Dear Washington County,



The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson underscores the urgent need for a national housing policy starting with a right to shelter. The ruling effectively pushed the onus for ending unsheltered homelessness to local communities without recognizing the federal disinvestment we have seen in low-income housing solutions over the past 40 years.

For Washington County, this ruling does not change our approach in what we have seen to be effective in reducing unsheltered homelessness. That is because of the regional voter-approved Supportive Housing Services (SHS) measure, allowing us to build a homeless system of care from the ground up, and implementing local regulations related to unsanctioned homeless encampments. The success stories and strategies from our county offers a potential blueprint for communities across the country.

This past month, we also learned that Metro may put forth a reform of the SHS measure on the May 2025 ballot. Metro staff recommendations on July 9th include expanding how the money can be used, increasing the lifespan of the tax, and reducing the rate paid by high income earners. As I shared before, we will continue to work with Metro to ensure the homeless services system of care is held harmless.

Finally, I would like to give a shout to our shelter operators for all their support and coordination during our 4th of July heatwave. Without them, these life-saving shelters would not have been possible.

Best,

Molly Rogers

Washinton County’s Department of Housing Services, Housing Advisory Committee and Homeless Solutions Advisory Council invites its community partners and the public to share their thoughts on our priorities for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Community partners are welcome to join us on Aug. 7, 2024, 8:30-10:30 a.m., while the public listening session for the general public takes place on Aug. 19, 2024, 5-7 p.m.

As we look ahead, the county would like to incorporate the voices of our community to guide us in determining strategies in advancing our mission by creating pathways out of homelessness, promoting housing stability, and investing in affordable communities. Your feedback will help us determine priorities to create a more effective Washington County housing system. We know this work is ever evolving and the work we do is not in a vacuum. The input we hear from our community will help guide our county investments and policies, as well as our local and state legislative advocacy efforts.

Molly Rogers, the department’s executive director, shares that “This public session is an important forum to engage with the broader community and have diverse voices heard. When we listen to our residents directly, we better understand what the needs are so that we can best serve them and the public moving forward.”

Member of the public and interested in making your voice heard? Register for this important event here. If you’re a community partner, please RSVP using this form.

$30 million released to fund transitional housing. Application open

We are excited to announce the release of the Transitional Housing Capital Notice of Funding Offering. Washington County has built a homeless services system of care from scratch with voter-approved Supportive Housing Services resources, increasing shelter capacity to 440 year-round beds, funding thousands of housing placements, and expanding resources for our community-based providers workforce tenfold. These new investments in transitional housing will fund the next element of our system of care.

The offering is up to $30 million in capital funding from Metro Supportive Housing Services funds for the acquisition, rehabilitation, conversion and/or construction of transitional housing. The additional transitional housing capacity will serve households facing significant barriers to housing using recovery-oriented and stabilization service models.

This one pager includes more information, including application deadline, pre-proposal conferences, and more. Please share this far and wide! 

+$1 million awarded to department for health and housing integration

In July, Washington County’s Department of Housing Services was awarded over $1 million from Health Share of Oregon to support capacity-building efforts to scale and refine infrastructure aimed to support health and housing integration efforts made possible through the Medicaid 1115 Waiver.

The state of Oregon will begin offering Health-Related Social Needs Housing Services in November of 2024 that will allow entities to leverage Medicaid funding to support tenancy services and rental assistance for individuals at risk of homelessness.

Washington County will work closely with its health system and community-based housing services partners to leverage existing and new system capacity to deliver these critical services to our community members. 

Washington County activates life-saving shelters during heatwave

In response to the scorching heat wave a couple weeks ago, Washington County activated our severe weather shelter capacity from July 5 to 10, opening our doors to anyone in need of shelter. With two locations available, one at our very own Washington Street Conference Center and the other located at the Beaverton Community Center, we ensured our shelters offered “no turn away” capacity through the duration of the heat wave.