WEBVTT 1 00:06:02.656 --> 00:06:03.935 Good afternoon. 2 00:06:03.983 --> 00:06:08.858 I am calling to order this joint work session of the City of Portland and Multnomah County. 3 00:06:09.052 --> 00:06:11.137 Thank you all so much for being here today. 4 00:06:11.297 --> 00:06:12.757 Wow, I got everybody to be quiet pretty quick. 5 00:06:12.821 --> 00:06:13.269 That was fun. 6 00:06:14.168 --> 00:06:16.574 Uh, thank you to my— our county colleagues for joining us. 7 00:06:16.814 --> 00:06:20.759 Um, briefly to my county colleagues, I just emailed you a Zoom link. 8 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:22.363 If you have a laptop, you're welcome to log in. 9 00:06:22.509 --> 00:06:23.567 You don't have to, but it's there. 10 00:06:24.031 --> 00:06:37.773 Um, today's an opportunity for city councilors and county commissioners to brief— to hear briefly from our staff and to spend most of our time talking with one another about our hopes for help from the 2027 state legislative session. 11 00:06:38.478 --> 00:06:47.776 Our focus today is housing, homelessness, and behavioral health, areas where our responsibilities intersect and where state decisions have significant consequences on the people we serve. 12 00:06:48.802 --> 00:06:51.271 Each jurisdiction is developing their own legislative agendas. 13 00:06:51.944 --> 00:06:57.619 Today's conversation can deepen the understanding of those priorities and show us where coordination would be useful. 14 00:06:58.180 --> 00:07:03.264 We're not asking either body to revise their agendas or to adopt any joint positions today. 15 00:07:04.052 --> 00:07:06.459 We know that state and local resources are constrained. 16 00:07:07.423 --> 00:07:14.747 That makes it especially important to explain clearly what state investments would accomplish and what is at risk if those investments fall short. 17 00:07:15.372 --> 00:07:22.680 I hope we can better understand what each jurisdiction needs and where our priorities overlap and how we can reinforce one another's advocacy in Salem. 18 00:07:23.483 --> 00:07:31.238 I also hope this helps shape future quarterly meetings with both bodies helping develop the topics and more time reserved for substantive conversation among elected officials. 19 00:07:32.547 --> 00:07:34.562 A quick note on how questions will work. 20 00:07:35.766 --> 00:07:40.838 After each presentation, I'll call on the members who've been selected in advance to ask questions or remarks. 21 00:07:41.384 --> 00:07:46.199 At the end, anyone who hasn't yet spoken will be first in the queue, and then the floor will be open for conversation. 22 00:07:46.841 --> 00:07:50.533 My goal in arranging it this way is to make sure that everyone gets a fair chance to speak. 23 00:07:51.112 --> 00:07:54.562 So with that, I'm going to invite Chair Vega Pederson to offer some opening remarks. 24 00:07:55.334 --> 00:07:57.886 Thank you so much, Council President Dunphy. 25 00:07:58.158 --> 00:07:59.422 Thank you thank you. 26 00:07:59.434 --> 00:07:59.482 Thank you, Mayor Wilson. 27 00:07:59.482 --> 00:08:01.329 Thank you to the city for hosting us today. 28 00:08:01.329 --> 00:08:08.329 It is a little bit crowded up here, but I assure you it would be much more crowded if we were trying to do this in the Multnomah County building. 29 00:08:08.490 --> 00:08:10.290 So just appreciate being here today. 30 00:08:10.750 --> 00:08:13.180 I really have 3 goals for us today. 31 00:08:13.670 --> 00:08:30.678 One, I want us to all walk away here with an understanding of what it's actually going to take to move the dial in decreasing homelessness in our community, what we need to invest, what those resources need to look like, because that is within our reach, but it is going to take decisions from each of our bodies thank you. 32 00:08:30.807 --> 00:08:31.992 To take us along that path. 33 00:08:32.586 --> 00:08:40.328 The second thing is really understanding what is at stake for the City of Portland, for Multnomah County in this upcoming legislative session. 34 00:08:41.226 --> 00:08:59.164 We are using the resources we have from the state to do so much good work, and yet a lot of these dollars that we're receiving from the state are considered one-time only and are not guaranteed to follow— to flow through to our communities unless we fight for them this legislative session. 35 00:08:59.837 --> 00:09:02.097 And the third thing is to really get information thank you. 36 00:09:02.211 --> 00:09:13.336 We're going to get some good information today that is going to inform the decisions that we will be making as a council, as a board, about the legislative agendas that we're going to be having going into the, the long legislative session. 37 00:09:13.384 --> 00:09:21.701 So we're going to get some good information today on what things are looking like in terms of housing, in terms of shelter, in terms of our healthcare system. 38 00:09:22.150 --> 00:09:30.948 We know that those are 3 systems where it is critical that they are all working together, even when funding and responsibilities sit in different systems. 39 00:09:31.402 --> 00:09:43.452 So understanding how our work connects can help us make a stronger case for state support and improve outcomes for the people we serve, particularly those with complex health and behavioral health needs. 40 00:09:43.981 --> 00:09:45.168 So I'm glad we're here. 41 00:09:45.248 --> 00:09:48.533 This is a chance, I think, for us to get into alignment about the work that's ahead of us. 42 00:09:48.999 --> 00:09:54.946 And I know we have a lot of great information that is going to be coming to us today from our staff. 43 00:09:55.652 --> 00:09:57.447 Thank you very much, Chair. 44 00:09:57.912 --> 00:10:02.865 So colleagues, we're going to start today's discussion with a brief overview of the legislative landscape and agenda process for the City of Portland. 45 00:10:03.125 --> 00:10:15.070 I'm going to welcome to the dais Jillian Schoene, who's Director of the Homelessness Response System at Multnomah County, as well as Stacy Cowan with the Multnomah County Government Relations Director, and Sam Chase, who is the Government Relations Director for the City of Portland. 46 00:10:16.129 --> 00:10:16.500 Welcome. 47 00:10:17.880 --> 00:10:18.442 Thank you. 48 00:10:19.037 --> 00:10:20.547 Thank you, Chair, Council President. 49 00:10:21.494 --> 00:10:27.259 As mentioned, the main topic of today is homelessness, but you can't talk about homelessness without talking about affordable housing and behavioral health. 50 00:10:27.692 --> 00:10:33.323 As many have said before, homelessness exists and it is prolonged because of other broken systems. 51 00:10:33.773 --> 00:10:36.931 Deeply affordable housing and behavioral health are at the top of that list. 52 00:10:37.331 --> 00:10:43.743 So a conversation absent those other systems is inadequate because the solutions sit at the intersection of all 3. 