Update:Following Grants Pass Lead, Jackson County Commissioners Plan Appeal on Hardest Hit Decison to Include Portland Metro Counties in Hardest Hit Priority Counties.

 Update: I added a bullet showing share of the number of 2009 statewide average unemployed found in 16 counties; turns out that it is slightly LESS than  the share of total unemployment in the 4 added counties (38.5% vs 38.6%)
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Medford Mail Tribune has story HERE saying that Jackson County Commissioners plan to consider sending a formal appeal to OHCS at the Commissioners June 9th meeting. The appeal would protest the inclusion of 4 counties (including Clackamas and Multnomah) in the group of 20 counties targeted to receive 80% of Hardest Hit program funds.

Story also relates that Grant Pass Mayor has been leading the effort to not include the four additional counties.(A copy of resolution passed [starts on page 3] by Grants Pass City Council on May 19th is HERE; resolution erroneously asks to limit allocation to 14 counties, which would have excluded Lane and Wallowa counties, who had average rounded unemployment of 12%).

Four Counties Added to Original 16 Counties Had 38.6% of Average Number of Unemployed in Oregon in 2009.
Looking back at unemployment numbers for 2009 (see prior posted Excel spreadsheet HERE):

• Jackson county had on average 5.9% of the total number of unemployed in the state and Josephine County had 2.3%, for a combined total of 8.2%.
• Clackamas had 9.5% of the total average unemployed in 2009 and Multnomah 18.7% , for a combined total of 28.2%.
• Marion and Yamhill, the other 2 counties added to the distressed county listing, had 7.9% and 2.5% of the average unemployed in the state, or a combined 10.4% of Oregon's average number of unemployed for 2009.
• Combined the four distressed counties added to the original list of 16 counties had 38.6% of Oregon's average number of unemployed in 2009.
• The original 16 counties with unemployment rates of 12% or higher had 38.5% of the Oregon's average number of unemployed in 2009, slightly less than the 38.6% found in the four added counties.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.