Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Lane County Meeting this Morning Has Eviction Extension Agenda Item. Slow Rate of Use of Funds Directly Allocated Locally May Contribute to Problem.

The Lane County Commission has an agenda item this morning that would move toward extending the 60 day tenant protection period found in SB 278 to 90 days in Lane County. 

The briefing memo with background is HERE

Legal Counsel has a separate memo HERE that explains the "risk exposure" that adoption of this extension might have for the county.. 

In reading through the staff memo I noted that there as of October 2 there was a "paid out" amount of $15,297,686. from a combined OHCS sub allocation of a portion of its allocation to Lane County [$18,143,473] PLUS the direct allocation of funds made by Treasury to  Lane county [$11,465,362]

In the legal counsel letter I also noted this sentence:

It is well established that the state requirement to use rental processing software they acquired is the cause of the delay in getting funding approved and distributed in a timely fashion

Lane County Direct Allocation Payouts Appear to Be Slower than OHCS Payouts

IF the direct allocation was controlled by Lane county and did not require the use of the state software faster use of local funds MIGHT reduce the need for an extension. 

The most recent Treasury Excel report puts the Lane County "Assistance to Households Expenditure Ratio" at 30% compared to 38% for OHCS, statewide.

It appears that the OHCS ratio for Lane County is substantially higher than 38% based on the data in the staff memo which indicates that 56% of available ERA 1 funding was "paid out" as of October 2. (IF Lane county ratio is around 30% and total ratio is 56%, than the spending ratio for the OHCS sub allocation to Lane County ratio has to be above 56%)

NOTE that "paid out" data and Treasury data likely does not include all obligations, just those actually disbursed. Adding those obligation would increase ratios of grant funds expended and obligated.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog



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