King County Executive Girmay Zahilay transmitted a $746 million supplemental budget to the County Council on September 24, amending the 2026-2027 budget adopted last November. It carries the $19.5 million package for 612 shelter and affordable-housing units announced September 21, $4.4 million to extend the Salvation Army SODO Shelter lease through 2027 (over 200 beds), and $4.2 million for contract and audit oversight in the Department of Community and Human Services. The release said the General Fund faces a $120 million shortfall in 2028-2029 and that the proposal includes $15.4 million in General Fund savings.
Council Budget Chair Rod Dembowski said the council intends to adopt the budget before Thanksgiving.
The Metanoia Project, one of two seasonal shelters in Cuyahoga County, said it cannot afford to open this winter for the first time in nearly 20 years and may shut down entirely by December 31; it sheltered up to 45 people a night from November through April last season at a cost of about $300,000. Executive Director Kai Saga said the ADAMHS Board's loss of $8.5 million in county funding for 2026 and 2027 cost the shelter $90,000 a year, that a $75,000 county grant that covered part of the gap last year may not recur, and that the organization applied for more than 60 grants this year and was mostly denied. County homeless services director LeVine Ross said traditional shelters have about 400 men's beds and a little over 200 women's beds available, while NEOCH's Chris Knestrick said the coalition counted about 170 people living outside in August.
Cuyahoga County officials have called for 8% cuts to departments and programs funded by the health and human services levy.
Multnomah County commissioners reviewed four options for covering the county's $101.6 million commitment to the Moda Center renovation, ranging from using $35 million in one-time county resources with $53 million financed to raising the motor vehicle rental tax by 1% or 1.25% or the transient lodging tax by 1%. The county estimated the options would cost between $138.6 million and $163.6 million over an assumed 20-year period, including as much as $62 million in interest. Several commissioners pushed to take a lodging tax increase off the table, with Commissioners Brim-Edwards and Singleton favoring a rental-car tax increase.
The Oregon Legislature approved $365 million in state bonding for the renovation earlier this year, and Portland city councilors approved a term sheet in August outlining the city's proposed investment.
East Portland News · on Sharon Meieran's homeless-spending critique at a Lents neighborhood meeting
Multnomah County chair candidate Sharon Meieran told the Lents Neighborhood Livability Association's August meeting that the county's homeless services budget grew from $50 million to $400 million annually over ten years while homelessness worsened threefold, and that the county's $25 million deflection center has not, by her account, transitioned a single person into treatment in two years of operation. 4D Recovery executive director Tony Vezina told the same meeting that Housing First policies amount to what he called "toxic empathy" and advocated a "Recovery First" approach.
Meieran represented District 1 on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners from January 2017 to January 2025; the race for chair also includes Julia Brim-Edwards and Shannon Singleton.
Sacramento County reported that selected county-funded homelessness programs served 6,662 people in fiscal year 2025-26, a 44% increase over three years, and that 43% of participants who left programs transitioned into permanent housing. The Department of Homeless Services and Housing's FY2026-27 budget includes about $65.6 million for contracts and services.
The county's programs served 4,614 people in fiscal year 2023-24.
Multnomah County commissioners unanimously approved an amended resolution to delay a 0.8% increase in the Preschool for All marginal income tax by one year, so the increase takes effect January 1, 2028 instead of January 1, 2027. The tax currently applies at 1.5% on single-filer income over $125,000 and 3% over $250,000, with joint-filer thresholds of $200,000 and $400,000.
The 0.8% increase was originally set to take effect in 2026; the board voted unanimously in 2024 to delay it to 2027, making this the second one-year delay.
Multnomah County commissioners voted unanimously on August 27 to delay the scheduled 0.8 percentage-point increase in the Preschool for All income tax from January 1, 2027 to January 1, 2028. The program's Technical Advisory Group had recommended a two-year delay; Commissioners Shannon Singleton and Megan Moyer amended Chair Jessica Vega Pederson's resolution to a one-year delay. Economic models presented to commissioners August 20 showed the program can operate during the delay but will eventually require the increase to run at its planned level.
In 2024, commissioners unanimously voted to postpone the same increase from 2026 to 2027.
Multnomah County Auditor's Office · on the county auditor's $1.18 million real estate overpayment finding
The Multnomah County Auditor's Office released a performance audit finding potential overpayments of $1,180,000 on two of four county real estate purchases it had retrospectively appraised, including $840,000 above appraised value for the Days Inn Motel site bought for the Homeless Services Department and $340,000 above appraised value for the Oak Street Village site. The audit reported the county relied on commission-based broker price opinions and obtained an independent appraisal for none of the 15 purchases reviewed from 2019 to 2025, a period in which the Facilities and Property Management Division spent $50.4 million on real estate.
The audit recommends the chief operating officer adopt five acquisition policies, including mandatory independent appraisals and board approval for purchases over $1 million, by March 1, 2027.
Portland City Council voted 8-4 to approve a non-binding term sheet opening lease negotiations with the Trail Blazers over a nearly $600 million Moda Center renovation, a week after the Multnomah County board approved its $101 million package. The city's term sheet commits $120 million up front and up to $275 million in maintenance over a 20-year lease, alongside $365 million in state bonds; opponents at the hearings cited concurrent cuts to rent assistance and shelter programs.
Negotiations are expected to wrap by early December 2026, when the final lease agreement returns for a binding council vote.