Urgent Needs Family Support Fund

Though not a formal OCDC program, thanks to donors, OCDC has a fund available for urgent needs of families thanks to a generous donation by the RMF Foundation that helped establish the fund. If a family inquires about assistance for an urgent need related to rent or a utility bill or an OCDC staff knows of a family that is struggling with one of these urgent needs, the OCDC staff can initiate an intake form by having the family complete the Urgent Needs Family Support Funds Application. 

Contributions to this fund directly support families in need. Data suggests that poverty in Oregon is decreasing as of 2024, and if you look at the figures of just the percentage of households that are below the 2024 Federal Poverty Guidelines, then this is true. However, to be considered living in poverty, a household of four people can NOT earn more than $31,200 annually. The costs associated with basic needs, however, including housing, increased sharply while ages increased modestly, with significant consequences for working families. Using 2021 data, 12% of households were living below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), however, researchers estimated that income in 44% of Oregon's more than 1.6 million households was not enough to afford basic necessities to live. Food insecurity and housing costs support the percentage of households experiencing financial hardship. Rent costs jumped an average of 25.6% in Oregon. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) created the 30% Rule, which states that households should not spend more than 30% of their income on housing (PD&R Edge, 2019). In 2020 in Oregon, the percentage of families paying more than 30% of their income on housing was 50.6%. All OCDC counties were above 30%.