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Clatsop County told to maintain 163 shelter beds as OHCS funding drops; new contract rules tighten uses
Summary
County staff said Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) reduced shelter rehousing funding for the 2023-25 biennium, adding day-and-night operational requirements and limiting capacity-building dollars to 15%. The county reported creating 95 shelter beds in the previous biennium and rehousing 223 households versus a goal of 42.
Monica Steele, assistant county manager, told the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners that Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) has reduced shelter rehousing funding for the 2023-25 biennium while imposing new contract requirements that will affect local shelter providers.
"We are being required with this reduction in funding to maintain all beds," Steele said, describing a contract requirement that the county maintain the beds created under the prior funding. Steele said the county must now maintain 163 beds countywide and that the contract requires those beds to be available day and night, seven days a week.
Steele said the county and its partners exceeded earlier targets during the prior biennium: staff reported creating 95 shelter beds in total, 80 of which were funded through OHCS dollars, and rehousing 223 households against an original goal of 42. Those outcomes, Steele said, were the result of coordinated work by Clatsop Community Action, Lifeboat Services, The Harbor and Helping Hands.
For the 2023-25 biennium staff said funding is reduced compared with the prior period. Steele said capacity-building dollars are now capped at 15 percent of grant funds, administration costs may be retained by the county, and shelter dollars cannot be used for street outreach or housing-focused activities. Staff are still awaiting a finalized OHCS contract and a separate long-term rental assistance (rapid rehousing) contract; Steele said a draft of the rapid rehousing contract was expected for review in October and that some previously rehoused households were notified their funding would cease effective Oct. 1.
Alyssa Gertler, the county's housing manager, said the county and its partners have spent two years building a countywide homelessness system and that the changes leave providers doing "more with less." Gertler and Steele both said the county is pressing OHCS for clarifications on contract language, notification timelines and other requirements.
The board had no formal vote on the item during the work session. Commissioners praised provider partnerships and asked staff to continue advocating with the state for timely contracts and clearer terms.
