Recommendations
The Task Force recommendations below build on much-needed financial investment, shared analysis of the latest data, challenges, and opportunities facing people experiencing homelessness in Oregon, service providers, Task Force Members, and all Oregonians.
Area 1: Solutions Regarding Eligibility and Funding of Services
An unprecedented crisis requires extraordinary measures. A billion-dollar problem cannot be solved with inadequate local, state, or federal resources. The Task Force recommends ongoing funding of $1.1 billion:
- $510 million for rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing with no less than
- $102 million provided to the Oregon Balance of State
- $190 million to expand Oregon’s Housing Development Grant Program (“Trust Fund”)
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$190 million with no less than $38 million provided to the Oregon Balance of State to establish an Oregon Special Needs Assistance Program – a set-aside of locally flexible funding for:
- federally recognized tribes that border within Oregon
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culturally specific organizations
- culturally based organizations representing historically underserved populations
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recovery-based shelter or transitional housing operators
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re-entry based operators serving returning citizens who are at-risk of homelessness
- disability-serving organizations
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migrant seasonal farmworker organizations
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domestic and sexual violence providers
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human trafficking providers
- youth-serving providers
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LGBTQ+ serving providers
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$50 million to preserve existing services and funding for antipoverty programs that intersect with homelessness for Community Action Agencies
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$100 million to establish a state-funded housing choice grant program, the Oregon Housing Choice Grant, for Oregonians who are rent burdened (spending 30% or more of their income on rent) and meet one of the following eligibility criteria:
- Working families with children under 18
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Individuals who can verify their disability with a qualified provider
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Individuals who are age 55 and older
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$50 million to establish a Direct Service Provider Hiring and Retention Fund, a stopgap fund to bridge over the benefits cliff that faces frontline service providers, reduce turnover, and ensure living wages for employees in the homeless services sector
- $5 million to expand the Housing Choice Landlord Guarantee Program and Rent Guarantee Program (landlord risk mitigation funds) to provide landlords with an incentive and added security to work with tenants receiving local, state, or federal rental assistance. Targeted program will offer:
- Up to $1,000 and up to fourteen days’ rent loss to the landlord in reimbursement or some potentially required move-in upgrades, and up to $5,000 in qualifying damages caused by tenant during tenancy.
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$3 million Continuum of Care capacity building grant to establish local planning groups within the Oregon Balance of State
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$2 million insurance mitigation fund for smaller organizations with annual operating budgets at or below $5 million that are typically disadvantaged by state insurance requirements to receive funding
- The Task Force recommends the department may disburse state and federal homelessness funds through grants and loans to local governments as defined in ORS 197.015, tribes as defined in ORS 273.462, individuals, housing authorities as defined in ORS 456.005, nonprofit corporations as defined in ORS 65.001, culturally specific organization or culturally responsive organization as defined in ORS 456.005 and community action agencies as described in ORS 458.505.
- The Task Force recommends the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department receive authority from the Legislative Assembly to allocate, in its sole discretion, homelessness funding in any method that ensures statewide geographic coverage without regard to existing or prior distribution formulas, including through a competitive grant or contract process.
Area 2: Changes to the State’s Funding Structure
The Task Force recommends the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department adopt a competitive funding structure for administering state and federal resources to address homelessness that prioritizes both maintaining existing service levels and expanding funding availability and eligibility beyond historically funded organizations, geographies, and institutions by:
Through this process, OHCS could develop specific solutions to address current unmet needs, incorporating those solutions into a universal goal-oriented framework to equitably benefit all groups involved. Under the targeted universalism framework, OHCS would develop strategies that operationalize equity, direct resources and achieve outcomes for those most impacted by homelessness.
With this approach, policymakers and community stakeholders across Oregon can account for how different groups are situated within structures, culture, and across geographies to obtain the universal goal and account for the culturally specific needs of different protected class groups, vulnerable populations, and underserved communities. Targeted universalism is a method of policymaking and programming that sets out to move all groups toward the universal policy goal, as well as a way of communicating and publicly marketing such programs in an inclusive, bridging manner. It is an approach that supports the needs of particular groups, including those in the majority, while reminding everyone that we are all part of the same social and civic fabric.
The Task Force recommends the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department adopt a competitive funding structure for administering state and federal resources to address homelessness that prioritizes both maintaining existing service levels and expanding funding availability and eligibility beyond historically funded organizations, geographies, and institutions by:
- Direct allocation, through formula funding or other means as determined in partnership with each sovereign nation, to the nine federally recognized tribes that border within Oregon.
- Direct allocation, through formula funding or other means as determined by the Agency, to Community Action Agencies based on community engagement and input, for anti-poverty initiatives that intersect with homelessness priorities.
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Direct allocation, through formula funding or other means as determined by the Agency based on community engagement and input, to Continuum of Care (CoC) and local planning groups structured similarly to coordinated homeless response offices established in House Bill 4123 (2022).
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Direct allocation, through formula funding or other means as determined by the Agency based on community engagement and input, to culturally specific, culturally responsive, culturally based, and other organizations within the 2023/2024 fiscal year that are focused on reducing disparities where there is a demonstrated overrepresentation in homelessness in communities that are historically underrepresented.
Area 3: Modifications for Contracting Processes
- The Task Force recommends the 82nd Legislative Assembly to expressly direct and grant the authority to the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department to create opportunities for people with lived experience of homelessness and/or housing insecurity to inform state policymaking and to provide direct compensation to people with lived experience of homelessness or housing insecurity for their expertise. Compensation and support may be operationalized as formal advisory board structures, focus groups, surveys, and by other means.
- The Task Force recommends the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department receive authority from the 82nd Legislative Assembly to identify, procure, and implement a comprehensive grants and financial management system no later than December 2025.
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The Task Force recommends the 82nd Legislative Assembly direct both the Oregon
Department of Justice and Oregon Department of Administrative Services to review,
revise, and negotiate language changes to contracts within 21 business days of receipt.
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The Task Force recommends the 82nd Legislative Assembly direct both the Oregon Department of Justice and Oregon Department of Administrative Services to review insurance requirements for smaller organizations with annual operating budgets at or below $5 million that are typically disadvantaged by state insurance requirements to receive state funding. The Task Force recommends these requirements be revised with the intention of investing in historically underfunded and underrepresented communities and organizations.
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The Task Force recommends the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department adopt a funding cycle by the end of the 23-25 biennium on a biannual timeline to support transparency for current or prospective grantees:
- January – OHCS hosts statewide listening sessions to inform funding cycle priorities.
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February – OHCS announces funding cycle opportunities.
- March – OHCS holds statewide pre-bidders conference.
- April – OHCS releases applications for funding with a deadline of 45 days minimum for completion
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May/June – OHCS reviews applications and makes notice of intent to award.
- July – grant agreements are fully executed.