When tourists come to Portland, a sliver of what they spend will go toward homeless services.

The Multnomah County Commission on Thursday approved changing its agreement with Portland and Metro to dedicate a portion of visitor tax dollars for homeless services. The Oregon Metro Council approved the modifications on Nov. 21 and the Portland City Council did the same on Nov. 27.

The county commissioners first approved a different version of the agreement in September, but since then, it underwent streamlining and other changes unrelated to the homeless spending to secure the city and Metro’s approval.

Commission Chair Deborah Kafoury said that the process took too long to complete, but she was happy with the result.

“Had we not passed the version we passed a couple months ago, we would not be here together,” Kafoury said. “It took us pushing and pushing and pushing and never relenting to get the other jurisdictions to agree to our terms.”

Kafoury has championed the idea of using some tourism dollars to aid the homeless for years after she learned that the tourism fund was ballooning because of an influx of visitors. At the same time, she also felt inundated by complaints from business owners and hotel operators who complained that the growing population of people living on the streets was hurting business.

The three-way agreement has been in place since 2001, funded through taxes on vehicle rentals and rentals of rooms in hotels, motels and Airbnb-style options. The rental car tax is currently 17% and the room tax 13.3%.

The funds have been used to renovate, expand or develop the Oregon Convention Center, Portland’5 Center for the Arts, the Hyatt Oregon Convention Center Hotel and what is now Providence Park.

Authorities estimate Portland visitors spent $5.3 billion in 2018, generating around $265 million in state and local tax revenue.

Under the new agreement, about $2.5 million a year will be allocated to the county to fund services and programs for people either at risk of or experiencing homelessness as well as related-safety concerns. That amount is projected to increase over time and is estimated to be as much as $50.1 million by 2029-2030.

The fund is meant to provide resources for homeless services at a time when local government leaders say more money is needed to ensure that new affordable housing built with city and Metro housing bonds has mental health, addiction, employment and other services available to help homeless people who move into those units.

The deal will also authorize a total of $80 million in new bonds for improvements to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Portland’5 Centers for the Arts.

Beginning sometime after Jan. 1, 2021, Portland plans to issue one or more series of bonds that would be set at $40 million to fund renovations to the coliseum. The city plans to do the same for the Portland’5 Centers for the Arts sometime after Jan. 1, 2024.

City officials have said the renovations are necessary for both structures’ viability and that more money would likely be needed for upgrades.

An advisory committee related to the coliseum reconstruction effort has already been created, Portland officials said during a Nov. 20 meeting.

“While we know that $40 million for each of these projects is likely not enough to fully address the needs of those aging venues,” said Karl Lisle, Portland’s spectator facilities program coordinator, “we believe the funding can be a very important foundation which we can build and add other funds, both public and private, to make those projects really successful.”

Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty at the time said she had concerns about adding the coliseum renovation funding because she wasn’t aware of any conversations beforehand about upgrades and that they would be obligating future city commissioners to proceed with the development. She also asked if any independent audits have been done to determine whether the city was making the best investment of tourism dollars.

“Clearly people know where Portland is now,” Hardesty said. “We’re spending more money on tourism rather than less and I’d like to know why that would be.”

Portland Commissioner Amanda Fritz said she supports funds going to the venue upgrades. She said prior councils under Mayors Sam Adams and Charlie Hales have discussed coliseum renovations and that it and the Portland’5 Center for the Arts have turned a profit for the last several years.

Commissioners Hardesty and Chloe Eudaly weren’t in attendance when the Portland City Council approved the new agreement last week.

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com | 503-294-5923 | @MollyHarbarger

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 | @EvertonBailey

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