A Portland tenant who escaped years of homelessness came close to losing the apartment that finally gave her stability after months of delay in Medicaid-funded rent assistance left both her and her landlord waiting for money that never seemed to arrive. The lag forced her to juggle bills and pile up credit-card debt while an already approved benefit sat in bureaucratic limbo, exposing a broader problem with a new state program meant to link housing supports to health care.
Gwynevere Merkau, who spent almost a decade living on the streets before moving into an affordable housing complex, said she was approved for six months of rent assistance in February 2025 but did not see payments for about a year. Merkau, who uses a wheelchair and receives roughly $900 a month in Social Security, says her rent is $1,600 and that she put charges on a credit card to hang on to the unit while she waited for help, as reported by KGW.
Hacienda Community Development Corporation, which manages Merkau’s building, has told residents it sometimes fronts costs when promised payers fail to pay. Erika Hernandez, Hacienda’s youth and family services director, told KGW the organization has been carrying roughly $320,000 in unpaid rent across its properties and urged tenants to “reach out to us early.”
Why the rent help did not arrive
Advocates and providers have described Oregon’s Health-Related Social Needs, or HRSN, rollout as chaotic, with long waits and paperwork snags that left people holding approval letters but no actual money. Reporting by OPB documented widespread complaints and said the program's implementation strained providers and the state ombuds office.
CareOregon, which administers much of the HRSN housing support in the Portland area, acknowledges the program has faced capacity challenges while it scales up services, according to the organization’s guidance on social-needs assistance. That gap between what is promised on paper and what shows up in landlords’ accounts is exactly where tenants like Merkau find themselves sweating out the calendar.
Where tenants can turn
Multnomah County and local agencies say HRSN housing supports are not designed for immediate, last-minute eviction prevention and that processing can take weeks to months. Tenants facing court dates are urged to contact 211, their local community action agency, or an eviction defense group; the county posts HRSN guidance and contact information online at Multnomah County.
Merkau said the apartment gave her the stability she needed to support her recovery from homelessness, and she described the months of uncertainty as “terrifying” until the pending payments finally began to move. Advocates say her case should be a wake-up call for faster payment workflows and clearer coordination among health plans, providers and landlords to prevent similar near-evictions in the future, a point detailed in reporting by OPB.
