Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury Thursday released her proposed 2017 budget. The $1.87 billion budget invests heavily in housing and emphasizes programs that promote equity and improved mental health care.
“Our community thrives when we all have the opportunity to work, afford decent housing, care for our families and reach our potential,” Chair Kafoury said as she official submitted her budget to the Board of Commissioners.
The county will hold public hearings on her proposed budget on April 27, May 4 and May 11. It will also be forwarded to the Tax Supervising and Conservation Commission, an independent panel of citizen volunteers that ensures the budget complies with laws governing local finance.
As part of the process, the board will hear from county residents who are party of the county’s Citizen Budget Advisory Committees that review the overall budget each year. The county board will vote to adopt the final budget on May 26.
In her budget, Chair Kafoury focused on programs that support stable housing, break down racial disparities in education, reform health care and the criminal justice system, and improve treatment options for people with mental health issues.
“We must be ever mindful that the economic recovery has been uneven, bringing prosperity for some people but leaving too many others behind,” she said. “Our priorities must change to prevent current gaps from becoming wider and becoming more expensive to close down the road.”
Here’s a look at some of her priorities:
Housing
The 2017 budget prioritizes safe and stable housing, which the Chair said was an essential part of healthy and stable lives. The investments are aligned with A Home For Everyone, which brings together county and city departments, along with business and faith leaders, and community organizations.
They include a proposed Joint Office of Homeless Services, that will combine the work of county and city staff, to serve homeless families and individuals.
The budget would expand shelter capacity with an additional $1.8 million to serve veterans, homeless individuals discharged from the Unity Center -- an emergency resource for people with mental illness, women escaping domestic violence and chronically homeless people.
It would expand rapid rehousing services by $4.4 million, including housing placement and retention services targeting east Multnomah County, and $1.6 million in expanded supportive housing for people with disabilities and veterans.
The Chair’s proposed budget includes $440,000 in new flexible funds for shelter providers to get families into safe, if temporary, living situations with a friend or family, assist with transportation, and help for people leaving treatment programs so they can get directly into permanent housing.
Equity
The proposed 2017 budget continues to invest in programs that target disparities in communities of color, and the economic disenfranchisement that followed the Great Recession.
Kafoury highlighted the need for deeper partnerships with nonprofits that have relationships in, and experience serving, children and families of color in the county’s 85 SUN Community Schools. Her budget also doubles the county’s investment in SummerWorks, an internship program that places hundreds of at-risk youth in offices at more than 100 companies and government offices in the metro area.
The budget would continue the county’s investment in the Promise Neighborhoods Initiative which enlists culturally-specific non-profits to provide social services to families of color and immigrant and refugee families in east Multnomah County. It includes $1.2 million in funding for the Health Equity Initiative, which builds partnerships with cross-cultural community organizations to bridge gaps in service and improve care. And it includes $261,000 in ongoing funding to provide culturally-specific meals to seniors, ensuring they have food that matches the cultural tradition of the county’s diverse communities.
Safe & Healthy Communities
Chair Kafoury said the 2017 budget must tackle head-on the inequities in health, safety and criminal justice.
“We need to address the disparities that we find throughout our criminal justice system, and push our system to focus on the root causes of illness, incarceration and poverty,” she said.
Her proposal would cut spending on the use of jail beds by 9 percent -- beds that have primarily been used to contain inmates with mental health issues or punish minor offenders. She would invest instead in mental health services, including new funding for a peer support team for those living with mental health challenges, and programs that address gang violence and reduce recidivism. And the budget includes $223,000 in ongoing funding for mentors for gang-impacted youth, and adds $450,000 to other county anti-violence programming.
Chair Kafoury’s budget also sets aside $25 million for replacing seismically-unsafe buildings including the county courthouse and health department headquarters.
“I have tried to reflect the concerns and aspirations of our community,” Chair Kafoury said Thursday. “But at the same time I know that there is more that is needed. I’m committed to listening to ideas from our community and to find ways the county can help those in need.”
Upcoming Public Hearings
The board will hold public hearings, from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., in the following locations:
April 27 – Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) Gymnasium, 10301 N.E. Glisan, Portland, (hosted by the Communities of Color)
May 4 – East County Building, Sharron Kelley Room, 600 N.E. 8th St., Gresham
May 11 – Multnomah Building, Board Room 100, 501 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., Portland