PORTLAND, Ore. — An audit of Multnomah County's homeless agency, the Joint Office of Homeless Services, revealed communication problems, staffing issues and a pattern of the agency being late on large payments to providers. The audit, led by the county, also found no clear path for people to move from the streets into housing.
The audit results were the first item Multnomah County commissioners discussed in a meeting Tuesday morning. The Joint Office of Homeless Services is the Portland and county-run group formed in 2016 that's tasked with coordinating funding and a response to homelessness.
Over several months, an audit team interviewed 48 homeless service providers or non-profits the Joint Office works with.
“Making sure we are being accountable to taxpayers and are really effective with the work that happens here at the county,” said County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson in her opening remarks.
The audit was done over several months from spring 2022 to winter of that year. The audit found a pattern of the Joint Office being late on large payments to homeless services providers. It turns out, that's not for a lack of money. This fiscal year, the director said, more than $300 million is budgeted to move through the Joint Office. Auditors are recommending they improve their finance department.
“Delays in payment create a hardship for service providers and ultimately put the population they serve at-risk," said Mandi Hood the county’s managing auditor. "About two out of three providers surveyed believed that the Joint Office did not do a good job of coordinating service providers."
Due to mismanagement and lack of communication between service providers and the Joint Office, some domestic violence survivors received eviction notices during the winter months, the audit found. Homeless service providers also waited months for a $300,000 invoice to be paid because the Joint Office needed documentation for $25 of spending.
“People are often required to interact with multiple systems," said Hood. "They can be eligible for services in more than one system and each system has an application process and assessment."
It’s a struggle Iridessa, who’s been homeless for five years, said people don't understand until they're living it. She’s 25 years old and has tried to get into housing five times in the past three years.
“They reach me out to somebody else and then I’m like I have two ongoing programs with two different people, and I don’t know what to do,” she said of the process of getting off the streets and into housing.
“I want to get clean and stuff but the programs out here are f*** b***sh** bro,” she said through tears.
The director of the Joint Office, Dan Field, who’s only been leading the office for four months, accepts the findings and said they're already working on making changes, but he admits they could do better.
“The findings can be hard to hear hard for you all as leaders of the county, hard for taxpayers who are wondering how the dollars are spent effectively,” Field said.
He argues the audit doesn’t capture everything they do.
“I also want to acknowledge a lot of good work happened last year…One very specific example, we prevented evictions in 5,300 households,” said Field.
It’s an achievement Commissioner Sharon Meieran pushed back on.
“This audit is unmistakably bad…We get evidence of how awful things really are and then the county pivots to say but look over here and points to a little number…What’s at the heart of the problem is the lack of a plan,” Meieran said. "I hope we recognize the iceberg, the tip of the iceberg, this audit has revealed and explore the full iceberg before it sinks all our efforts to eradicate homelessness in this county."
Other commissioners echoed Meieran’s statements that this audit is a narrow look at the Joint Office and doesn’t cover everything the agency does. A second audit is in the works that will focus on all the data the Joint Office collects.
The audit team has presented the agency with a list of recommendations and will check-in in January to see if they've made any progress. The county has also hired an outside contractor to review the program. The results of that will be discussed later this week.