53 00:10:44.688 --> 00:10:58.523 That is also why you see all 3 of those systems represented in the new KPIs that these 2 bodies adopted last December, which are very different and much more comprehensive from the original 4 adopted by previous city and county elected officials. 54 00:10:59.452 --> 00:11:04.886 Since that time, the SOC has adopted I'm not going to go over them today. 55 00:11:05.272 --> 00:11:13.399 You received a detailed memo on September 25th, a summary one-pager, and you have slides here before you for just for the record. 56 00:11:14.264 --> 00:11:19.602 But I do want them at top of mind today and every day that we talk about homelessness. 57 00:11:20.660 --> 00:11:31.240 You'll hear from my colleagues at a very, very high level the programs and/or resources that are associated with each, all of which I hope we fight like hell next year in the legislative session to see that they continue. 58 00:11:31.881 --> 00:11:40.932 In particular, if the Homelessness Response Team is not funded, we will not be able to system does not receive the same support it receives from Salem today, we will not be able to meet the goals announced just weeks ago that are up on the screen. 59 00:11:41.687 --> 00:11:46.952 Those financial investments are baked into our calculations of what we can achieve related to those goals. 60 00:11:47.306 --> 00:11:47.836 Next slide. 61 00:11:48.525 --> 00:12:09.173 So at the end of the day, what these KPIs and goals offer to you are an understanding of the big picture and the inflow we are up against, a shared focus on the leading outcome to decrease the number of people experiencing homelessness, and finally, that they should be used to drive the overall investment strategy in Salem, at Metro, and in our local budgets. 62 00:12:09.831 --> 00:12:14.224 With that, I will hand it off first to Stacy Cowan, Director of Government Relations for Multnomah County. 63 00:12:15.057 --> 00:12:15.907 Thank you so much, Jillian. 64 00:12:16.179 --> 00:12:16.996 Good afternoon, everyone. 65 00:12:17.061 --> 00:12:18.134 My name is Stacy Cowan. 66 00:12:18.182 --> 00:12:19.498 I use she/her pronouns. 67 00:12:19.546 --> 00:12:21.999 I'm the Director of Government Relations at Multnomah County. 68 00:12:23.153 --> 00:12:28.892 Sam and I are just going to give you a little bit of an overview of what we expect to work on in the legislative session, just to help kind of set the stage. 69 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:39.014 So looking ahead to the next legislative session, we really expect it to be about filling the deficit created by the federal tax and spend bill, HR 1. 70 00:12:39.993 --> 00:12:47.585 We will know more exactly what that deficit is, but the budget gap that we're hearing right now is at least $421 million. 71 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:55.625 I've had it said to me by budget leaders that there's almost no scenario where we don't show up to the state legislative session in a deficit. 72 00:12:56.107 --> 00:13:08.047 The other really important piece that budget leaders are really focused on is that that gap and that deficit is expected to grow to $868 million in the '29-'31 biennium. 73 00:13:08.576 --> 00:13:15.938 So as budget leaders are approaching this next biennium, they really are also then looking ahead to the following biennium and hoping to bend some of that cost curve. 74 00:13:16.259 --> 00:13:18.297 That's a little bit of the environment that we're currently in. 75 00:13:18.666 --> 00:13:24.504 Again, we'll know more on November 18th when the state legislature releases its next state revenue forecast. 76 00:13:25.628 --> 00:13:32.107 The role of my team this session, I believe, first and foremost is about preservation of existing state funding. 77 00:13:32.581 --> 00:13:37.479 It's about protecting core services and really holding the line on current services. 78 00:13:38.087 --> 00:13:53.044 Our goal for you here today, again, as been said, is about gaining a shared understanding of the 3 most important buckets of funding as it relates to homelessness response in our region, and to really understand what that current state of funding is for each of those buckets. 79 00:13:54.246 --> 00:14:14.687 I also want you to make sure and take away something that the chair mentioned, and that's that while the legislature has made really significant investments in different important areas, including housing production, homelessness prevention, shelter, and rehousing, a substantial portion of these investments are not included in the state's ongoing budget base. 80 00:14:14.767 --> 00:14:17.876 These are not ongoing current service level funds. 81 00:14:18.293 --> 00:14:29.147 So what that means is for folks like me and Sam and our team is that in order to just maintain current service level, it requires additional legislative action in 2027. 82 00:14:29.211 --> 00:14:29.355 Okay. 83 00:14:30.432 --> 00:14:33.875 Multnomah County Board is going to come together on December 3rd. 84 00:14:34.725 --> 00:14:39.149 We will provide a presentation where they'll approve the next state legislative agenda. 85 00:14:40.096 --> 00:14:45.610 That will be the work that— that document will be what guides me and my team during the state legislative session. 86 00:14:46.106 --> 00:14:54.186 I do want to extend a thanks to Sam Chase and his team for their continued partnership and alignment and working together as we prepare for the next state legislative session. 87 00:14:54.923 --> 00:14:55.965 And with that, I'll hand it over to Sam. 88 00:14:57.024 --> 00:15:09.359 Thank you, and I want to thank you for the opportunity to share some comments, and I really want to thank both of these bodies for the collaboration and work that you have done in past sessions and worked with us together. 89 00:15:09.696 --> 00:15:30.782 One of the core principles that we have at the city for establishing and setting our agenda is to really do the hard work to try to seek consensus internally, to do the hard work of making sure that everyone is informed about decision-making and understanding those opportunities that also extend. 90 00:15:31.119 --> 00:15:35.488 Because when we do that, we go down with solutions to the legislature that land well. 91 00:15:36.178 --> 00:15:38.700 When we— that same principle applies here. 92 00:15:38.908 --> 00:15:54.085 And so we're really excited about the opportunity here and learn more about the shared values and objectives and the policy work that really helps inform the agenda setting. 93 00:15:55.557 --> 00:15:57.532 We're on a similar timeline with the county. 