Local Homelessness Prevention Could See $21 Million Funding Bump

City councilors are moving fast after the city’s housing bureau reported millions in funding it raised from 2021 to 2024 but did not allocate.

The Housing and Homelessness Committee on December 9 referred a resolution to the full City Council to reallocate $21 million in unspent Portland Housing Bureau (PHB) funds toward rent assistance. Brought by all three East Portland councilors—Candace Avalos, Jamie Dunphy, and Loretta Smith—the resolution urges Mayor Keith Wilson to allocate the dollars toward rent stabilization to slow the flow into homelessness due to a lack of affordable housing.

Smith does not serve on the housing committee, but provided public testimony in support after cosponsoring the bill.

“Month after month, more Portlanders fall into homelessness than we can house,” Smith said. “If we only treat the symptoms, we will never solve the problem.”

The vote comes as the administrative side of the city government is under scrutiny, after the former PHB director sent a memo December 4 outlining how an audit she requested uncovered the unspent funds in July. In the memo, Hisserich said she asked her superior, Donnie Oliveira, the deputy city administrator who oversees PHB, if she should alert the City Council prior to a budget adjustment process in November. Oliveira said it would be a “big PR problem” and she should keep quiet, according to Hisserich’s memo.

Through Tuesday’s resolution, the money is on a path to keep people in housing. As of September, Multnomah County has reported nearly 7,500 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, mostly concentrated in Portland. While data shows over 1,300 people exited homelessness that month—350 of whom moved into permanent housing, over 1,400 reportedly became homeless during that period, and over 1,000 of those engaged with homeless services for the first time.

The resolution seeks proposes the following allocations to increase funding for eight different housing stability programs this fiscal year, and over the following two fiscal years:

• $4 million over the next three years for tenants behind on rent
• $2 million for rent assistance and rapid rehousing for tenants facing eviction
• $3 million for rent assistance to bring people out of homelessness and into housing
• $1.5 million for a “right to counsel” pilot offering legal aid to tenants in fiscal year 2026-27
• $9 million for Home Forward to use on housing vouchers next year
• $200K for landlord and tenant education next fiscal year
• $750K to help stabilize affordable housing operations for nonprofits in North and Northeast Portland
• $250K for down payment assistance on home purchases in FY 26-27

The resolution cited federal policy shifts as major contributors to housing instability—like reductions in Housing and Urban Development funding, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Christina Dirks, director of policy and planning at the city’s housing authority Home Forward, supported the resolution, particularly the emergency housing voucher “off-ramp” piece of the legislation. If passed by the full City Council, PHB would send a one-time investment of $9 million to Home Forward to support housing vouchers for households impacted by sudden federal cuts. That includes at least 429 vulnerable households, including children, according to Dirks.

“We know these households were once homeless and they are at imminent risk of homelessness once again,” Dirks said in public testimony.

Michael Szporluk, a Portlander who has worked in land use planning and housing rights, said the city should ensure it is building the right type of housing for people with disabilities, including for the disproportionate number of homeless residents with disabilities.

“We’ve talked a little bit about the affordability crisis and that’s absolutely very real,” Szporluk said. “But we have not really dug into the accessibility crisis as well. We know that there is a severe lack of accessible homes in Portland, and in Oregon more broadly, and that severe lack means that housing choice is compromised for persons with disabilities and their families.”

Michelle Gila, the director of Realtor advocacy at the Portland Metro Association of Realtors, submitted testimony opposing the resolution. Gila said she supports the aims, but urged the city to allocate money toward down payment assistance, educational support for housing providers, and to conduct a study on rental regulations.

“Unfortunately, several components of the current proposal move far outside the chartered purpose of this fund, as well as what housing providers understand their fees would support,” Gila wrote. “The Rental Registration fee was created to support rental services, housing stability, and access to affordable housing—not to serve as a catch-all revenue stream for programs far outside the rental regulatory system.”

The resolution will require buy-in from the mayor during the next budgeting cycle. But the City Council’s intent plays a role in how the mayor is supposed to develop the budget. Asked if Wilson supports the resolution, his spokesperson Cody Bowman said in an email that he shares similar priorities.

“Mayor Wilson shares Councilors Avalos and Dunphy’s priorities of ‘slowing the inflow’ into homelessness through supporting renters and preventing evictions, as well as rapidly moving individuals in need from shelters and into the housing,” Bowman said. 

Wilson supports a strategy outlined in a memo PHB developed detailing how rental prevention funds can be most effectively deployed, according to Bowman. That memo, sent by interim PHB director Micheal Buonocore on December 1, recommends similar programs but would dedicate $3 million to Home Forward in 2026, $500,000 for landlord education, and dole out $1.2 million in grants to affordable housing providers with vacant units. The recommendation also holds $3 million in contingency funds for the Rental Services Office and would not allocate any money in the current fiscal year.