State funds to keep City shelters running

Lane County is passing almost $3.5 million in state ALL IN funds to the City of Eugene for continuing operation of emergency homeless shelters, which along with other one-time and City funds will allow the City's shelter programs to run through at least June 30, 2025.

The City had previously requested that amount from the Lane County-led Multi-Agency Coordinating Group that manages state emergency homelessness funds and was anticipating receiving those funds this spring. However, requests aren't always fully funded, so the news received from Lane County on April 26 provided important clarity for the rest of the 2023-25 biennium.

The City received $2.431 million from the first round of ALL IN funds in 2023, and now expects $3.494 million in the weeks ahead. That money is added to previously received one-time state and federal pandemic relief funds, as well as Community Safety Payroll Tax revenue, to operate the City's slate of shelter programs, which includes Safe Sleep sites, Rest Stops, Microsites, the Overnight Parking Program, Dusk to Dawn, and Opportunity Village Eugene.

City staff had hoped to access to additional funds from the Oregon Legislature's "short" session that met from Feb. 5-March 7, where some $65 million statewide was earmarked for homelessness response including shelter and services not covered by ALL IN funds. However, it appears that City programs won't qualify for those funds, based on the approved legislation and guidelines stated by Oregon Housing and Community Services, the state agency tasked with distributing funds.

Funding and operations for City shelters after June 30, 2025, are unknown at this time. ALL IN and legislative funds will end by then, and all previous one-time pandemic funding will have been exhausted.

Eugene, like many communities in Oregon, faces a challenge in how to fund these important homelessness programs in the face of expected City general fund shortfalls and the demands of the other services that cities traditionally provide.

Under Oregon statute, counties are the agencies that provide services for health and human services including homelessness. Counties also control the pass-through of the bulk of federal funds targeted for these needs.

Eugene has on average more than 3,500 unsheltered people per night, according to Lane County statistics, and only about 1,100 shelter spaces. In an environment without an adequate supply of affordable or supportive housing options, the City has continued to support the operation of shelter and services that improve people's safety and moves them toward more stable lives, benefiting the entire community.

City shelter programs are part of the Housing Implementation Pipeline, the City's broad effort toward  Strategic Plan goals to stabilize the cost of housing and mitigate impacts of homelessness.

For more City updates visit the City Newsroom webpage.

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