'Political shenanigans': Homeless service providers roiled as Portland poised to pull funding

PORTLAND, Ore. — Responding to the homelessness crisis in Multnomah County can be complicated; and Wednesday night a years-long battle between who pays for it came to a head during a Portland City Council meeting.

The city of Portland sends the county roughly $30 million per year to fund about 10% of the Joint Office of Homeless Services budget. The joint office is a county-led agency that oversees money meant to address the crisis on our streets. 

“There's a lot of close collaboration that happens between the city and the county, and they would put all that at risk if they dissolve this agreement,” said Dan Field, JOHS director.  

During Wednesday's city council meeting, three Portland city commissioners — Rene Gonzalez, Mingus Mapps, and Dan Ryan, each running for office in November — threatened to pull that funding, arguing that the joint office did not deliver on about a dozen benchmarks they agreed to three months ago.

Field said they hit a lot of those milestones but not all, and likened the commissioners' decision to a political game.

“So, the political shenanigans that came in at the end were disconcerting, I would say, and they were a surprise,” said Field. 

The possibility of Portland leaving the JOHS partnership has hundreds of nonprofits like JOIN, a Northeast Portland day center serving about 1,500 homeless people a year, bracing for what might come.

“It’s a very critical time,” said JOIN’s interim executive director Chloe Faison. About 95% of JOIN’s budget comes from the joint office. A majority is spent on housing programs. “Those housing programs are successful … It would be catastrophic, we wouldn’t exist without that funding,” Faison said.

JOIN, along with hundreds of other nonprofits across Multnomah County, relies on the joint office for supplies like sleeping bags, hygiene kits, extreme weather gear, tents, tarps and water.  

“The fact that that could go away is really scary and daunting, not knowing all the ramifications of what that might look like if the city were to withdraw from that — especially without a plan,” Faison said. 

“I want to reassure our nonprofit partners that the work they’re doing is valued and we will continue to support them,” said Field, who admits the joint office does not yet have a plan on how they would fill the 10% funding gap if the city stopped sending money their way.

It's a gap that could impact homeless people like Will. He’s been on the streets for 13 years and sleeps underneath tarps on a sidewalk in Northwest Portland. He gets most of his gear from JOIN.

“It’ll affect me tremendously, 'cause if it wasn’t for the supplies ... I draw no government assistance whatsoever, so I mean I’m totally left up to places like these, really, to even survive at all,” Will said.

Portland must give the county 90 days’ notice before cutting funding. If they do, the joint office will still remain in effect, but its partnership with the city would change drastically.

Hygiene 4 All, another nonprofit that relies on joint office funding, criticized the move in a statement:

“H4A and other organizations have volunteered hundreds of hours to improving our systems to move people into housing in months rather than years. To pull the carpet out from under the planning and results we are beginning to achieve without even the pretense of a concept of a plan will increase our affordable housing crisis and push thousands more onto the streets.”

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler took to social media Wednesday night, calling the decision to cut ties with the county in this way “short-sighted,” pointing out that the city can’t address the homelessness crisis on its own. They need county money not only to fund nonprofits, but shelter sites as well.

Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said in a statement that it was "disappointing" and the “opposite of responsible leadership.”