94 00:15:57.596 --> 00:16:10.159 December 2nd, we have another work session set up to work with our council, and during that time and beyond, we will be working to coordinate and collaborate with the county on shared priorities. 95 00:16:10.855 --> 00:16:15.710 Of course, we're expecting more than 3,000 bills in the legislature. 96 00:16:16.081 --> 00:16:32.744 We're expecting that there's going to be a lot of work to defend and protect the city's authority to deliver services in a whole host of areas, you know, transportation, water, parks, all of that work that has to be protected and our ability to do that. 97 00:16:32.969 --> 00:16:54.081 But today is really about those shared priority areas, those 3 buckets of homelessness, housing, behavioral health, and it's to learn from you and hear your perspective as we As we are working to develop this process and put the best possible packages forward and advocacy forward with legislators. 98 00:16:56.567 --> 00:17:21.721 And while there's uncertainty before every legislative session, I will just again add that we have far greater success when we're not asking legislators to pick or choose different proposals that are put before them, but when we come aligned and unified, it truly has proven over and over again that that is a strategy that increases our odds for success dramatically. 99 00:17:24.122 --> 00:17:28.692 And we look forward to hearing more from you today. 100 00:17:29.586 --> 00:17:30.205 Thank you very much. 101 00:17:31.569 --> 00:17:39.763 So colleagues, that moves us into our first— excuse me, colleagues— that moves us into our first substantive section focused on housing preservation and production. 102 00:17:40.214 --> 00:17:51.355 I'd like to welcome up Interim Portland Housing Bureau Director Quisha Light to speak on what the city needs from Salem to preserve and produce affordable housing and how that work is showing up locally. 103 00:17:51.643 --> 00:17:52.316 Welcome, Director Light. 104 00:17:52.525 --> 00:17:53.038 Thank you. 105 00:17:53.102 --> 00:17:55.314 Good afternoon, Chair, councilors, commissioners. 106 00:17:55.971 --> 00:17:57.285 For the record, my name is Quisha Light. 107 00:17:57.333 --> 00:18:00.843 I'm the interim director of the Portland Housing Bureau, and I use she/her pronouns. 108 00:18:01.580 --> 00:18:05.395 I want to begin first with the connection to our homelessness response system. 109 00:18:06.164 --> 00:18:09.755 We need affordable homes people can move into from shelter. 110 00:18:10.695 --> 00:18:13.555 And we need to keep people stable in the homes they already have. 111 00:18:14.859 --> 00:18:23.238 That means paying attention not only to housing supply but to affordability, building conditions, and providers' ability to operate successfully. 112 00:18:24.339 --> 00:18:26.804 Production and preservation are complementary. 113 00:18:28.299 --> 00:18:35.101 New development creates more opportunities, and preservation protects residents and the significant public investments we've already made. 114 00:18:36.263 --> 00:18:39.186 From PHB's perspective, we have 3 priorities for Salem. 115 00:18:39.877 --> 00:18:42.977 First, sustained investment in preservation and stabilization. 116 00:18:44.116 --> 00:18:47.634 We need to sustain the 25-27 funding as it is. 117 00:18:49.095 --> 00:18:58.634 We need resources to rehabilitate buildings, protect affordability as restrictions expire, and to intervene when properties face financial distress. 118 00:18:59.710 --> 00:19:08.670 Importantly, a property can have decades left on its affordability restrictions and still struggle with failing systems or operating expenses that exceed revenues. 119 00:19:09.505 --> 00:19:12.123 Restrictions alone don't keep a building viable. 120 00:19:13.038 --> 00:19:16.699 We need the flexibility to address problems before they become crises. 121 00:19:17.855 --> 00:19:22.834 Second, we need continued LIHTC support for LIHTC rental housing and homeownership. 122 00:19:23.717 --> 00:19:29.385 Affordable developments depend on layers of local, state, federal, and private financing. 123 00:19:30.300 --> 00:19:36.857 Predictable state investment helps us close gaps, Keep projects moving and sustain a development pipeline. 124 00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:42.840 Homeownership investment also creates opportunities for households that are priced out of the market. 125 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:47.002 Third, housing-related infrastructure funding. 126 00:19:48.541 --> 00:19:52.025 We have streets, water, sewer, and other improvements. 127 00:19:53.160 --> 00:20:00.549 These things can determine whether a site is ready to build, and those costs can be more than an individual affordable project can absorb. 128 00:20:01.773 --> 00:20:13.252 If these investments decline, repairs get deferred, distressed buildings become harder to stabilize, new production has to replace it before we make progress. 129 00:20:14.407 --> 00:20:15.210 Excuse me. 130 00:20:15.996 --> 00:20:21.323 And new— sorry, new projects get delayed, can be delayed, scaled back, or lost. 131 00:20:22.108 --> 00:20:24.130 And those pressures compound. 132 00:20:25.156 --> 00:20:30.242 When providers struggle to sustain existing buildings, they may also have less capacity to build more. 133 00:20:30.809 --> 00:20:36.212 And when we lose an affordable home, new production has to replace it before we make progress. 134 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:45.916 For our homelessness response, this means fewer homes available for people exiting shelter and greater risk of displacement for people already housed. 135 00:20:47.534 --> 00:20:48.886 So what are we doing locally? 136 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:58.097 Our unified housing strategy is bringing City Council and the mayor's administration together around shared priorities for production, preservation, innovation, and funding. 137 00:20:58.698 --> 00:21:00.374 With clearer goals and accountability. 138 00:21:01.432 --> 00:21:04.864 The Keep Portland Housed ordinance puts resources behind that strategy. 139 00:21:05.617 --> 00:21:20.306 The $55.9 million supplemental budget is supporting rent assistance, portfolio stabilization, including rent and debt buydowns, safety and security improvements, and repairs to significantly damaged units so they can be leased. 140 00:21:21.092 --> 00:21:21.396 It's all—. 141 00:21:21.573 --> 00:21:25.068 It also supports a revolving loan pilot connected to our social housing work. 142 00:21:25.133 --> 00:21:25.356 Thank you. 143 00:21:26.423 --> 00:21:33.804 Our social housing study examines cooperative and community ownership, tenant stability, financing, and strategic acquisition. 144 00:21:35.199 --> 00:21:46.097 Next, we'll test financing and acquisition approaches against actual properties and identify the staffing, partners, and resources needed to move viable options forward. 