The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners authorized the county manager to sign an intergovernmental grant agreement with Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) allocating $1,826,531 to address regional shelter bed needs established in an earlier biennium.

Monica Steele, assistant county manager, told the board the award is a result of House Bill 3644 and its funding companion House Bill 5011. “The county has been allocated $1,826,531 to address our community shelter bed needs,” Steele said. She said local shelter providers that have continued operations after prior funding ended — Clatsop Community Action, Lifeboat Services, Helping Hands, and The Harbor — will become subrecipients and that the county will retain $127,860 to serve as regional coordinator and to perform required fiscal monitoring.

Steele said the county will bring individual subrecipient contracts to the board at a future meeting and asked the board to authorize the county manager to sign the state contract and any amendments so providers can recoup costs they covered since June 30. The board approved the motion by voice vote; the motion carried.

Commissioners asked about oversight. Steele said the contract includes monitoring requirements and that administrative responsibilities for the county are consistent with or greater than prior shelter funding arrangements. Several commissioners expressed appreciation that state funding restored support for local shelter providers after a funding gap.

The agreement stems from 2025 legislative action establishing a statewide shelter framework and the appropriation to OHCS; the county retained a portion to cover coordination and monitoring duties.