ARTICLE
HBA has been involved in several workgroups assessing the path to reforming Metro’s Supportive Housing Services Measure, the tax passed in 2020 that funds homeless services through the counties. The current program collects a 1% tax on all taxable income of more than $125,000 for individuals and $200,000 for joint filers. It also collects a 1% on profits from businesses with gross receipts of more than $5 million. The basic goal of the exploratory group meeting with Metro leadership has been to address the serious issues of the SHS program and tax that have arisen in the last several years, particularly the lack of accountability at the local level, the inability of counties to spend resources on basic services, and the growing problem of unsheltered camping in public spaces. So, for the last six months, Metro has gathered several stakeholders (HBA included) to vet proposals to reform the measure to make it more effective, with the added benefit of potentially lowering the region’s tax burden. The current tentative agreement being worked out calls for several reforms to the measure, including: Greater oversight of county programs, including how and where money is being spent, and more accountability in creating shelter beds and actually reducing homeless populations. Transferring any and all excess revenue (which has topped hundreds of millions) to the creation of affordable housing development, including innovative capital projects that support greater housing affordability. A potential reduction in the tax rate for individuals, including a one-time increase to the income eligibility thresholds with annual inflationary indexing. Extending the tax’s sunset from 2030 to a later date, in order to ensure the long-term funding mechanism is more assured to county operators of homeless services.
HBA has been involved in several workgroups assessing the path to reforming Metro’s Supportive Housing Services Measure, the tax passed in 2020 that funds homeless services through the counties. The current program collects a 1% tax on all taxable income of more than $125,000 for individuals and $200,000 for joint filers. It also collects a 1% on profits from businesses with gross receipts of more than $5 million.
The basic goal of the exploratory group meeting with Metro leadership has been to address the serious issues of the SHS program and tax that have arisen in the last several years, particularly the lack of accountability at the local level, the inability of counties to spend resources on basic services, and the growing problem of unsheltered camping in public spaces. So, for the last six months, Metro has gathered several stakeholders (HBA included) to vet proposals to reform the measure to make it more effective, with the added benefit of potentially lowering the region’s tax burden. The current tentative agreement being worked out calls for several reforms to the measure, including: