The Metro Council agreed to delay sending a ballot measure to reform is homeless services program from the May to November on Thursday, Jan. 23.
The delay followed a request from a four-member coalition of business, service and advocacy groups negotiating over changes in the Supportive Housing Service measure approved by Metro voters at the November 2022 election.
The coalition made its request to the council Jan. 21, the day before it was scheduled to conduct a second meeting on potential changes proposed by metro President Lynn Peterson. It promised to resolve recommendation differences among its members by mid-April.
“As you know, these separate sets of recommendations have some substantive differences, which is exactly why our four organizations have committed to working through them to finalize a package of recommendations that will have the broad support of our respective members and constituents,” the letter said.
The letter was signed by leaders of the HereTogether Coalition, the Portland Metro Chamber, the Coalition of Communities of Color, and the Welcome Home Coalition. The chamber is the only member representing business interests.
“We all agree, the need for affordable housing and homelessness services will not disappear in five years when the SHS measure is set to expire. Revising and extending the measure will protect and transform the impacts of SHS-funded programs on the lives of our most vulnerable neighbors,” HereTogether Coalition Executive Director Angela Martin said after the delay was approved.
The 10-year SHS measure imposes a 1% tax on the incomes of upper income individuals and larger businesses to fund services to reduce chronic homelessness. Metro distributes the funds to Multnomah County, Washington County and Clackamas County. The counties mostly contract with nonprofit organizations for services. None of the funds can be used to build or buy housing.
During the Jan. 23 meeting, several Metro councilors said that they do not know whether the measure is fulfilling its promises because the counties are not providing enough information about how their money is being spent.
“We promised that 75% of the money would be used to house the chronically homeless. But we still don’t know how many chronically homeless there are in the region, or what percent of the money is being spent in them,” said Councilor Mary Nolan.
Council Juan Carlos Gonzalez noted that homelessness is still increasing, despite the homeless services spending. He noted the most recent Point in Time homeless county required by the federal government recorded a 13% increase between 2022 and 2023.
Peterson had proposed lowering the tax rate to 0.75%, increasing the income levels to qualify for being taxed, and extending the expiration date from 2030 to 2050, among other changes to ask Metro voters to approve. In the letter, the coalition said the issues it is still discussing include:
Timeline: Extending the SHS tax for 30 years or making it permanent to ensure ongoing local funds to strengthen safety net support system for housing insecure residents.
Tax rate: No change in the marginal 1% tax rate, but increasing the income threshold of who qualifies to pay the tax by indexing to inflation to acknowledge impacts of rising costs of living.
Flexible use of funds: Allowing funds to create more permanently affordable housing including purchasing existing privately owned housing, developing new affordable housing with a focus on permanent supportive housing units, and investments in more innovative social housing models that offer mixed income settings and expanding ability to leverage long-term rent assistance vouchers.
Efficiency and accountability: Improving the implementation through regional standards and aligned contracting practices that focus on outcomes over outputs, improved working conditions and the retention of social service and housing professionals and utilize grant models over reimbursement practices. A new governance body with robust representation from those providing and receiving SHS services is also proposed.
The SHS measure originally was estimated to raise $250 million per year. It has consistently generated far more than that, however. The counties experienced problems spending all of their shares in the early years. Metro has held discussions for more than a year about asking voters to replace the measure with one that does not expire as soon, lowers the collection of taxes, and that also support the construction of affordable housing.
The proposed changes are opposed by the boards of the Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas county commissions because they would reduce their yearly allocations, even though they would receive more funds over the long haul.
“I appreciate Metro’s shared commitment to continuous improvement for the successful Supportive Housing Services program. Here in Washington County, the Supportive Housing Services program has helped over 1,200 people into housing, prevented over 4,400 evictions and provided over 1,800 people access to shelter in the first three years of the program. I remain concerned that the potential reform measure Metro Council is considering will necessitate dismantling the essential systems serving our most vulnerable community members and will prevent reaching goals outlined in the original voter-approved measure. Let’s pause, come together and ensure we don’t not move backwards in addressing the homelessness crisis in our region,” Washington County Chair Kathryn Harrington told the Portland Tribune.
The Metro Council agreed to create President’s Work Group that will plan how to enact any changes approved by voters before the November election. Although Peterson had previously proposed asking voter to approve the changes at the May election, she was pleased with the progress that it being bade.
“It’s been a tricky discussion, but it’s worth it and we’re nearly there,” Peterson said at the end of the meeting.
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