High-traffic homeless areas are getting more attention in the latest proposed city budget with money devoted to cleanup and easing tensions between neighbors and the transient populations. Mayor Ted Wheeler released his budget priorities this week, which builds on the county's proposal last week to form a picture of how they plan to tackle the growing homeless crisis.

The new investment responds to steady complaints from residents who have called on leaders to address the visible symptoms of Portland's homeless crisis.

"People are compassionate in this city and they want to help people on the streets get access to services and get off and stay off the streets," Wheeler said this week. "But they're also wanting help with livability and safety services."

Wheeler is adding people to law enforcement and park ranger teams to handle the complaints, look for repeat offenders and deal with trash.

He earmarked $1.5 million for the programs. The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office asked for a continuation of a pilot program to use deputies to do some of that work as well, but it is not funded in the county's proposed budget.

That's in addition to the city and county's contributions -- $25 million each -- to fund the 1-year-old Joint Office of Homeless Services, a shared city-county experiment in coordinating efforts to help homeless people and others on the edge of homelessness.

They're still working out how to spend the $50 million in a dust-up over different budgeting approaches and ideas for allocations.

Wheeler's budget gives a $25 million lump sum to the Joint Office with no instructions on where the money should go. The amount is less than what the office requested. Kafoury's budget earmarks the county's $25 million for specific programs and is more than the office requested.

The past week has seen Wheeler explaining himself and Kafoury exasperated that the city's plan is up in the air.

The outcome so far: The Joint Office will retain the 600 shelter beds opened in the past fiscal year and pay for some new programs. Wheeler and Kafoury are still working out what those programs will be.

What's clear

Not in dispute is spending on livability issues apart from the $50 million joint office budget.

The results of a count earlier this year of people living on the street in Portland and throughout the county are expected later this month. Advocates anticipate a number close or higher than the last count, which found nearly 4,000 people without permanent shelter in 2015.

To deal with the impact of that many people without a home, Wheeler proposes about $1 million to speed up and expand cleanup at homeless campsites. The money would pay for three crews from Central City Concern -- a nonprofit that provides health and housing services to homeless people -- to respond to trash, needles and other debris left behind. It would be operated through the city Office of Management and Finance, which is the department that takes complaints and coordinates sweeps of homeless camps.

Another $500,000 would go toward keeping parks clean and safe. Part of that would fund four full-time city park rangers to enforce camping restrictions and refer homeless people to services along the Springwater Corridor and in east Portland parks.

Last year, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office experimented with a team of deputies who worked with homeless people to connect them to services, remove criminals with warrants and be a mediator in neighborhoods. That program ends July 1, after new Sheriff Mike Reese's request for it to continue was not included in Kafoury's proposal.

What's possible

The county has opened 637 new permanent publicly funded shelter beds since spring 2016, with 14 more coming on line when the Kenton women's tiny house village opens this summer. Some were paid for through state, federal and grant money that's expected to go away in the upcoming fiscal year starting July 1.

So the city and county must find more than $4 million to backfill those. Kafoury's budget commits to doing this, and Wheeler has said he wants to keep open all existing shelter beds and add more.

Kafoury also supports two new pilot programs to prevent people on the margins from becoming homeless. One would fill the gap between rent in subsidized apartments and Social Security income payments for seniors and people with disabilities. The Joint Office now pays rent for only a few months, but this program would help for years.

The other pilot program would support people who need help navigating relationships with their landlords to prevent eviction.

Marc Jolin, head of the Joint Office, said that the long-term goal of the agency is to move more money toward those less visible programs.

How will it be funded?

This budget cycle has exposed some cracks in the city-county collaboration on homeless services.

The Portland City Council administration that helped found the Joint Office has turned over, with Wheeler and Commissioner Chloe Eudaly replacing former Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Dan Saltzman.

Wheeler has upended what many, including county officials, saw as a routine process.

Portland and Multnomah County historically split which homeless services they would provide. The city's system was more expensive, so it typically contributed more. When the Joint Office was created, the city and county used the same formula to come up with the amounts they contributed: their historical funding levels plus a 50-50 split on any new money.

In its first year, the office received about $18 million from the county and $25 million from the city.

To craft a budget proposal for this fiscal year, the two boards that oversee the Joint Office assumed the same model. They asked the county for $21 million and the city for $28 million.

Kafoury proposed giving $25 million -- $4 million more than the request. Wheeler offered the same $25 million -- $3 million less than the request.

"We've split it exactly 50-50 with the county," Wheeler said Wednesday to a group of representatives from dozens of social service agencies, government bureaus and community members that advises the Joint Office.

That means that the county is adding 40 percent more in new money and the city is adding close to 2 percent.

After some more questions at the meeting, Wheeler said: "I feel like I'm being put in this position where this is a joint office, we're matching the county. We're doing our bit. This is a little bit more than what was in the adopted budget last year."

Kafoury said the county has made a priority of trying to help homeless people and came up with its contribution after laying people off and cutting back programs in other departments.

"We made some really tough decisions this year with our budget," she said.

What's next

Wheeler, Kafoury, Jolin and other members of the two Joint Office governing boards plan to meet again soon to go through the budget in depth, at the suggestion of Kafoury. The meeting hasn't been set yet.

Some are worried about what won't be funded. Members of the advisory group voiced reservations about what might be cut and Kafoury said in an interview later that she doesn't plan to scrap the priorities that more than 100 service providers, community members and officials set.

The Joint Office is getting all the money they asked for, Wheeler pointed out.

"We know we're going to be able to sustain much of that current capacity," Jolin said. "Are we going to be able to do that and everything else?"

Kafoury said that the two-party budget process can be confusing, but she's happy with her proposal of what programs to fund.

"Not only did I add an increase this year, but I expect to continue doing that," Kafoury said. "We can't do this all by ourselves. This can't be a county alone effort. We stepped up and we need the city to step up."

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com

503-294-5923

@MollyHarbarger