As the federal government’s suspension of SNAP benefits looms heavily over Multnomah County, local officials scramble to brace for the impact. On October 31, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners met in an emergency session to strengthen the county’s support structures in anticipation of the November 1 halt. This suspension could potentially affect approximately 143,000 residents—38,000 of whom are youth and 18,000 seniors—a staggering population that constitutes nearly a fifth of all Oregonians dependent on SNAP, as reported by Multnomah County’s news release.
The focus of the meeting was a resolution originally introduced by Commissioners Meghan Moyer and Julia Brim-Edwards, which the Board unanimously supported. It aims to provide initial recommendations to address the loss of SNAP benefits and directs the County to establish an emergency operations center. This hub will streamline coordination of the response efforts, pooling resources and maintaining active communication with the community. A formal ratification of the resolution is expected during the Board’s next regular meeting on November 6, according to the Multnomah County news release.
An emergency operations center, under the guidance of Multnomah County Emergency Management, is now poised to become the nerve center of this response. “This is all of Multnomah County working to address these issues,” Chris Voss, director of the county’s emergency management, emphasized in the Multnomah County news release…