More than 20 years after Portland City Council launched a program to help low-income residents afford their water bills, it stills falls short of helping the people who need it most.

Despite multiple task forces and committees, commissioners' promises and media attention, the city's Water Bureau has yet to figure out how to provide financial assistance to renters who struggle to pay their utility bills, a city audit released Wednesday shows.

The program gives homeowners and renters of single-family homes who make 60 percent or less of median income and who request financial help a $142 discount on each quarterly water and sewer bill. That's about 50 percent of a what a typical low-income household owes, according to auditors.

But apartment renters are out of luck. That's ostensibly because the city can't figure out how much they owe for water since most apartment buildings have a single water meter and the cost of water is rolled into the price of rent.

The money -- some $4 million in 2015 -- to fund the discounts comes from other water users. That means that low-income renters end up subsidizing bills of homeowners, who are likely better-off and can qualify for the $142 discounts.

Jennifer Scott, the lead auditor for the report, noted that the discount program is likely more important to the city's residents than ever, since both utility bills and the number of people living in poverty continue to rise. Mary Hull Caballero, Portland's city auditor, runs an office independent from City Hall.

The city council set a goal in 1995 of signing 10,000 people up for the program. But the Water Bureau hasn't achieved that goal due to a few key failures, the report said.

The program's most glaring failure is that no one has figured out how to provide the money to the many renters who don't have individual water meters.

Portland renters are more than twice as likely to be poor as homeowners, according to a Portland State University study. Much of Portland's new and anticipated home development is multifamily, meaning that the number of renters is likely to increase.

In the past, city committees have suggested that renters of public housing could receive assistance covering the cost of water, at the least. That has still not happened.

"Given the projections for more apartments, inaction by the city will result in a growing population that is ineligible for assistance," said the report.

The audit does not prescribe a solution for to how to serve renters, but recommends the city address it.

The audit also found that the Water Bureau passively promotes the program to nearly all customers, rather than using data to target people most likely to need the subsidies.

Paper water bills carry a two-sentence disclaimer that lets people know they can call the city to find out about help paying their bill. The city does not send extra information to people who have repeatedly had their water shut off. Employees who answer calls from water ratepayers aren't told to recommend that callers who seem like they might be facing a financial crisis consider taking advantage of the program.

"If customers do not know that financial assistance exists, they would not have a reason to call and ask for it," says the report.

Water Commissioner Nick Fish said he directed Water Bureau staff to follow the audit's recommendations.

"It is time for action," he wrote in a formal response to the audit.

Water Bureau Director Mike Stuhr noted that since auditors began their work, bureau employees have started targeting mailings, phone calls and home visits to at-risk customers, plus made a few tweaks to help elderly customers stay on track. However, those might not be informed by city data about which residents have histories of water shut offs.

"Your findings and recommendations are aligned with our ongoing efforts and we are fully committed to implementing them," he wrote.

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com

503-294-5923

@MollyHarbarger