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Multnomah County commissioners press Metro for clarity after council votes to rework Supportive Housing Services tax
Summary
Multnomah County commissioners spent much of their Oct. 24 meeting responding to Metro Council—s Resolution 245436, which directs staff to propose regionalization, indexing and possible rate reductions to the Supportive Housing Services (SHS) tax. County staff warned the proposed changes could reduce local SHS revenue by millions and shift decision-making authority to Metro.
Multnomah County commissioners used an Oct. 24 board meeting to press Metro Council—s recent action to alter the Supportive Housing Services (SHS) tax and to seek more detailed fiscal and governance analysis before endorsing changes.
Justin Black, the county—s director of government relations, briefed the board on Metro Council Resolution 245436, which directs Metro staff to bring a policy package in December that could regionalize the SHS program, expand allowable uses to include affordable housing, change the tax—s threshold indexing and reduce the rate. Black said Metro is considering indexing the income threshold to CPI, rebasing the threshold (for example to $150,000 individual / $225,000 joint) and an immediate rate cut to 0.9% with a possible additional drop to 0.75% by 2030. He also described a potential 15–20 year extension of the tax beyond its current 2030 sunset.
"If Metro were to only do the rebase and then indexing, it would be an $8.6 million reduction to services for Multnomah County," Black…
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