LEAGUE, Lane County will advocate for shelter funding

Presenter: The Human Services Commission (HSC) considers an advocacy agenda from the Poverty and Homelessness Board that has been endorsed by the lived experience group LEAGUE (Lived Experience Advisory Group on Unhoused Experience). Speaking to the HSC Oct. 19, Lane County’s Kate Budd:

Kate Budd (Lane County, Human Services Division, manager): There’s just not a lot of clarity and certainty as we go into this next legislative session, especially around biennial funding.

And so, one of the things that’s exciting that has been up and coming this last year is to create an advocacy agenda so that the board itself, but then community members who are involved in the task groups and just are focusing on the work of the PHB, have an opportunity to plug in where they’d like around advocacy.

And advocacy was also a very large part of the strategic plan that was adopted for the Poverty and Homelessness Board a little more than a year ago. And as we work to move that strategic plan forward, having an advocacy agenda is one way to help progress that plan.

And so a Poverty and Homelessness Board advocacy task group was created and has been meeting on a near-monthly basis since February.

They created an advocacy agenda, really looking at firstly the scope of the Poverty and Homelessness Board, as well as where the greatest interests and passions lie, and whether there might be other groups within the community that might focus on things that are really important but may not actually be a primary piece of the scope of the Poverty and Homelessness Board.

Food, for example, is something that is not a part of the current advocacy agenda, but there is a high interest in considering signing on to the Oregon Food Bank advocacy agenda. And so that’s a secondary way in which items can be supported but not necessarily be on the formal advocacy agenda.

So once a draft advocacy agenda was created, it was taken to LEAGUE, which is the Poverty and Homelessness Board’s lived experience of poverty and houselessness group.

The group was very supportive of the focus on emergency shelter, for example, and funding for STEP (Safe Temporary Emergency Placement) shelter as well, feeling like there’s significant needs in our community that are not being met.

And then after it went to LEAGUE, it went back to the advocacy group where they adopted the plan in October, just a few weeks ago. And so, in the Lane County pipeline, the next step is for the plan to go to the legislative committee when it meets next.

And Commissioner Farr, who sits on the Poverty and Homelessness Board, will plan on bringing that to the legislative committee to just ensure that it’s within the scope of the advocacy plan through the county.

And so the advocacy agenda itself has four key focus areas and the key part of Section 1 is sustaining the federal funds that come through the Human Services division. And so for example, Community Services Block Grant comes through the Human Services Division and about $380,000 is received.

The next section focuses on the state level, and looks at three of the four key funding sources that were created after the governor’s executive order due to the crisis of houselessness.

Unfortunately the continuing service levels that exist for the next biennium are about half or even less than what was received in this current biennium. Commissioner Rodley, I see your hand up.

Presenter: With a question for Kate Budd, Human Services Commissioner Kori Rodley:

Kori Rodley: My question for you is, ’cause these are all core pillars that we all have used to fund these things for years. And, like, I know particularly around like CDBG and home funds have not increased, right? So we’re doing less with more. So just trying to maintain.

But I don’t know that I heard: Do we—and I know we don’t know because of just this current federal administration—but does it feel like any of those particular sources, not necessarily the amounts, but those sources are at risk of going away? Because again, these are core things we’ve used in this community for a long time.

Kate Budd: Thank you for that question. And at this point, our greatest indication remains the presidential budget, where a number of these funding sources were completely zeroed out.

And while I recognize that Congress came back and did indeed sustain funding or even increase funding a bit for some of these funding sources, we don’t yet know Congress’s intention around these funding sources.

And so it is realistic that the funding source could be eradicated or it could be reduced.

Presenter: She shared examples where funding was reduced by half or eliminated entirely. Kate Budd:

Kate Budd: With ORI (Oregon Rehousing Initiative), which is used locally for diversion (which is short-term problem solving conversations coupled with flexible funding to help people move from houselessness to permanent housing), the continuing service level is indeed half what was received statewide during this current biennium.

For DAP (Oregon Eviction Diversion and Prevention), which is prevention assistance, which is rent assistance with case management supports, half as was received this current biennium compared to the next biennium.

And then long-term rent assistance, which is rent assistance with case management, with an idea of it being long-term at least two years. Right now, there is not a continuing service level, and so there is nothing that is being proposed fundingwise to sustain this program today into the next biennium.

And so the ask is to sustain the amount of money available during this biennium, looking at the next biennium, and ask for the same amount.

So then the fourth funding source focuses on shelter. And this is both emergency shelter as well as STEP (Safe Temporary Emergency Placement) shelter, which are the alternative shelters, which could include, like, safe vehicle parking programs or tiny home villages, Conestoga Huts, etc.

And the continuing service level with the statewide shelter program is a half of what was received across the state, during this biennium.

And the Poverty and Homelessness Board as well as LEAGUE felt very passionately that not only should a sustained level of funding be requested, but that additional funding for shelter should be requested, recognizing that there is a very real concern that the community could lose additional shelter beds that are currently not funded through the state, should additional state funding not be provided.

And so this does ask for an additional, in total, $22.4 million for the biennium.

There is recognition that this may not come to fruition, and a feeling that it is very important that the overall need around shelter in our community be discussed and shared, and that conversations for additional dollars be engaged with our legislators.

Presenter: The fourth item is whether to preserve House Bill 3115, which restricts local ordinances on public camping and sleeping. Kate Budd:

Kate Budd: There’s been much conversation it seems during every legislative session around this bill, recognizing that there are jurisdictions that feel like parameters should be lessened—allowing for greater rules around where and kind of how they can rule around where people can sleep or just simply be—and also recognizing there are some jurisdictions that would actually like to make this even broader, and allow people to be wherever they’d like to be within their community.

And so the feeling from the Poverty and Homelessness Board task group was that they want to see this House Bill rule maintained and help to protect folks who are unhoused from the further criminalization of houselessness.

And so with this advocacy agenda, the Human Services Commission has an opportunity to consider adopting these items, if there’s an interest.

And it could be that the items in whole are adopted as a part of the advocacy agenda for the Human Services Commission, or it could be that just certain sections of the advocacy agenda be adopted if there isn’t full alliance with what the advocacy task group is sharing.

Presenter: The Human Services Commission will discuss the advocacy agenda in November. You can find the Poverty and Homelessness Group’s strategic plan online at the Lane County website.