From the Albany Democrat-Herald:

The stalled-out Oregon Legislature prompted by a Republican walkout in the Senate has local social service agencies on edge about funding for this coming fiscal year.

Leaders of local support agencies recently warned Corvallis officials about hard times coming if state politicians can’t work a deal.

Compromises at the national level on the federal debt ceiling add to the problem, according to Pegge McGuire, Community Services Consortium executive director.

“Almost all of our federal funding has been cut significantly, and the vast majority of that is housing-related,” McGuire said at a Corvallis City Council meeting June 5. “So, it’s also rental assistance funding, utility bill payment assistance. Our clients are going to be demanding funds that we just don’t have.”

With pandemic-era funding dried up, Community Services Consortium is down to half the budget it had in 2020, McGuire said, adding most of that money is passed through to such local partners as Unity Shelter, which operates several homeless shelter programs in Corvallis.

McGuire said whatever city resources are available for social assistance would be important in light of the financial crunch on local providers.

“We are just not going to have funds to help,” she said.

Read the full article here.