145 00:21:47.220 --> 00:22:09.619 And then the Mayor's Housing Strike Team, that brings providers, property managers, and city bureaus together to address vacancies, a vacant apartment becomes a real housing opportunity only when the unit is ready, the rent works for the household, and the household can navigate the move-in process. 146 00:22:10.420 --> 00:22:19.329 We're addressing those barriers alongside property safety, security, and resident experience, including the development of safety and security training. 147 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:24.299 We're also evaluating landlord-tenant policies, inclusionary housing, and development incentives, and looking at pertinent policies and programs to support the development of affordable housing. 148 00:22:24.299 --> 00:22:24.339 Thank you. 149 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:31.527 Permitting improvements so our rules and processes better support stability and production. 150 00:22:32.459 --> 00:22:35.344 So our message to Salem is about sustained partnership. 151 00:22:36.056 --> 00:22:43.203 We cannot build our way out while losing the homes we've already created, and we cannot preserve our way out without creating more. 152 00:22:43.935 --> 00:22:48.770 We need to do both and ensure those homes remain safe, stable, and occupied. 153 00:22:49.255 --> 00:22:49.721 Thank you. 154 00:22:51.365 --> 00:22:52.058 Thank you, Director Light. 155 00:22:53.380 --> 00:22:59.391 I'm going to call on councilors in this order: Councilor Avalos, Commissioner Singleton, Councilor Koyama Lane, and Councilor Novick. 156 00:22:59.535 --> 00:23:00.368 Councilor Avalos kicks off. 157 00:23:01.041 --> 00:23:01.699 All right, thank you. 158 00:23:01.778 --> 00:23:06.380 Thank you so much, Director Light, for all of your work over this year. 159 00:23:07.150 --> 00:23:12.632 So as the Housing and Permitting Chair, the biggest body of work that I've been leading has been the Unified Housing Strategy. 160 00:23:12.680 --> 00:23:14.426 Thank you for giving a preface to that. 161 00:23:14.907 --> 00:23:16.960 So the purpose of UHS is pretty simple. 162 00:23:17.489 --> 00:23:25.103 Portland has a lot of housing problems, as we know, and policies and funding tools and partners, but they haven't all operated thank you. 163 00:23:25.825 --> 00:23:37.510 And so we're trying to take that step back, understand the full housing continuum, identify where the gaps still are, and help us as a council make clearer choices about where public investment can have the greatest impact. 164 00:23:37.943 --> 00:23:47.834 So that means, uh, looking at everything from homelessness prevention and deeply affordable housing, as we all know, to also workforce and middle-income housing, homeownership preservation, and market-rate production. 165 00:23:47.945 --> 00:23:49.436 They all are a part of this. 166 00:23:50.174 --> 00:23:55.769 It also means that we need to ask if we have enough tools for Portlanders who fall in between these existing categories. 167 00:23:56.114 --> 00:23:58.846 That's something that we're hearing in the listening sessions as well. 168 00:23:59.551 --> 00:24:07.230 One of the gaps that has become especially important to me is permanently affordable housing outside of our traditional inclusionary housing and affordable housing models. 169 00:24:07.728 --> 00:24:11.190 So that is where the social housing study and our UHS work begin to connect. 170 00:24:11.911 --> 00:24:16.769 And when I talk about social housing, I'm not talking about replacing the affordable housing system that we already have. 171 00:24:17.521 --> 00:24:23.196 We already have really strong nonprofit developers and community land trusts, affordable housing partners that are doing the work. 172 00:24:23.388 --> 00:24:42.946 I'm talking about adding tools that allow us to grow a larger non-market housing sector So that can include things like strategic acquisition of land and existing buildings, cooperative and community ownership, limited profit or cost-based housing, shared equity models, and financing structures where public investment can be recycled and reinvested into future housing. 173 00:24:43.715 --> 00:24:55.323 The goal is to create housing where affordability lasts, where people are not punished for earning more money, and where the value created through public investment actually stays within the public in our housing system. 174 00:24:55.836 --> 00:24:58.641 And so that is why the partnership with the state matters so much. 175 00:24:59.266 --> 00:25:03.663 What we need is sustained resources to preserve the affordable housing that we have already invested in. 176 00:25:04.416 --> 00:25:08.557 We need the state to continue investing in affordable rental housing and homeownership production. 177 00:25:09.151 --> 00:25:18.761 We need infrastructure investment that can unlock development, and we need enough stability and flexibility in those resources to begin testing new models and filling gaps in the housing continuum. 178 00:25:19.565 --> 00:25:26.968 The UHS process is helping us identify those choices now, and we have been working with practitioners and housing experts, and we just finished our last thank you. 179 00:25:27.006 --> 00:25:27.119 Thank you, Mayor. 180 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:28.609 I want to thank everyone who participated in the last community event. 181 00:25:28.609 --> 00:25:40.559 Great, great work from the entire SEDSA department to really put on those events and hear directly from Portlanders about what housing stability means to them and where they think the city should put their focus. 182 00:25:40.990 --> 00:25:47.490 So ultimately, my goal is that when this strategy comes back to council, it's not just a list of things that we all agree are good. 183 00:25:47.650 --> 00:26:10.039 It should give us a real roadmap for how we produce more housing, protect what we already have, and grow permanently affordable non-market housing and make the hard choices now thank you, Council President. 184 00:26:10.039 --> 00:26:11.180 Thank you, Director. 185 00:26:11.180 --> 00:26:21.460 I've just been hearing nothing but praise for you and your work and your team, and just want to appreciate out loud your, your true authentic partnership with us on our eviction prevention work. 186 00:26:21.954 --> 00:26:24.650 I've heard just lots of praise from DCHS, so thank you. 187 00:26:24.890 --> 00:26:25.661 Great, thank you. 188 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:33.520 You know, I'm really excited about the unified housing strategy, social housing, and I'm worried about what we do in the meantime. 189 00:26:34.660 --> 00:26:46.964 With a 2-year pipeline of just 720 apartments that are affordable for folks at the lowest income, I'm curious what, if anything, might be on your radar on how we increase production there. 