FILE - Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, center, greets volunteers and staff at a warming shelter in Southeast Portland, Feb. 11, 2025.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson is floating a 22% cut to the county’s homeless services programs in the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
“Due to volatile budget predictions and declining revenue streams, our overall spending on homeless services will be reduced,” Vega Pederson wrote in a letter accompanying her proposed budget released Thursday.
The Homeless Services Department’s budget for the current year is $420 million. The potential 22% reduction could close programs that help recruit and retain workers at homeless services programs, offer housing support for people escaping domestic violence, and financially support landlords who rent to people who’ve recently been homeless.
These cuts don’t come as a complete surprise. In February, Vega Pederson revealed the county’s Homeless Services Department was facing a $104 million deficit due to the elimination of short-term funding streams. That budget gap has been adjusted to $60 million, according to the latest budget report.
At the time, Vega Pederson said she was seeking funding from Metro and the state to support the department. It’s not clear if she’s been promised any dollars from those jurisdictions, after facing criticism from Metro President Lynn Peterson and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek for the initial deficit. Vega Pederson said she aims to use a mix of county general funds and financial reserves to fill this deficit, but it’s not enough to keep the program whole.
The cuts won’t shutter existing shelters and will maintain programs that move sheltered people into permanent housing.
The proposal also appears to keep the county’s commitment to its joint partnership with the city to boost shelter beds. That plan, established last year, has since been updated to match Portland Mayor Keith Wilson’s mission to build enough shelter space to accommodate the county’s entire unsheltered population by 2026. It relies on the county funding 1,000 shelter beds, which Vega Pederson’s budget proposal includes.
The budget proposal goes even further to support Wilson’s plan: It pledges an additional $10 million to Portland to support the shelter program.
The county and city have historically clashed over how to spend money on homeless services, sparring between whether to prioritize moving people into housing or into shelter. This budget signals a change.
“Importantly, this budget maintains a commitment to our jurisdictional partnerships,” Vega Pederson wrote. “If we aren’t working together, we’re not going to help people successfully.”
Wilson will release his proposed budget for the city in two weeks. As for now, he hasn’t revealed how he plans to pay for his $28 million plan to boost shelter beds on top of the city’s $65 million general fund deficit, but he told city councilors earlier this week that he has the funding.
Some at the county felt the cuts to homeless services should have been deeper. Grievances over the full budget spilled into public view Thursday as Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez lambasted Vega Pederson’s decision to use general funds to patch the county’s homeless services department over the district attorney’s.
“She’s doubling down on some very failed issues that we’ve had in this community, and she’s taking it out of our core funding, our general fund, instead of funding our district attorney’s office,” Vasquez said at a press conference. “This is a direct move in the wrong direction for this community.”
Vega Pederson’s proposed budget suggests $1 million in cuts to Vasquez’s $55 million budget, representing about a 2% reduction. The cuts would impact juvenile, domestic violence, and treatment court departments.
Vasquez’s office has characterized this cut being closer to $2 million. His number includes one-time funding that was already anticipated to disappear this coming fiscal year.
Vega Pederson’s budget is far from final. The county Board of Commissioners will hear public feedback on the proposal and offer their own tweaks in the coming weeks. The board will vote to approve a final budget in June.