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Multnomah County said it has stopped funding Rockwood Community Development Corporation because the nonprofit provider of shelter housing in the Gresham neighborhood had sought reimbursement for unapproved expenses, double-counted some costs, and charged the county for rooms that were closed for repairs.
Rockwood CDC owns a 65-room apartment tower in the Rockwood section of Gresham. For three years, it reserved 50 of those rooms for emergency housing, paid for by Multnomah County.
Several months ago, county officials began documenting business practices at Rockwood CDC, according to a county memo describing the situation. Dan Field, who recently retired as director of the county’s Homeless Services Department, drafted a document recommending that the county terminate its contract with Rockwood on June 30, the end of this fiscal year.
The move is significant because Multnomah County delivers more than $1 billion in services through nonprofits like Rockwood CDC. In 2023, Multnomah County’s elected auditor, Jennifer McGuirk, chastised the county for failing to make sure nonprofits were providing the services they promised.
“We have a responsibility to be good fiscal stewards of taxpayer dollars, and our due diligence revealed that one of the county’s contracted family shelter providers, Rockwood CDC, was spending public dollars for uses not included in our agreed-upon contract,” the county said in a statement. “We have tried to work with them to correct this, but it has become clear they will not take steps to comply with our contract requirements. We are required as a part of this stewardship to hold this valued provider accountable by severing our relationship.”
Rockwood CDC says it was a policy change at the county that led to the rift.
“Initially, funding was understood to support not only the designated rooms, but also the broader operational infrastructure necessary to maintain them,” Rockwood CDC spokeswoman Savannah Carreno said in a statement. “The county has since retroactively narrowed that interpretation, limiting funding to expenses tied directly and exclusively to the individual 50 rooms.”
That shift, Carreno said, “significantly reduced our ability to cover operational costs essential to maintaining the safety, cleanliness, and dignity of the entire facility.”
The county is housing 37 families at Rockwood. Between now and June 27, they will move into motel rooms for “a short period” until alternative housing is ready, the county said.
“We are deeply disappointed by the county’s decision to retroactively change the terms of our agreement, which has created financial strain on our organization and uncertainty for those we serve,” Brad Ketch, chief executive of of Rockwood CDC, said in the statement. “Nonetheless, we remain committed to the people and families at the heart of this work. Our mission to create equitable and stable housing opportunities continues, and we will advocate for accountability and clarity in all future public partnerships.”
The county, however, said in its memo that Rockwood CDC “demonstrated a pattern of invoicing the county for expenses that were not agreed upon by the county and were outside the boundaries of their contract.”
Rockwood did not seek competitive bids for large purchases, the county said. Nor did it get pre-approval for purchases of $5,000 or more, as required by county policy. In one case, Rockwood sought reimbursement for payments to a subcontractor for work done from July through December.
“While Rockwood CDC indicated they had paid the subcontractor for all of those months, our recent communications with the subcontractor indicate they have only been reimbursed for services through September,” the county said.
Rockwood also billed the county for expenses at a building acquired under Project Turnkey, a state program that converts hotels and motels into housing, the county said.