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The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 20 publicly discussed Metro’s proposal to divert an unspecified percentage of the regional government’s supportive housing services tax to build more affordable housing. Metro officials floated the idea last month, proposing to pull together a panel of stakeholders to discuss putting the concept on the November ballot.
Metro acted in response to three facts: First, all three metro-area counties have struggled to spend their allocations from the tax voters approved in 2020; second, economists now forecast revenues will far exceed the original projection of $250 million a year from the tax; and third, Metro has committed all of the $652 million in housing bond dollars voters approved in 2018—and polling shows voters reluctant to approve a new bond.
But in a work session Tuesday, the usually fractious Multnomah County commissioners agreed they don’t like Metro’s idea.
“I am unequivocally opposed,” said Commissioner Sharon Meieran, calling Metro’s argument “smoke and mirrors.”
Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards concurred. “It looks like a money grab,” she said. “Diverting money to something else is problematic when we haven’t fixed the problem voters voted to solve.”
Metro COO Marissa Madrigal says as the agency that collects and oversees the homeless tax, it is Metro’s responsibility to “bring up important ideas and have difficult conversations.”