SALEM, Ore. – Governor Tina Kotek released details about her plan to address homelessness in Oregon.
The governor is asking state lawmakers to invest $130 million toward reducing the number of unsheltered Oregonians in 2023. The request was paired with a statewide emergency order declaring a “Homelessness State of Emergency.”
Governor Kotek’s office said the spending package would aim to provide immediate shelter to 1,200 homeless Oregonians, prevent nearly 9,000 households from experiencing homelessness, expand the state’s shelter capacity, increase sanitation services, and ensure a coordinated response the homelessness.
The governor’s office released the following bullet points about the plan:
- Prevent vulnerable households from becoming homeless
- $33.6 million to prevent 8,750 households from becoming homeless by funding rent assistance and other eviction prevention services
- Add shelter beds and housing navigators
- $23.8 million to add 600 low-barrier shelter beds statewide and hire more housing navigators to ensure unsheltered Oregonians can get connected to the shelter and services they need.
- Rehouse unsheltered households
- $54.4 million to rehouse at least 1,200 unsheltered households by funding prepaid rental assistance, block leasing at least 600 vacant homes, landlord guarantees and incentives, and other re-housing services.
- Support Oregon Tribes
- $5 million to support emergency response directly to the nine sovereign tribes in the State of Oregon.
- Ensure equitable outcomes
- $5 million to increase capacity for culturally responsive organizations to support equitable outcomes of the homelessness state of emergency.
- Support local sanitation services
- $2 million to support local communities for sanitation services.
- Coordinate emergency response
- $1.8 million to support the emergency response being coordinated by the Office of Emergency Management and Oregon Housing and Community Services.
“I am urging the legislature to take up this investment package as quickly as possible. Unsheltered Oregonians need relief now, and our local communities need the support to provide that relief. This is only the first step. Together, we can act with the urgency people across our state are demanding. Bold ideas, concrete solutions, disciplined follow through. That’s how we can deliver results, this year, and in the years to follow,” Governor Tina Kotek stated.
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