190 00:26:47.734 --> 00:26:52.980 I know there's the idea of also potentially buying down rents at the 60% AMI. 191 00:26:53.076 --> 00:26:54.053 Thank you, Mayor Wilson. 192 00:26:54.261 --> 00:27:00.064 I'm curious, kind of updates from the data of the housing strike team, and are we actually seeing decreases in vacancy? 193 00:27:00.721 --> 00:27:03.509 What are our opportunities to activate some of those properties? 194 00:27:04.166 --> 00:27:05.961 I'm just very concerned. 195 00:27:06.009 --> 00:27:14.969 We have some goals, and the goals I think are set on what our budgets have been, but we had to take away a key performance indicator around housing production. 196 00:27:15.882 --> 00:27:19.505 And I just want to be really honest, the market has never solved for 0 to 30, right? 197 00:27:19.553 --> 00:27:21.154 We know that that's an ongoing challenge. 198 00:27:21.833 --> 00:27:27.558 LIHTC seems to be increasingly challenging to actually make a project fungible in the long term. 199 00:27:28.328 --> 00:27:38.712 So sorry, I know these are really big questions, but I'm just curious on your thoughts and how we can start to think about how we can work cross-jurisdictionally to address that lowest-income affordable need that we actually have. 200 00:27:40.190 --> 00:27:41.425 Well, thank you for that question. 201 00:27:41.875 --> 00:27:46.690 And I think you first— the first thing you said, I think, is really important, right? 202 00:27:47.683 --> 00:27:49.527 It has to continue to be cross-jurisdictional, right? 203 00:27:49.638 --> 00:27:56.031 We have to continue all be coming to the table to solve these problems because we are not— they're too big to do alone. 204 00:27:57.026 --> 00:28:10.740 I think the other thing that we have learned, and it's one of the reasons why I really appreciate the strike team work that we're doing, it's given us an opportunity to see what it's really like to run these buildings, right? 205 00:28:10.868 --> 00:28:17.664 We keep wanting to build more and build more, but we're not understanding the challenges that the affordable housing providers are facing. 206 00:28:18.241 --> 00:28:36.729 And now we're digging in and we're understanding what it's taking for them to operate these buildings and the challenges that they, you know, it sounds great when we say we want to have all people, regardless of their circumstance or situation, in the same building, but there are challenges that come with that. 207 00:28:37.481 --> 00:28:43.462 And I think that knowledge we need to take into the next phase of how we do production. 208 00:28:43.510 --> 00:28:48.800 We can't just keep— we, you know, we can't just go and produce the units. 209 00:28:49.346 --> 00:29:08.359 I think we have some opportunities with a lot of one-bedrooms to potentially bring in, you know, to help with some of that, because a lot of the vacancies we are seeing, we see that an opportunity to, particularly for some of our seniors, to bring— get them into some of those one-bedroom units where we're— to get some of that vacancy down. 210 00:29:09.810 --> 00:29:31.798 I think the other thing, when you look at production, I go back to the social housing study, that opportunity for the city and the county to do that, to do the land banking, to actually make it affordable from the very beginning, to say, look, this isn't about profit, this isn't about us trying to compete with market. 211 00:29:32.441 --> 00:29:35.267 This is already, from the foundation, it's non-market. 212 00:29:35.861 --> 00:29:39.569 We are going to ensure that this is deeply affordable. 213 00:29:40.051 --> 00:29:41.931 And we just need to know that that's what we're doing. 214 00:29:41.979 --> 00:29:44.868 And we haven't necessarily— that hasn't been the plan. 215 00:29:45.366 --> 00:29:47.374 And we're restructuring that now. 216 00:29:47.453 --> 00:29:50.713 We're really coming into it, I think, with a much more intentional approach. 217 00:29:51.131 --> 00:29:59.528 One of the things that— I mean, all of this great— and all of this is great for us to talk about it because right now we don't even have the funding to even get there. 218 00:30:00.284 --> 00:30:03.414 And so we need funding to even start doing— to build more. 219 00:30:03.510 --> 00:30:03.558 Right. 220 00:30:04.574 --> 00:30:13.426 But I'm glad that we actually have this time before we have the money, because through the UHS work, through the housing strike team work, we're learning. 221 00:30:14.181 --> 00:30:14.566 We're—. 222 00:30:14.645 --> 00:30:19.090 All the mistakes, what we did well, what we need, and what we're learning from. 223 00:30:19.219 --> 00:30:22.942 And so that we can actually use that money to build and do it the right way. 224 00:30:23.791 --> 00:30:28.670 Um, so I don't have a set plan of how we're going to get more units to you. 225 00:30:29.022 --> 00:30:31.894 It is all across the Community Economic Development Service area. 226 00:30:31.942 --> 00:30:32.134 Thank you. 227 00:30:32.496 --> 00:30:55.319 We're all coming together from BPS to permitting, all of us trying to figure out how do we keep growing and making sure the system is set up so when we do have the funding, we build, we build faster, we build better, and we take care of people and we take care of the housing better because we're having to go and spend a lot of money now to preserve because we had— we've had to learn some hard lessons. 228 00:30:56.138 --> 00:30:56.315 Yeah. 229 00:30:56.619 --> 00:30:57.054 Thank you. 230 00:30:57.343 --> 00:30:58.419 I really appreciate that. 231 00:30:58.467 --> 00:31:04.949 And I would say let's continue to partner because We have to be hyper-focused at 0 to 30, maybe up to 40. 232 00:31:05.526 --> 00:31:07.530 Our homeless families are not making 60%. 233 00:31:07.770 --> 00:31:09.343 That's why there's vacancies, right? 234 00:31:09.391 --> 00:31:11.219 We can't get them in those apartments. 235 00:31:11.635 --> 00:31:22.252 And so I think as much as we can help use the income data we have in homeless services to help inform production, the better we'll be able to align the housing to the homelessness to housing continuum. 236 00:31:22.526 --> 00:31:23.327 So thank you. 237 00:31:23.423 --> 00:31:23.760 Thank you. 238 00:31:24.946 --> 00:31:25.813 Thank you, Commissioner Singleton. 239 00:31:25.990 --> 00:31:26.615 Councilor Koyama Lane. 240 00:31:28.479 --> 00:31:29.726 Thank you. 241 00:31:30.143 --> 00:31:38.113 Thank you so much for being here, for everything you shared, and I echo that I continue to hear so much about your amazing leadership, Director. 