XPost: or.politics, alt.society.homeless, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: jdutton@uicu.edu   
      
   Roughly 800 households in Multnomah County are at imminent risk of   
   homelessness if a change in federal funding advances as expected.   
      
   “This is a horrible thing to have to face as a community,” said Chair   
   Jessica Vega Pederson at a Tuesday county board hearing. “We absolutely   
   have a federal administration that is really trying to put forward   
   policies that we know are gonna harm people.”   
      
   The county says it faces losing more than $25 million meant to address   
   the region’s homeless crisis in the coming year from the U.S. Department   
   of Housing and Urban Development. The news comes after rates of   
   homelessness across the county surge to record levels.   
      
   But the federal cuts aren’t certain.   
      
   In November, HUD announced it would overhaul the Continuum of Care   
   program, the government system that issues grants to address   
   homelessness. Multnomah County applies for funding through this program   
   annually, and those dollars are distributed among about 15 nonprofits   
   that operate housing and outreach programs.   
      
   HUD cut the amount of funding available for permanent supportive housing   
   programs — programs where the government subsidizes or fully pays rent   
   for formerly homeless people who may be unable to live on their own due   
   to a mental illness or disability. These programs also offer services to   
   help people gain stability, such as on-site treatment programs or job   
   training.   
      
   The federal agency also introduced new requirements for housing   
   programs; mandated participation in substance abuse treatment programs,   
   restrictions on operating clean needle exchanges, and prohibitions on   
   creating programs that benefit a certain race or gender.   
      
   “These long-overdue reforms will promote independence and ensure we are   
   supporting means-tested approaches to carry out the president’s mandate,   
   connect Americans with the help they need, and make our cities and towns   
   beautiful and safe,” said HUD Secretary Scott Turner at the time.   
      
   Many of these new requirements violate Multnomah County’s own policies,   
   which reflect equity goals once mandated by HUD under previous   
   presidential administrations.   
      
   “It’s a complete 180,” said Anna Plumb, interim director of the county’s   
   Homeless Services Department.   
      
   Shortly after HUD announced these changes, Oregon and 18 other states   
   filed a legal challenge. On Dec. 8, a day before a hearing on that   
   federal lawsuit, HUD withdrew its policy revisions to “assess the issues   
   raised by plaintiffs” and make changes. But it did not say when those   
   changes would be published.   
      
   In a statement emailed to OPB Thursday morning, a spokesperson for HUD   
   said that it “fully stands by the fundamental reforms” to the Continuum   
   of Care grant requirements, and just intends on making “technical   
   corrections” to the policy language.   
      
   “The department remains fully committed to making long overdue reforms   
   to its homelessness assistance programs,” they wrote.   
      
   Multnomah County anticipates that HUD won’t change its previously   
   announced changes, unless a court intervenes. County officials are   
   preparing for the worst.   
      
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   The county previously anticipated receiving around $38 million through   
   the HUD program this year. At the Tuesday board meeting, Homeless   
   Services Department Program Manager Erin Pidot said that if HUD upholds   
   the Continuum of Care changes introduced in November, the county could   
   lose $25.3 million of that money.   
      
   Programs that pay to house 800 households — more than a thousand people   
   — could shutter as soon as early next year.   
      
   “Those are households that were chronically homeless, have significant   
   disabling conditions and really have demonstrated that they need   
   permanent supportive housing in order to end their homelessness,” Pidot   
   said. “We’ll do everything possible to minimize impacts, but preventing   
   returns to homelessness will require reprioritization of local   
   resources.”   
      
   Pidot said the county is evaluating ways to use other funding sources,   
   like Metro’s Supportive Housing Services fund, to pay for the threatened   
   permanent housing programs, and using what federal funding they do   
   receive to fill in the remaining gaps. Multnomah County anticipates   
   collecting about $137 million in revenues through the Metro housing fund   
   next year.   
      
   Under the HUD policy changes, the county may still be eligible for the   
   full amount it anticipated, if it used the money on programs approved by   
   the administration — such as street outreach programs and transitional   
   housing, which is a type of short-term housing for people exiting   
   homelessness.   
      
   But the county is worried it will not receive any money from the federal   
   government because of its public opposition to other policies rolled out   
   by President Donald Trump.   
      
   “Do we have concerns that locations that have resisted the Trump   
   administration’s policies are less likely to get funding, regardless of   
   the quality of their application?” asked Commissioner Meghan Moyer, who   
   called the administration’s proposal “fascist.”   
      
   Pidot said politics is “literally written” into the new federal homeless   
   doctrine.   
      
   “HUD reserves the right to discriminate based on misalignment with   
   administration policy,” she said.   
      
   Multnomah County’s deadline for applying to any funding under the   
   Continuum of Care program is Friday. Plumb said the county won’t know   
   what funding they receive until May. In the meantime, the county will be   
   halting all plans to open 200 new permanent housing units, which were   
   funded in this year’s budget.   
      
   “We are pausing on moving that forward in the case that we need to use   
   those units to backfill folks who might otherwise lose their housing,”   
   Plumb said.   
      
   Multnomah County is just the latest jurisdiction to learn of major   
   changes to federal housing funding. Earlier this month, the county’s   
   public housing authority, Home Forward, announced a $35 million budget   
   shortfall due, in part, to HUD cuts. That includes a $14 million   
   reduction in low-income rent subsidies through the Housing Choice   
   Voucher program, meaning an already years-long waiting list for   
   subsidized housing could be extended further.   
      
   Portland City Councilors introduced a resolution last week that could   
   help buffer that financial loss with around $9 million in unspent city   
   dollars.   
      
   County staff said they’re looking beyond just local government support   
   to defend their housing programs.   
      
   “This is definitely an all-hands-on-deck situation where we’re pursuing   
   as many strategies as we can,” said Pidot, “including outside of the   
   [grant] process, through national advocacy and potential litigation.”   
      
   https://www.opb.org/article/2025/12/17/homelessness-multnomah-county-hous   
   ing-portland-oregon/   
      
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