Multnomah County spends a large amount of money on homeless services to cover rent for those who are at risk of losing their homes or who require financial aid to find new accommodation.
A portion of this funding—roughly 25% in 2024—is designated for long-term rent assistance, which is intended for those with disabilities, limited incomes, serious mental health conditions, or other exceptional situations that make it extremely improbable that they will ever be able to pay their rent on their own. The remaining $72 million for this fiscal year is allocated to either emergency or short-term rent assistance, which helps people cover a few months’ rent while they get back on their feet.
This expenditure has proven to be a successful strategy for keeping individuals in housing, according to recent county studies on two forms of short-term rent support.
Preventing evictions
According to a Department of County Human Services report released on November 5, Multnomah County intends to spend $23.8 million on emergency and short-term rent assistance to keep roughly 3,550 families from being evicted this fiscal year. The survey states that 92% of those who have previously received this kind of support remain housed a year later.
Since the state’s pandemic eviction prevention safeguards ended, there has been a significant increase in the demand for this kind of aid. According to the report, black tenants in Oregon have experienced eviction at a rate that is roughly twice that of white tenants.
According to the survey, more people will probably be evicted in the upcoming year as a result of rising rent and utilities prices. The report states that approximately 11% of Oregon renters who responded to the most recent Census Pulse poll were in danger of being evicted because they were behind on their rent payments.
According to the report, more than 11,000 eviction filings could occur in the 12-month period ending in June of next year if nonpayment eviction case filing rates remain unchanged for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Rent support for eviction prevention is financed by county, state, and metro tax revenues. It’s unclear how much the county will spend on the endeavor in the upcoming fiscal year.
The county is facing a $21 million deficit in its general fund that may need significant cuts, and a portion of the revenue comes from pandemic relief assistance that is expiring this year. However, Chair Jessica Vega Pederson has stated that she wants to maintain homelessness programs at their current levels. Additionally, Oregon Medicaid participants who are dealing with particular health issues can now access additional short-term rent help.
Quick rehousing
Multnomah County plans to spend $48.8 million to get thousands of people without a permanent address back into housing this fiscal year,according to a reportby the county s homeless services department. In the previous fiscal year, the county spent about the same amount to move 2,890 families into housing with rent covered for an average of 11 months.
Of the families helped in this way in prior years, 92% remained housed after one year and 80% remained housed after three years, according to the report, presented to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 3.
The homeless services department is planning to request an outside evaluation of its rapid rehousing program that will answer questions about how well the program works in Multnomah County compared to other regions and which participants have the highest rates of success.
The primary goal of this evaluation is to understand what works and for whom in rapid rehousing programs, the report states.
The majority of the funding for the county s rapid rehousing rent assistance comes from the Metro homeless services tax. Other significant sources include the city,stateand federal governments.
Lillian Mongeau Hughes covers homelessness and mental health for The Oregonian. Email her with tips or questions [email protected]. Or follow her on X at @lrmongeau.Your support is essential to our journalism. Please sign up for a subscription at OregonLive.com/subscribe right now.
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