PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – More than halfway into the 82nd Oregon legislative session, lawmakers have passed major bills, including a $200 million housing and homelessness package, and now face calls from the governor to allocate another $1.3 billion to the crisis.
The $200 million Affordable Housing and Emergency Homeless Response package could not have passed without Republican support as Democrats lost their supermajority in both chambers. Democrats still hold a 17-13 edge in the Senate and a 35-25 lead in the House.
House Republican Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson — representing District 59 cities such as Prineville and Madras — told KOIN 6 News she thinks the package didn’t do enough to address the crises, especially when it comes to housing.
“I’m not fully unhappy,” Breese-Iverson said. “I think there’s room for more to be done. Both the housing and homeless scenario were discussed early in the session, wanted to try something collaborative across the aisle, make it for the good of Oregon. I think we got part way there.”
The $200 million bill aims to prevent homelessness and boost affordable housing production. The package includes $54 million in rental assistance and rehousing programs for those who are homeless, $33.5 million for eviction defense and $23.8 million towards adding 600 shelter beds in metro areas.
“I think what was passed originally was really to deal with homelessness. I think there’s a housing spot that we need to talk about still,” Breese-Iverson explained.
During an April 19 press conference, marking her first 100 days in office, Gov. Tina Kotek said the $200 million homelessness and housing package served as a “downpayment” and called for lawmakers to pass another $1.3 billion — including $1 billion in bonding to build and preserve affordable housing and $300 million to continue addressing the crisis and ensure “we do not lose ground at this critical juncture.”
“It’s historic that we’re making this kind of significant investment so quickly and with such specific outcomes tied to that funding. We are doing this because a crisis of this scale demands bold action and innovation, and more must be done going forward,” Kotek said.
When asked about Kotek’s funding request, Breese-Iverson says it’s “hard to say what’s going to fly in the last 65 days of session.”
“I will say, we are still missing the mark on how we address what is actually happening in Oregon,” she said. “And by that, I mean there’s a lot to talk about, about how do we permit housing? How does each community deal with it? Every community’s going to look at this differently and I believe that we should have more local approaches.”
In addition to “local approaches” Breese-Iverson told KOIN 6 News that the legislature should look at the “root cause” of homelessness, including Oregon’s drug crisis along with mental and behavioral health.
“I do not think what we have in front of us at this time fully addresses that to get us down the road in solving this crisis,” Breese-Iverson said.
Kotek also wants more focus on behavioral health, as she mentioned during her press conference on Wednesday, “the overlay between behavioral health and housing stability is as clear as day. This is not a conversation about one or the other.”
Kotek added, “Oregonians need a stronger, more accessible behavioral health system that meets them where they are and matches them with the appropriate level of care that they need.”
The governor also said the “homelessness, to jail, to hospital pipeline” needs to be addressed and called for stabilization of the behavioral health workforce.
While the governor and the House Republican leader may agree on the need to focus on behavioral health, the two have differing views on funding these initiatives.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Kotek noted the availability of Oregon’s reserve funds and said budget cuts are “unacceptable.”
“Oregon’s reserve funds stand strong at $2 billion, thanks to over a decade of prudent leadership. One thing is certain: investing in solutions now will yield far better results in the long term than padding our savings accounts while Oregon communities are struggling. Our problems will only become more expensive to address if neglected,” Kotek said.
However, Breese-Iverson says she does not think Oregon has the budget to meet the governor’s ask.
“The governor’s budget addresses many, many departments, agencies across the board. I believe that she has left some things unfunded, and she has decided we should use the people’s savings account to fund other things,” Breese-Iverson said.
Another issue Breese-Iverson wants addressed is crime. When asked about HB 2005, a bill that would ban so-called “ghost guns,” the representative said she does not support the bill and instead wants the state to crackdown on crime and prosecute criminals.
“I think that the omnibus bill that was put together is something that doesn’t address what I hear Oregonians wanting to talk about, which is the crime in Oregon and safe neighborhoods,” Breese-Iverson said. “There’s nothing in that bill that would make neighborhoods safer and there’s nothing in that bill that would keep criminals from getting guns.”
When asked if the easy availability of guns is part of the rise in crime, Breese-Iverson said she doesn’t think criminals concern themselves with gun laws and doesn’t think certain gun control bills will necessarily stop crime.
While working on these issues, the Republican leader says she wants to see more balance between Democrat and Republican-led bills being considered.
“Bipartisanship is an interesting conversation, and it really depends how you define bipartisanship. Are we getting along? Are we working together? Are we talking across the aisle? Yes,” Breese-Iverson said.
“I think the atmosphere inside the Capitol is good, there’s communication happening. But true bipartisan would include … an emphasis on Republican bills as much as Democrat bills. There would be an emphasis to get bills across the House floor that have more than one Republican supporting them as a ‘bipartisan bill’ and we still don’t have a true balance of that,” she continued.
The Republican leader also wants to see more work done at the community-level to address issues facing Oregonians.
“The best way for us to address what needs to happen in rural Oregon and around the state is for us to let communities have local control of what needs to happen,” Breese-Iverson said. “We have different partnerships, different cultural aspects to consider around the state and until we get real about letting communities have those discussions amongst themselves and find those partners that work in those different areas, that urban-rural divide isn’t going to get smaller.”