Pedestrians walk along the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade in Portland, March 26, 2024.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Eight years ago, Portland and Multnomah County teamed up to address the region’s homelessness crisis. Now, after years of disagreement on how to run the Joint Office of Homeless Services, some city officials are proposing to dissolve this partnership to reclaim ownership of how public dollars are spent on the city’s number one issue.
It’s not the first time city politicians have threatened to leave – but it’s the first time they’ve taken real action to do so. On Thursday afternoon, City Commissioners Dan Ryan, Rene Gonzalez and Mingus Mapps will lay out their plan and the rationale behind it.
This proposal has drawn disdain from county leadership and other members of City Council. But with the majority of current city commissioners supporting the move, it’s expected to pass later this month. What happens after, however, is up in the air.
From the mayoral election results to the city’s looming budget woes, there are several factors that could derail the commissioners’ proposal.
Here’s a breakdown of the commissioners’ proposal, the arguments in opposition, and the potential outcomes.
Why did the county and city join forces to begin with?
The city and county traditionally play different roles in helping unhoused people. Multnomah County oversees public health systems and criminal justice programs, while Portland is responsible for keeping streets and sidewalks clear and overseeing affordable housing programs. In 2016, facing a growing homelessness crisis, the governments agreed to share resources – both staff and budgets – to more effectively address the cross-jurisdictional problem.
How is the Joint Office of Homeless Services funded?
The department is operating off a $343 million budget this fiscal year, which ends in June 2025. A whopping 68% of the budget comes from Metro’s Supportive Housing Services Fund, a regional tax on high-income households and businesses approved by voters in 2020. About 12% of the budget comes from Multnomah County’s coffers, while 9% comes from Portland’s budget. Federal and state dollars make up the rest of the Joint Office’s budget.
The annual budget is about 10 times larger than the office’s initial budget, due to the introduction of the Supportive Housing Services Fund, which began bolstering the office’s budget in 2021. The county first struggled to distribute in the influx of new money, due to contracting and staffing issues, drawing public criticism. In the past year, however, the county reported spending all of the Supportive Housing Services dollars it received from Metro.
What is the current agreement between the city and county?
The city and county adopted its latest three-year contract in July. It was specifically designed to address issues city and county commissioners had previously raised with the agreement. That meant creating new oversight committees, improving data collection, and establishing a concrete goal to move at least half of the region’s unsheltered population to shelter by 2026. It also makes the county responsible for running outdoor shelters initially established by the city – like Safe Rest Villages and Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites like the Clinton Triangle.
Importantly, the plan removes any penalties for either party for backing out of the contract early.
Why do these city commissioners want out?
Mapps, Gonzalez and Ryan each have their own pet issue with how the Joint Office is run. But in their proposal, they center on a few key problems:
- They want a written explanation about what the city is responsible for under the agreement versus the county.
- They don’t trust the accuracy of the data the county has begun collecting on people served by the Joint Office’s programs.
- They believe the county doesn’t support the idea of Safe Rest Villages, which are outdoor shelters established by the city.
- They are concerned about the county’s past issues with spending its Supportive Housing Services money.
- They are upset that not all positions have been filled on the new oversight committees.
As a reminder: All commissioners involved are running for office this year – with Mapps and Gonzalez running for mayor and Ryan running for a seat on council.
What would their vote do, essentially?
If Portland City Council votes to pass this proposal in a few weeks, it would kick off a months-long process of detangling the city from the county department. City and county officials would spend the winter and spring divvying up programs and budgets, with the help of their legal teams. Per the proposal, the city wouldn’t formally exit the agreement until June 30.
The biggest impact will be financial. Portland anticipates saving $32 million by not contributing to the Joint Office’s annual budget, which begins in July 2025. It’s expected that, under this deal, the city would keep ownership of the Safe Rest Villages and Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites. According to the county, the cost to run those programs and the social services that accompany them is close to $60 million. Without Joint Office funding, it’s unknown how the city would be able to pay to keep those programs operational next year – especially as the city faces significant budget shortfalls.
What do other city commissioners say about this?
Commissioner Carmen Rubio and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler both strongly oppose their colleagues’ proposal. Wheeler has for years hinted at removing the city from the Joint Office agreement. But after working closely with County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson to hammer out the latest agreement – one of the final projects of his last year in office – he has changed his tune.
“Eight years ago, Multnomah County did not want to play ball with us… they were focused on other issues,” Wheeler said at his State of the City address late last month. “But after 18 months of negotiating between the city and the county, we created the first of its kind comprehensive homeless response action plan.”
Rubio, who is running for mayor, called the proposal “irresponsible” on social media.
“The city can’t afford to go it alone,” Rubio posted on X.
What do county leaders say about this?
County Chair Vega Pederson isn’t pleased. Hours after the trio of city commissioners announced their proposal to leave the Joint Office agreement, she emailed all Portland City Council members in response to the commissioners’ reasoning.
“These grievances are old and outdated,” wrote Vega Pederson.
She pointed to the $20 million the county board gave to run the city’s outdoor shelters, the swift spending of Supportive Housing funds in the past year and the newly collected data tracking more than 11,000 people identified as homeless in Multnomah County. She included a document detailing what the city is responsible for and what the county is accountable for within the Joint Office.
“Dissolving the current partnership will not lead to better outcomes – it will lead to more people on the street and fewer services in shelter,” she wrote, “[It] will halt the progress and momentum we’ve seen already over the last several months.”
Most county commissioners agree with Vega Pederson. But Commissioner Sharon Meieran, a longtime critic of the Joint Office, shares the concerns raised by the three city commissioners. Meieran has also asked for more clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the city and county in their shared oversight, and has questioned the county’s data collection. Meieran is not running for reelection.
How does this week’s election play into this?
The future City Council and mayor will be responsible for overseeing any plans the current City Council approves before the end of the year. But, due to the new changes coming to Portland’s government in 2025, the power will lie largely with the incoming mayor.
Under the new system, the mayor and new city administrator will oversee contracts and any decisions related to intergovernmental agreements, like the one shared with the county. Two of the top three contenders for mayor – Rubio and trucking CEO Keith Wilson – have said they wouldn’t terminate the Joint Office partnership. Gonzalez would.
This means the future of this proposal rests largely on the outcome of this week’s mayoral race.