A bill in the Oregon House passes, aimed at reallocating funds to homeless youth, has passed unanimously.
House Bill 3440 allows counties with more than 200,000 people to use county foreclosure funds on homeless youth or homeless families with small children. Deschutes County has a population just over that.
This type of money typically gets divided out to different entities like the libraries, schools or parks
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Rather than split up the money, the House feels that directing the total to homeless youth will make the biggest impact.
“It can be an impactful amount of money for small organizations, and it’s steady money that we don’t have to go for the state,” said Rep. Emerson Levy, D-Bend, who was chief sponsor of the bill. “You know, when we look at the state housing package, obviously that’s far more substantial. But I think we need every tool in our toolbox to make sure that, you know, we’re not having families sleeping in their cars.”
HB 3440 is headed to the Senate floor and based on the unanimous vote by the House, it’s expected that it will be passed and sent on to Gov. Tina Kotek’s desk.
