“We know that Portland is in an affordability crisis,” Portland Water Bureau spokesperson Jaymee Cuti told Street Roots. “We also know that a sudden emergency hits lower-income customers much harder.”
Her bureau, along with the Bureau of Environmental Services, whose charges piggyback on the same bill to ratepayers, have requested funding in the 2018 city budget to offer larger discounts to low-income households. Street Roots wrote about this proposal in February, finding that while in 1995, Portland’s water bureau became one of the first in the nation to offer a low-income discount program to residents, it never met its goal of reaching 10,000 customers.
Portland Water Bureau provided the following information about what the proposed expansion of its assistance program to low-income households would do:
Establish a dedicated low-income services team to provide customer service, data gathering and analysis.
Increase the total utility crisis voucher from $150 to $500. The purpose of crisis vouchers is to help a household get through an unexpected life event.
Expand income requirements to better align with Portland incomes.
Increase the current 50 percent discount to 80 percent for households in poverty. For example, a four-person family earning below $22,000 annually would pay approximately $25 a month for water, sewer and stormwater services.
Provide up to $500 assistance annually to low-income customers living in multi-family dwellings. Utility assistance would be administered through Home Forward’s rental assistance program because utility bills are already included in rent. This partnership with Home Forward and the community groups that administer the rental assistance program would cut down on administrative costs and eliminate the need for the Water Bureau to create a new program.
Portland City Council and Mayor Ted Wheeler are currently considering these expansions through the budget process.