$4M for sobering center fuels quarrel between Portland and Multnomah County

Multnomah County expected to receive nearly $4 million from Portland to help cover the costs of

current

and

future

sobering services in the city. Portland officials are now saying they won’t pay up.

The county planned for a $1.9 million payment in the current fiscal year and a similar lump sum in fiscal year 2026. But it hasn’t received the current payment and the city’s proposed budget for the upcoming year doesn’t include the funds, according to county spokesperson Ryan Yambra.

“This was a really hard thing, especially because it was brought in after my budget was finalized,” County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said at a board meeting June 3. “This definitely went against the understanding that we had and previous commitments from the city.”

Yambra said the county “intended to use some” of the funds for the temporary deflection and sobering center in Southeast Portland. That facility has 13 sobering beds available 24 hours a day. It’s the first center of its kind since Portland’s Sobering Station shuttered abruptly in 2019.

Portland spokesperson Cody Bowman said the city isn’t making the payments because the county’s permanent sobering center was delayed, with an opening date now planned for 2027 instead of 2026.

“We do not believe the permanent facility will be operational in fiscal year 2025-2026,” Bowman said in a statement. “Mayor (Keith) Wilson is committed to providing funding once the permanent facility is open and operational.”

Officials announced in April that the county’s 24-hour sobering and detox facility in Southeast Portland would be delayed until at least fall 2027. That building will also house the county’s deflection program designed to move people caught with hard drugs into treatment and keep them out of jail.

Design plans show that the facility will have 20 sobering beds and 28 management withdrawal stations. The county estimates that the project will cost close to $36.2 million.

Yambra said the city’s decision to withhold $3.8 million in funding for the sobering center now could impact services down the road.

“The lack of promised funds for this year and the additional $1.9 million promised ‌for fiscal year 2026 will create a cascading effect on the budget for the operations of the sobering services and exacerbate the current funding gap for the construction of the permanent sobering & crisis stabilization facility,” he wrote in an email.

County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards sent a letter to Wilson on April 17 calling on the city to honor its commitment. The county will vote to finalize its $4 billion budget on June 12. City councilors will vote to finalize Portland’s $8.5 billion fiscal plan six days later.

City Councilor Eric Zimmerman, former chief of staff to Brim-Edwards, said he is considering an amendment to the city’s budget that would set aside $1.2 million for the county to tap into for sobering services. He hasn’t ironed out all the details of the proposal yet, he said.

“I do think the city should have some skin in the game,” Zimmerman said.

— Austin De Dios covers Multnomah County politics, programs and more. Reach him at 503-319-9744,

adedios@oregonian.com

or @AustinDeDios.

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