242 00:31:38.337 --> 00:31:38.818 Thank you. 243 00:31:39.284 --> 00:31:53.587 This— in this conversation, there's a particularly really important connection to— from housing stability, you know, being so connected to homelessness prevention, and our responsibility— 244 00:31:53.667 --> 00:31:56.134 Our responsibility doesn't end when affordable housing is built. 245 00:31:56.711 --> 00:32:17.125 Our responsibility extends beyond and also includes helping people, you know, access housing, making sure they can remain safely and successfully housed, and making sure that also these units, these homes, remain safe and taken care of, occupied, and are financially sustainable. 246 00:32:18.006 --> 00:32:33.673 And I think having your leadership and support in this broader conversation around how is the city and county better coming together, coordinating resources and services to support residents, providers, affordable housing communities? 247 00:32:33.788 --> 00:32:35.586 I think that is really important. 248 00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:47.887 There's clearly more work to do around areas like occupancy rates and longer-term solutions to challenges that many of our affordable housing providers are facing. 249 00:32:48.394 --> 00:32:50.219 And I'm wondering if— 250 00:32:50.282 --> 00:32:55.702 I'm wondering if you can speak a bit to what is affecting occupancy rates around affordable housing. 251 00:32:56.536 --> 00:33:02.195 What are some real ideas and solutions that we are focusing on or we can be focusing on locally? 252 00:33:03.494 --> 00:33:04.857 What can we be asking from the state? 253 00:33:04.953 --> 00:33:15.969 And I think it also goes without saying is, you know, what are some ideas and solutions that aren't just evicting people, you know, and people ending up in homelessness or back in homelessness? 254 00:33:16.738 --> 00:33:29.965 Would love to hear some of your thoughts about what we can be doing around occupancy and, and making sure that, that those rates are, are going down, or the vacancy rates are going down and the occupancy rates are going up. 255 00:33:30.094 --> 00:33:35.959 Yeah, well, this has been the heart of the work we've been doing with, uh, with the housing strike team. 256 00:33:36.055 --> 00:33:44.609 I mean, going from building to building, we've been visiting, and, um, I, I will say safety and security, 257 00:33:44.673 --> 00:33:45.525 I mean, it's a big one. 258 00:33:46.103 --> 00:33:50.743 And if residents don't feel secure in their homes, they leave. 259 00:33:52.156 --> 00:33:54.035 If they can leave, if they can afford to leave. 260 00:33:54.773 --> 00:34:04.118 And that is something that we're, we're giving dollars to, to help these properties be able to beef up their security. 261 00:34:05.307 --> 00:34:14.989 And we weren't giving those dollars in that way, you know, until recent— what, the last couple of years where we've actually been dedicating dollars for safety and security. 262 00:34:16.550 --> 00:34:23.510 We are— one of the other things that we hear, it just goes back to what Commissioner Singleton said. 263 00:34:23.574 --> 00:34:28.128 I mean, people can't afford to stay in the apartments. 264 00:34:28.242 --> 00:34:28.981 The rent is too high. 265 00:34:30.318 --> 00:34:38.306 And we have providers that are lowering rents and doing everything they can to offer concessions so that we can bring those vacancies down and help people stay housed. 266 00:34:40.106 --> 00:34:41.257 But the rent is too high. 267 00:34:42.969 --> 00:35:00.021 Um, we're hearing that, you know, they can't— some of the vacancy issues are because you had someone in the unit and they destroyed it, and it's going to cost that provider $20,000 to fix a unit to even get it back online. 268 00:35:00.936 --> 00:35:01.322 They can't. 269 00:35:01.418 --> 00:35:04.596 And you think, well, just pay the $20,000 and get it back online. 270 00:35:05.269 --> 00:35:09.106 Well, they don't have that much money when it's yes. 271 00:35:09.186 --> 00:35:12.313 It's 3 or 4 units that require that $20,000. 272 00:35:12.474 --> 00:35:13.612 They don't have enough. 273 00:35:14.077 --> 00:35:28.402 And if there's just one unit, they were also— one of the things that we've heard is just even finding vendors that will do this work for them is a challenge because they don't have faith that the vendor doesn't have faith that they're going to get paid. 274 00:35:28.788 --> 00:35:33.376 So I think there's some workforce opportunities here that we can actually help them. 275 00:35:33.728 --> 00:35:37.530 One of the things that we've been talking to them about is how we bring their resources together. 276 00:35:37.914 --> 00:35:43.661 And so we, when we heard about the unit turn problem, We put dollars on the table so that they could do the unit turns. 277 00:35:43.951 --> 00:35:50.568 So our recent notice of funding availability is allowing them to get up to $100,000 to help them with unit turns. 278 00:35:51.097 --> 00:35:51.402 Right? 279 00:35:51.547 --> 00:35:56.222 That is something that's significant because now they can go to a contractor and say, I have $100,000. 280 00:35:56.302 --> 00:35:58.438 Can you please come and fix these units? 281 00:35:58.856 --> 00:36:00.012 They didn't have that before. 282 00:36:00.655 --> 00:36:08.909 So those are just some of the things that we're doing to get that vacancy down and to address and get occupancy up. 283 00:36:09.630 --> 00:36:15.409 It is, but there are a lot of issues that are feeding into why those units are vacant. 284 00:36:15.650 --> 00:36:17.110 And then I want to say this too. 285 00:36:17.512 --> 00:36:26.132 Some of the units, they may be vacant as far as they're not physically vacant, they're economically vacant. 286 00:36:26.179 --> 00:36:28.137 So people are sitting in the units and not paying. 287 00:36:29.454 --> 00:36:32.358 So, you know, and we count that differently. 288 00:36:32.440 --> 00:36:34.686 So there are a lot of issues that feed into this. 289 00:36:34.735 --> 00:36:34.894 Thank you. 290 00:36:35.059 --> 00:36:42.041 Have there been conversations around how the state can be supportive around this occupancy issue? 291 00:36:43.503 --> 00:36:49.447 We've had some conversations, and I think some of this gets into the preservation dollars that we need. 292 00:36:50.715 --> 00:37:01.155 There is also conversation around, you know, specific funding that can help seniors and others specifically to get them housed and into some of these units. 293 00:37:03.789 --> 00:37:03.947 Yes. 294 00:37:04.286 --> 00:37:18.681 And also, if I may just layer in here, the other thing— the, the county sits around this table with Director Light as well, and one of the projects that is, uh, launching next month is the Home Forward Eviction Prevention In-Reach Program. 295 00:37:19.197 --> 00:37:33.476 That was an amendment by Commissioner Singel to actually go to families with a case manager, 2 case managers, and figure out what they need to stay housed and be successful, whether that's rent assistance or connection to services. 