Spending for the First Year of a Regional Homelessness Tax Shows Promising Results. But One County Lags Behind.

The three counties in the Portland metro area housed 1,639 homeless people in the past year using the first chunk of tax dollars collected by a 10-year tax on high income earners and businesses. But 1,129 of those were in Multnomah County—and nearby Clackamas County has barely begun spending its portion.

That’s according to preliminary data released Aug. 30 by the regional government Metro, which presented the tax measure to voters in 2020 and distributes the tax dollars to Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. Over 10 years, the tax—which is levied on single-person households making more than $125,000 a year and multiple-people households making more than $200,000 a year—is expected to produce billions of dollars. The tax brought in higher-than-expected figures in its first year, raising a total of $209 million for the counties.

The money is spent on services to help people find and stay in housing.

Figures show 9,156 people avoided homelessness by receiving eviction protection services from Multnomah County using the tax funds. Clackamas County listed zero people receiving eviction protection.

Kimberly Webb, a spokeswoman for Clackamas County, tells WW it will ramp up spending now that programs are built.

“The actual spend does not indicate the progress achieved. What you’re seeing here is part of the natural progression of building new programs,” Webb says. “We’ve worked to build new infrastructure and programs, and we have outcomes to show for it.”

Spending reports from Multnomah County show that its spending increased dramatically in the past quarter—a sign, officials hope, that the systems getting dollars on the streets are becoming more efficient.

Figures released this week show that the tax created 514 new shelter beds. More than 300 are in Multnomah County. The additional beds are spread out among existing shelters.

Here’s how much the three counties have spent of their shares of the fund.

38%: The portion of its share of the fund that Multnomah County spent in its first year ($36 million of $94 million available).

24%: The portion of its share of the fund that Washington County spent in its first year ($17 million of $70 million available).

6.6%: The portion of its share of the fund that Clackamas County spent in its first year ($3 million of $45 million available).