January 1, Lawmakers Consider Giving Homeless People $1,000 a Month

The Oregon state legislature is considering a bill that would give monthly $1,000 payments to homeless residents.

Senate Bill 603 would provide 12 monthly payments of $1,000 to individuals who are experiencing homelessness, at risk of homelessness, severely rent burdened, or who earn at or below 60% of area median income. The bill would use $25 million from Oregon’s general fund to establish a People’s Housing Assistance Fund Demonstration Program that would be administered by the state’s Department of Human Services.

Based on the bill’s language, people who receive the $1,000 payments would be able to spend them however they’d like. “Payments may be used for rent, emergency expenses, food, child care or other goods or services of the participant’s choosing,” the bill reads.

If passed, the bill would sunset on Jan. 2, 2026. But it also requires Portland State University’s Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative (HRAC) to study long-term cash assistance programs that the Legislative Assembly could consider for approval in 2025.

According to the bill, the HRAC’s study must consider “disparate impacts on communities of color, immigrant and refugee communities and persons identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other minority gender identities and sexual orientations.”

Also, the study must explore “how agencies can make long-term cash assistance programs accessible to individuals who do not have Social Security numbers or who have only taxpayer identification numbers,” the bill states.

“I think the end game is to really create a permanent program,” said Rebekah Markillie, a member of Residents Organizing for Change (ROC), an affordable housing advocacy group.

One of the bill’s lead sponsors is state Sen. WLnsvey Campos (D-Aloha), 27, who recently became the youngest ever state senator in Oregon.

Homelessness is an issue that pervades through the state, especially in Portland. In September, Portland was hit with a class action lawsuit from residents over “the city’s systemic failure to provide full and equal access to its sidewalks” by failing to keep its sidewalks clear of debris and tent encampments.”

Source: Fox News