296 00:37:33.572 --> 00:37:37.681 So we're trying that out in Home Forward properties specifically, and we're going to start with 3. 297 00:37:39.789 --> 00:37:40.713 Thank you, Councilor Koyama Lane. 298 00:37:41.182 --> 00:37:43.177 Councilor Novick, finish us off for this section. 299 00:37:43.860 --> 00:37:44.619 Thank you, Mr. President. 300 00:37:44.925 --> 00:37:50.403 Director Light, I really appreciate your focus on understanding the challenges that affordable housing providers face. 301 00:37:51.309 --> 00:37:55.858 Um, I've got a question about what if the legislature asks us about priorities? 302 00:37:56.068 --> 00:37:56.454 If our—. 303 00:37:56.454 --> 00:38:11.032 If Stacy and Sam and their folks are down in the legislature and they say, you know what, we've got this deficit, we know you want to continue investment in both preserving existing housing and adding more housing, but we're not going to do both, both of them at the same level, so you choose which would you prioritize. 304 00:38:11.867 --> 00:38:14.885 What answer would you suggest that Stacy and Sam give to that question? 305 00:38:15.143 --> 00:38:19.141 So I just want to start quickly with— 306 00:38:19.414 --> 00:38:32.164 We were having this conversation at the— with the community in the UHS, and one of the community members said, why do you have this in this trade-off section? 307 00:38:32.277 --> 00:38:34.867 Why do you— why does it have to be an either/or? 308 00:38:36.797 --> 00:38:38.387 Because you know we need both. 309 00:38:39.047 --> 00:38:41.682 So why are you telling us we have to choose? 310 00:38:42.342 --> 00:38:45.315 And we said, because we're going to be forced to make a choice. 311 00:38:46.317 --> 00:38:48.679 But they were insistent that it needs to be both. 312 00:38:48.744 --> 00:38:55.438 But I will say this, if we have to prioritize, let's prioritize keeping people housed stably. 313 00:38:56.612 --> 00:39:00.827 Let's prioritize preserving what we have and keeping people housed stably. 314 00:39:02.539 --> 00:39:08.489 The reality is— and then if I can go to— and then if you get to go down from there, yes, we want to produce more. 315 00:39:09.523 --> 00:39:12.913 And you can prioritize even the producing more by leveraging other resources. 316 00:39:13.063 --> 00:39:13.382 Thank you. 317 00:39:14.617 --> 00:39:19.646 And, you know, so if there are other resources there that can be leveraged, then let's prioritize that, um, too. 318 00:39:21.255 --> 00:39:22.559 I really appreciate that answer. 319 00:39:22.704 --> 00:39:23.106 Thank you. 320 00:39:23.925 --> 00:39:24.891 Thank you, Councilor Novick. 321 00:39:25.518 --> 00:39:26.322 Thank you, Director Light. 322 00:39:26.739 --> 00:39:30.952 We're going to move to our next section focused on prevention, shelter, and housing placement. 323 00:39:31.063 --> 00:39:34.489 I'd like to introduce, uh, Nathaniel Virgau— Virgau? 324 00:39:35.164 --> 00:39:35.436 Virgau. 325 00:39:35.661 --> 00:39:36.016 Virgau. 326 00:39:36.402 --> 00:39:37.190 Apologies, sir. 327 00:39:37.896 --> 00:39:48.206 Uh, Director of the Homeless Services Department, who will take about 5 minutes to walk us through what the city and the county need from Salem on prevention, shelter, and housing placement, and what that support would mean to us locally. 328 00:39:48.559 --> 00:39:48.818 Take it away. 329 00:39:49.530 --> 00:39:53.867 Good afternoon, Council President, Council members, commissioners. 330 00:39:55.097 --> 00:39:57.331 Deeply appreciate the opportunity to share with you all. 331 00:39:57.525 --> 00:40:06.666 This is an exceptionally important source of funding for our system and one that would be extremely detrimental for us to lose. 332 00:40:07.309 --> 00:40:14.217 So on the— on your screens, you've got the 3 primary sources of thank you, Mayor. 333 00:40:14.224 --> 00:40:14.273 Thank you, Deputy City Administrator Millicent Williams. 334 00:40:14.280 --> 00:40:14.300 Thank you, Mayor. 335 00:40:14.300 --> 00:40:14.385 So I'll start with the first point, the existing state funding streams. 336 00:40:14.385 --> 00:40:22.500 These are the existing state funding streams that we receive for prevention, shelter, and rehousing that will expire in the next biennium if the state does not take action. 337 00:40:23.349 --> 00:40:29.889 They represent financial investments that are key to the analysis that the HRS team includes in setting its goals. 338 00:40:29.889 --> 00:40:34.750 So we will not likely achieve those goals if we do not have this funding next fiscal year. 339 00:40:36.110 --> 00:40:42.349 In addition, I don't expect that local budgets would be able to make up for this gap. 340 00:40:43.690 --> 00:40:58.820 So I want to share that in getting this message out, we are organizing a tour with our state legislators to understand what the investments and the importance of the impacts that those investments have. 341 00:40:59.333 --> 00:41:18.927 So in November, we will be touring a number of legislators around the county, focusing on shelters that they're funding and also working with them to understand the impacts of prevention and the long-term rental assistance and rapid rehousing programs that their investments allow us to do. 342 00:41:20.777 --> 00:41:22.449 In the end— pardon. 343 00:41:22.963 --> 00:41:27.757 So I'll end by reminding us all to keep a focus on all 3 program areas. 344 00:41:28.425 --> 00:41:33.550 I've heard a lot of focus on ensuring continued funding for shelter, which I absolutely agree with. 345 00:41:34.128 --> 00:41:54.869 And we need to ensure that we also push for the long-term rental assistance and thank you very much, Director. 346 00:41:54.869 --> 00:42:02.289 I'm going to call— just as a note, colleagues, if there are questions, we have folks from Portland Solutions here available to answer questions as well. 347 00:42:02.769 --> 00:42:03.989 I'm going to call on Deputy City Administrator Donnie Oliveira. 348 00:42:03.989 --> 00:42:04.050 Thank you, Mayor. 349 00:42:04.255 --> 00:42:09.128 Commissioner Jones-Dixon, followed by Councilor Ryan, followed by Commissioner Brim-Edwards, followed by Councilor Morillo. 350 00:42:09.177 --> 00:42:10.507 So, Commissioner. 351 00:42:11.485 --> 00:42:12.063 Great, thank you. 352 00:42:12.126 --> 00:42:12.623 Thank you, President. 353 00:42:12.672 --> 00:42:15.059 Thank you, Director, for being here this, um, this morning. 354 00:42:15.108 --> 00:42:23.668 As most of you know, I'm the only commissioner that has 3 other cities outside of Portland, so I'm just going to approach my— or just share with you just my concerns based off of that. 355 00:42:23.813 --> 00:42:28.157 I know we've been talking about just the system out in East County specifically and what's worked out there. 