain to consider the homeless-services budget modification on Oct. 30 and asked staff to return with refined costings and impacts.