MARCH 04, 2022, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A7
Budget plan would aid low-income Oregonians
and help with housing, child care, job training
By LYNNE TERRY, JULIA SHUMWAY
AND ALEX BAUMHARDT
Of the Capitol Chronicle
New state spending designed to
i mprove the lives of Oregonians by help-
ing thousands of homeless residents
obtain shelter, providing access to clean
water in small, rural towns and enabling
more than 100,000 students to take sum-
mer classes appears headed to legislative
approval.
“We are seizing this opportunity to
send direct relief to Oregonians and
deliver results for working families,” said
Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, after
the $1.4 billion package was endorsed by
the Joint Ways and Means Committee
on Monday, Feb, 28 with 17 Democrats
and Republicans voting in favor. One
Democrat and four Republicans opposed
the plan. House Bill 5202 is now in the
House. The budget will supplement
the one that covers the current bien-
nium from July 1, 2021 through June 30,
2023. It includes some quick payouts to
Oregonians, including $600 checks to
240,000 low-income residents.
The package also covers various pro-
grams serving people in all corners of the
state, but those will take time to roll out.
Oregonians won’t see for months the ben-
efits from multi-million dollar packages
on housing, workforce training, energy
efficiency and child care.
One example: About $400 million is
earmarked in the budget for affordable
housing and shelter projects.
When new shelters and temporary
housing units open, which could be a year
away, hundreds of people around the state
will get to sleep in a bed with a roof over
their heads instead of being squeezed into
a vehicle, staying with friends or relatives
or sleeping on the streets.
“We have so many people in Oregon
who are unsheltered or homeless,”
Gomberg said. “In my district, one in five
kids in our public schools doesn’t have
a long-term secure place to spend the
night.”
Several items provide relief to low-in-
come Oregonians. The pandemic has
widened the divide between the poor and
wealthy, with inflation pushing the cost of
food and housing up while incomes have
not kept up, economists say. If passed, as
is likely, the budget could keep insured
55,000 low-income people who risk losing
their health insurance, provide rebates to
low-income residents to make their homes
more energy efficient, make child care
more affordable and increase training so
that Oregonians of color and women can
develop skills to work in health care, con-
struction or manufacturing.
The agenda was largely written by
Democrats, who control both chambers.
Republicans support some of the pro-
posals but they say the budget is too big
and that the state could face unforeseen
expenses in the future.
“The Democrats are spending a lot
of money without a full picture of what
the future costs of these programs will
be,” said Dru Draper, spokesman of the
Senate’s Republican caucus. “In many
cases, these programs double down on
the same policies that have failed to show
much in the way of results. They won’t be
able to spend their way out of rising crime,
Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle
Democrats have advanced a $1.4 billion budget that includes affordable housing, education, health care and other priorities.
our homeless and housing issues, or fail-
ing government schools. All these issues
require real reform.”
Legislators opened their session
with more than $2 billion extra to spend
because of unexpected and surging tax
collections. Here is a look at some of the
key areas where money would flow under
the lastest spending plan.
Affordable housing
Legislators budgeted $400 million to
build and preserve affordable homes, get
people off the streets and into shelters
and help with down payments.
Among projects funded:
$25 million to nine large cities and
counties for temporary shelters, outreach
services and hygiene services, like por-
table toilets, shower trucks and laundry
facilities. Salem, which is set to receive
$2.5 million, has more than 120 small shel-
ters with room for two people to sleep, but
needs land and staff. Eugene, which will
receive $5 million, intends to expand its
year-old “safe sleep sites” program that
allows people to legally camp in their cars
or tents.
$20 million to preserve five manu-
factured home parks, saving about 300
affordable homes.
Most of the remaining sum is for exist-
ing programs that help affordable housing
developers pay for land or construction
or to help people who are homeless or at
risk of becoming homeless, including rent
assistance programs to stave off eviction
and workers who help homeless people
connect with resources.
Education
Hundreds of millions of dollars from
the state’s general fund will pour into
the budget of the Higher Education
Coordinating Commission and the
Oregon Department of Education, the
bulk of it to pay for summer classes pro-
vided by schools and community groups.
$150 million to school districts and
Education Service Districts providing
summer classes to help high school stu-
dents catch up on course credit, offer
enrichment in core subjects like math,
science and English and enhance student
emotional and behavioral health. In 2021,
161 school districts, 69 charter schools
and thousands of community programs
requested about $100 million for summer
classes that served more than 100,000 stu-
dents. Senate President Peter Courtney,
D-Salem, and Sen. Michael Dembrow,
D-Portland, hope to nearly double the
reach of summer classes this year and
to use expanded summer school as an
inroad to pushing for year-round school.
$5 million to increase graduation rates
for the state’s 12,700 Black and African
American students.
$4 million for the Oregon Teacher
Scholars Program for scholarships of
$10,000 to non-native English speakers
nearing the end of their teaching degree
programs.
Behavioral health
The behavioral health profession will
get $175 million to help retain employ-
ees. The providers serving adults and
children are on the verge of collapse.
Another $100 million will go for
behavioral health housing.
“This will make that whole sys-
tem work a lot better,” said Rep. Rob
Nosse, D-Portland, chair of the House
Behavioral Health Committee.
“There’s not a lot of secure residen-
tial treatment or housing across our
state for people who are pretty sick but
not quite ready to live among us but not
sick enough to be in the state hospital,”
Nosse said. “This additional $100 mil-
lion will get more of that built.”
The package marks a continuation
of $1 billion in federal and state dollars
that was earmarked for the 2021-2023
biennium for behavioral health and
addiction treatment. Most of those pro-
grams are not off the ground yet.
Workforce training
A $200 million package, including
$77 million in state money, will fund Gov.
Kate Brown’s “Future Ready Oregon” for
workforce training and other programs
to train workers package.
“Without these efforts, Oregon will
not be prepared to adequately address
ongoing health care needs and future
public health crises, which will only
widen the health equity gap across our
state,” said Dr. George Mejicano, asso-
ciate dean of education in the OHSU
School of Medicine.
Child care
The budget puts $100 million into
child care, including $21 million for $500
retention payments to child care work-
ers in 2022 and 2023. That responds to
anecdotal evidence considered by leg-
islators and survey data that indicates
that Oregon is losing child care provid-
ers, leaving parents with fewer choices
and higher costs.
Almost $40 million would be used to
recruit and train new child care provid-
ers and help existing facilities expand.
That includes:
$7.9 million for the American
Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees union, Oregon
AFSCME’s United We Heal Training
Trust for grants to child care provid-
ers, including up to $14,000 for in-home
providers and $70,000 for child care
centers.
The Legislature also intends to use
nearly $27 million to increase child care
subsidies for low-income families.