County Votes to Send $15 Million in Metro Homeless Money to the City of Portland

The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously today to send $15 million to the city of Portland to fight homelessness.

The money would come from the Metro regional government’s supportive housing services, or SHS, tax approved by voters in 2020. Metro disburses the tax money to the three counties in its jurisdiction to provide services to homeless people. The transfer would be the first from Metro to a city, in this case by way of a county.

Metro keeps 5% of SHS receipts to pay for administration of the program. Larger-than-expected tax receipts and lower administrative costs have left Metro with a $31 million surplus in the account that it now aims to spend on other things.

Multnomah County officials have been eyeing the money since last month, when County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson held a press conference to disclose a $104 million shortfall in the Joint Office of Homeless Services. At the time, she asked Metro for an extra $30 million, very near the amount of Metro’s surplus.

Today’s resolution, brought by Commissioner Shannon Singleton, would help ease tensions over homeless policy between the county and city, Vega Pederson said.

“Resetting the relationship with the city of Portland had been a very primary goal of mine since coming into office as chair,” Vega Pederson said after the vote.

The county’s approval today doesn’t mean that the $15 million will flow to the city immediately. Metro’s governing council must vote on sending the money to Multnomah County, council chief of staff Kristin Dennis said.

Metro held a first reading on a resolution March 4 to send money not just to Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties but directly to cities within them. The council has yet to schedule a second reading, Dennis said.

The possible transfer of surplus administration funds to Multnomah County raises the question of whether the other two counties could get a similar windfall. The SHS tax, a 1% levy on income above $125,000 for individuals and $200,000 for couples filing jointly, is distributed to the counties according to a set formula. Multnomah County gets 45.3%. Washington gets 33.3% and Clackamas gets 21.3%.

At least one Metro councilor thinks the one-time money should go to Multnomah County alone, or at least at a percentage higher than 45.3%. Councilor Mary Nolan, who represents downtown and North Portland, says Multnomah County should get more of the money because it has by far the largest homeless population, much of which is concentrated in her district.

“These additional funds are focused on the immediate crisis and should go where the need is,” Nolan said in an interview. “The whole region isn’t going to get out of this quagmire until the central city does.”

At $15 million, the share of surplus administrative funds that may go to Multnomah County is about 48% of the total $31 million.

Neither Clackamas nor Washington County had immediate comment on whether they would seek a share of the administrative surplus.