At its core, the concept of deflection is simple and worthwhile: Divert people with addiction away from jail and into treatment, recovery, housing, and stability.

This week, Willamette Week reported that, after spending millions of dollars, the County's deflection program has produced "anemic" results.

That description doesn't even begin to capture the reality.

“Democracy works best when candidates answer questions publicly, ideas are debated openly, and voters - not a handful of powerful political insiders - decide elections.”

As Multnomah County approaches adoption of its FY 2027 budget tomorrow, it is worth asking a basic question:

What is the point of the billions of dollars being spent?

A budget should answer that question. It should reveal an organization's priorities, explain how it intends to achieve them, and show how success will be measured.

As Multnomah County’s budget process winds down over the next couple of weeks, it’s important to remember that County officials have essentially promised that homelessness would not improve over the coming year no matter what they did.