PORTLAND, Ore. — For the first time in years, Multnomah County commissioners and their counterparts at the city of Portland all gathered in the same room on Friday. They came together for one primary reason: to talk about the troubled county-helmed office that handles the local response to homelessness.
Friday's session marked the first joint briefing held by the two governing bodies since 2020, and the first in-person meeting since 2019.
County officials just released the second blistering review of the Joint Office of Homeless Services in as many months. The first, released by the county auditor in August, reported that nonprofit providers of homeless services had characterized dealings with the office as "confusing and chaotic," plagued by late payments and poor communication.
RELATED: Audit finds Joint Office of Homeless Services was late on large payments, lacks housing plan
But a third-party review of JOHS, performed by consulting firm called Health Management Services during 2022 and into the winter of 2023, was even more critical of the office and of its leadership. The report, released by the county on Friday, found that JOHS lacked "a clear set of strategies, vision and measurable outcomes."
Like the county auditor's report, the third-party consultants noted that communication issues were a major concern, accompanied by a lack of transparency. Going beyond JOHS itself, they noted a "lack of alignment among elected leaders, county leaders, providers and service and housing providers regarding the appropriate components of the homelessness response system."
"This report gives us an incredibly powerful jumping off point as to really how do we bring that plan together for that entire system and how to we bring that higher level of response that we need for the urgency today," Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said. "This gives us a pivot towards creating that strong, coordinated, comprehensive plan."
Both reports helped shape what county and city leaders aimed to accomplish heading into Friday's summit. According to a statement from the county, they hoped to create a new model for governing JOHS in order to clarify the roles of both the city and county, "joining together to create a shared strategic vision and map for the region’s homeless response system."
"It’s the first official public meeting of the full board of both the county and the city," said Dan Field, JOHS director for the past four months. "I want to reassure you that the chair is meeting with the mayor constantly and the governor weekly, if not daily on some occasions. I am meeting multiple times a day with the mayor's staff in particular — we’re on the phone, we’re texting, we’re emailing, we’re coordinating in a way that hasn’t happened before.
"The joint office now has a permanent leadership team for the first time in over a year. We have a full-time deputy for the first time in over a year. We have a full-time finance leader for the first time in over a year. We have a full-time director — that’s me."
City commissioners have complained about their lack of influence over JOHS, despite the fact that the city contributes about $43 million each year to the office. The lion's share of JOHS office funding since 2020, however, comes from the Supportive Housing Services tax administered by Metro.
While Multnomah County is charged with managing day-to-day operations at the joint office, critics have characterized it as something of a personal fiefdom of the county chair, one insulated from county commissioners nearly as much as it is from the city of Portland.
During Friday's meeting, attendees acknowledged that leadership of JOHS is supposed to be a joint effort, even if it is housed within the county.
“I hear from Portlanders every day demanding our local governments work together with urgency to address the homeless crisis,” said Mayor Ted Wheeler in a statement. “Our community expects action now. I look forward to having a solutions-based discussion on next steps for the Joint Office of Homeless Services.”
JOHS works with 55 different homeless services providers, largely by contracting their services and handling payments. But both audits of the agency noted that the joint office should also be a vector for setting a clear plan, one communicated to providers so that JOHS can then ensure they remain accountable to that vision.
"One of the concerns that we heard from our providers is ‘don’t just tell us what you did, tell us what you’re planning to do and engage us in that planning work looking forward,'" Field said ahead of the meeting. "We’re committed to doing that. We’re not waiting until the end of the year."
This is a developing story and may be updated with more details as they emerge.