Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregonians who receive state-funded in-home care will get at least a six-month reprieve. Oregon lawmakers say in a meeting Thursday, they will restore funding to a handful of social service programs that help seniors and the disabled.

Some of those cuts were going to happen next week. But this spending is only temporary and still leaves gaps in Oregon's budget-stressed social safety net.

The state of Oregon extends a helping hand into the homes of people like Sarah Downey.

About three years ago, her son, Davis, was diagnosed with autism. That explained why he wasn't progressing like other children.

Sarah Downey: "But then it was like, okay what now?"

At age five, Davis isn't potty-trained and hasn't learned to talk.

But he's a growing, active boy. And every moment he's awake, Downey has to make sure he doesn't hurt himself.

Sarah Downey: "It was overwhelming. I was with him 24/7 and it just got to be too much."

Downey signed up for a state-funded program that pays a caregiver to come to her Gresham apartment a few hours a week.

A separate program provides something called "respite care." That's when a trained babysitter watches Davis twice a month to give Downey and her husband a few hours to come up for air.

Sarah Downey: "It just gives me some time to be wife, and not be Davis' mom, which sounds so horrible and bad. But I'm pretty sure normal couples are just able to be a husband and wife, you know, friends for a couple hours of the week or a month."

When I met Downey, both programs her family uses were set to be eliminated at the end of this month...victims of a nine percent across the board cut to state spending.

Now, lawmakers say they'll reverse course...at least a little bit. They've found enough reserve funds and cuts elsewhere to keep in-home care alive for now.

I called up Sarah to tell her the news.

Sarah Downey: "It would mean that I could still have someone come to my house and help me with Davis, which would be a blessing."

But perhaps a temporary blessing.

Under the current proposal, some of the in-home care programs would only be restored until next February. Others would get a reprieve until June.

But legislative leaders are only planning to restore about $17 million. The total cut to human services was $158 million.

That's not a glass half-full. It's more like a glass one-tenth full.

Democratic Representative Peter Buckley is the chief budget writer in the Oregon House. He says in-home care gets the priority because the clock on these programs was about to strike midnight.Peter Buckley: "There's literally no breathing space. They're happening right now. We have to address them right now."

But lawmakers for now are leaving in place other budget cuts, such as those affecting schools and prisons. Plans are in the works to address some of those cuts in the fall.

But other programs haven't received that same level of support. A cut to funding for homeless assistance programs has some shelters scrambling to fill the gaps.

Lee Means: "I mean, we're already underwater."

Lee Means directs the Yamhill Community Action Partnership. It runs three shelters in Yamhill County. She says restoring funding to in-home care is a good thing.

Lee Means: "But it doesn't keep my shelters open. So if the family's homeless, it's not going to help."

Even advocates for programs that are being restored have mixed reactions. A multi-billion dollar deficit is already looming for next year.

Gina Nikkel directs an association of community mental health programs. She worries lawmakers are simply delaying the inevitable...that some of these services are just going to go away.Gina Nikkel: "Restoring (these) nine percent cuts lets us at least come to the top of the water and catch one more breath before we're pushed down again."

Lawmakers expect the budget restorations to easily pass the Legislature's Emergency Board, which makes budget decisions between sessions.

House and Senate leaders haven't yet ruled out the possibility of a special session of the entire Legislature this fall.