The Oregon Department of Human Services told the Joint Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Services on April 28 that the Youth Experiencing Homelessness Program, known as YEP, risks losing roughly 75% of its services and 70% of its staff when one-time funding expires June 30 unless the Legislature approves the department’s $19,707,205 policy option package (POP) to make key funding and five limited-duration positions permanent and add one position.

Claire Sequin, director of Self Sufficiency Programs at the Oregon Department of Human Services, opened the informational hearing and said the program has expanded rapidly since 2020 with one-time and limited-duration investments and now funds 42 nonprofit providers through 61 grants. Sequin said the 2023 housing package included an $18,750,000 one-time general-fund investment for YEP core services and a separate $4,000,000 one-time allocation for low-income college housing that both expire this biennium.

The nut of the agency’s pitch to the subcommittee: YEP fills a middle role in the youth homelessness continuum — providing emergency shelter, host homes, outreach and drop-in services, case management and transitional living — but those gains could be reversed without ongoing state funding. “Without additional investment, this program is at risk of losing significant gains, including 75% of its services funding and 70% of its staff,” Sequin said.

YEP’s funding mix and recent growth

Agency presenters described the program’s funding mix as roughly 98% state general fund and 2% federal funds in the SSP (Social Services) account, with grantee budgets supplemented by federal Continuum of Care and other federal programs, local government dollars, philanthropy and private donations. Across grantees during the biennium, presenters said about 15% of budgets came from federal sources, 44% from state sources (including funds administered by Oregon Housing and Community Services), and about 41% from other local and private sources.

Officials recounted YEP’s growth: for its first eight years the program operated on about $2.5–3.0 million biennially, funding 13 providers and 24 grants. Time-limited investments in recent biennia expanded the program to 32 providers and 43 contracts, and after 2023 investments YEP reached 42 providers and 61 grants. The agency said that between 2022 and 2024 the number of services documented rose from roughly 3,200 in 2022 to nearly 23,000 in 2024.

Program components and outcomes

Ashley Marshall, housing policy advisor for Self Sufficiency Programs at ODHS, described YEP’s four core components: core services grants to community providers (shelter, drop-in, outreach, host homes and culturally specific case management), tuition and fee waivers for eligible students at Oregon public higher-education institutions, direct cash transfer pilots (DCT), and low-income housing resources for college students developed in partnership with College Housing Northwest.

Sequin said the 2023 investments created 205 new shelter and transitional living beds, sustained 117 beds, funded five new providers, expanded services into eight additional counties, served 4,946 youth in the last calendar year and linked 85% of those youth to public benefits. The agency also reported that 81% of youth who participated in transitional living programs gained work skills or became employed.

On direct cash transfers, ODHS described two pilots run this biennium: a prevention pilot in Lane County that served 103 people with a 96% stabilized-housing rate at exit, and DCT Plus in three areas (Central Oregon, Clackamas County and Multnomah County) that served 120 youth (117 completed the program) with 91% reporting stabilized housing at exit. Presenters offered youth testimonials collected by the program; Sequin read a written quote from “one of our Youth Action Board members” describing rapid housing placement and improved health after YEP services.

Geographic reach and service gaps

Marshall said YEP currently funds core services in 26 of Oregon’s 36 counties and that in most counties only one type of core service is funded — for example, outreach without a local shelter, or shelter without transitional living. The agency noted the statutory set-aside for host homes (reported as $6,250,000 for the biennium) increased the budget share for that service type but does not mean host homes reflect the largest unmet demand; presenters said demand for shelter remains high given Oregon’s unsheltered youth rates.

Data and staffing concerns: HMIS implementation

The agency described efforts to implement client-level data reporting through the Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS) but acknowledged data quality is “fairly poor” and delaying the department’s ability to report robust outcome measures. Ashley Marshall said the data challenges appear to be a mix of provider data-entry errors, under-resourced provider capacity to enter data accurately, possible coding issues in the data feed and configuration concerns with HMIS itself.

Marshall said the POP includes funding to make five limited-duration positions permanent and to add one additional position focused on data collection and reporting; the requested position would combine HMIS expertise and data-engineering skill to diagnose data-integrity problems, support providers with training, and maintain dashboards that visualize client outcomes. “That position would be a person who ideally is both really good at data analytics and engineering and also knows the HMIS data platform,” Marshall said.

Budget request and next steps

Sequin told the subcommittee the governor’s recommended POP totals $19,707,205 and would sustain the program’s current geographic reach, preserve beds and services, allow continuation of DCT Plus, and fund the five limited-duration positions permanently while adding the data position. Agency staff repeatedly emphasized that the 2023 investments are one-time and expire June 30; without legislative action the program would sharply contract and some providers could close or reduce capacity.

Questions from committee members focused on outcome measurement and links between foster care and later youth homelessness. Presenters pointed to prior research (Chapin Hall’s Voices of Youth Count) and agency data showing about 29–30% of youth experiencing homelessness reported foster care experience, and described a data-sharing pilot the department is running with other state agencies to better match child-welfare and homelessness records. The agency said it can provide additional outcome detail as HMIS data quality improves and that it will share the GIS map link the committee requested showing which services operate in each county.

The hearing was informational and concluded with no formal action or votes. The subcommittee closed the hearing after questioning and public comment.