356 00:42:28.237 --> 00:42:33.670 It's been employment services and then direct services and residential services. 357 00:42:33.670 --> 00:42:38.400 It sounds like we're already— we started that process through under your leadership as far as the conversations. 358 00:42:39.289 --> 00:42:44.550 I have nothing to recommend at this point as it pertains to the state because that's been a priority as far as the county is concerned. 359 00:42:44.789 --> 00:42:45.550 So I don't have a question. 360 00:42:45.550 --> 00:42:47.349 I just wanted to put that on record. 361 00:42:47.409 --> 00:42:56.969 And again, just thank you for your efforts and the work that you've been doing as far as gathering the East County leaders and developing a program or a response that actually works for the district. 362 00:42:56.980 --> 00:42:57.010 Thank you. 363 00:42:57.286 --> 00:42:58.673 I appreciate that recognition. 364 00:42:58.769 --> 00:42:58.994 Thank you. 365 00:43:00.132 --> 00:43:00.646 Thank you, Commissioner. 366 00:43:01.030 --> 00:43:01.561 Councilor Ryan. 367 00:43:01.914 --> 00:43:05.152 Council President, hello Nathaniel, nice to meet you. 368 00:43:05.282 --> 00:43:06.548 Hello Jillian, good to see you. 369 00:43:06.885 --> 00:43:13.268 My questions will frame dialogue around the intersection of shelters and housing placement with behavioral health and workforce. 370 00:43:13.878 --> 00:43:22.443 To the opening comments, it's in the building of these intersections where local government struggled and frankly failed to build that system. 371 00:43:22.764 --> 00:43:27.967 So I'm looking for what that plan will be that will give us the results that our city and county deserve. 372 00:43:29.197 --> 00:43:42.608 The majority of those who are currently homeless are men between the ages of 25 and 44—or 54, sorry—who are experiencing untreated behavioral health, namely untreated for their addiction and mental health challenges. 373 00:43:44.039 --> 00:43:47.335 This demographic will benefit greatly from workforce opportunities as well. 374 00:43:48.918 --> 00:43:52.119 With that core audience in mind, how are we building a better system? 375 00:43:52.556 --> 00:43:55.764 And I'm struggling to find that in this and how we're prioritizing our work. 376 00:43:56.422 --> 00:43:59.791 I want us to think about how we create a more coordinated pathway. 377 00:44:00.271 --> 00:44:04.202 I'd like our partners in Salem to see the importance of a full continuum of care. 378 00:44:05.228 --> 00:44:20.938 To witness someone enter the shelter system who needs mental health or substance abuse treatment, then when they accept the services and take steps towards treatment, we need to make sure that they're placed in a safe, stable place to live while they're working towards recovery. 379 00:44:21.773 --> 00:44:27.351 When I listen to recovering addicts who are now in stable housing and workforce, they all say the same thing. 380 00:44:28.581 --> 00:44:30.768 Why are those doing this work not talking to us? 381 00:44:32.367 --> 00:44:41.112 We need transitional housing for those in recovery, which would, which would be the most to, to, which would do the most for those who are on the streets. 382 00:44:41.516 --> 00:44:49.757 When someone's in recovery, is moved into housing with residents who are using, or selling drugs in a unit down the hall, those conditions promote a relapse. 383 00:44:50.688 --> 00:45:14.739 So my questions to that end is, how can the city, county, and state create meaningful incentives that recognize and reward individuals who are actively taking steps towards stability, whether they're participating in behavioral health treatment, maintaining sobriety, engaging in case management, engaging in workforce, demonstrating positive behavior within this is behavior change work. 384 00:45:15.047 --> 00:45:18.795 Where's the rewards program for those who are improving their behavior? 385 00:45:21.059 --> 00:45:23.367 There's a lot there. 386 00:45:24.625 --> 00:45:44.001 So let me, let me just start by saying, to give you some updates in terms of the work that we are already doing to do this cross-sector coordination and collaboration, because I wholeheartedly agree with you, that is where that's where local governments struggle and where we collectively have struggled, but we are making improvements. 387 00:45:44.643 --> 00:45:48.943 So over the last couple years, we've been working with Health Share Oregon. 388 00:45:49.762 --> 00:45:59.052 We have a data sharing agreement with them, so we're able to see within our homeless management information systems database the folks that we're serving through the homelessness system. 389 00:45:59.630 --> 00:46:02.806 We're able to see how they show up in the health data as well. 390 00:46:03.496 --> 00:46:04.940 So we're looking at specifically—. 391 00:46:04.972 --> 00:46:05.068 Thank you. 392 00:46:05.811 --> 00:46:16.548 What the outcomes are relative to their utilization and specific types of utilization within the healthcare system so that we can be designing programs specifically to be able to address those. 393 00:46:16.679 --> 00:46:20.057 And that includes substance use, mental health, as well as physical health challenges. 394 00:46:20.909 --> 00:46:32.123 So we are actively building the framework and the base that we will need to be able to expand programs and design appropriate programs. 395 00:46:32.722 --> 00:46:34.213 We've done some testing already. 396 00:46:34.534 --> 00:46:37.452 We're going to think about talking— talk about it later. 397 00:46:38.335 --> 00:47:05.958 But I'll just mention that there was a pilot that was done with the behavioral health system to work on getting folks who are coming out of psychiatric hospitalizations to make sure that they can stabilize in behavioral health shelter beds where they're getting the support they need from the behavioral health system and the shelter that they need to be able to receive and, uh, and take advantage of that care, uh, and that, that, um, uh, those services. 398 00:47:07.097 --> 00:47:21.019 Additionally, this year the county has, uh, invested money in, um, utilizing recovery housing, uh, so that there are specific opportunities to be able to provide shelter for folks exiting substance use treatment programs. 399 00:47:21.596 --> 00:47:31.932 Um, so that is, uh, it's a one-time-only funding this year, but it is really a test to see how that can So that we can explore that in future budget years. 400 00:47:32.835 --> 00:47:51.572 And then additionally, we are working with potential philanthropic funding to be able to expand access for substance use treatment, specifically for folks with stimulant use disorder, which is exceptionally prevalent here in Multnomah County. 401 00:47:52.480 --> 00:48:02.621