Portland officials on Tuesday disclosed a gaping budget hole in the city’s homeless shelter system while insisting that serious service cuts will be avoided through “creative and efficient cost saving measures” and a “reimagination of best use of funds.”

The system, comprised of both emergency overnight and alternative shelters, faces a combined $11 million shortfall after the city failed to secure a tranche of state funding it was counting on, City Administrator Mike Jordan wrote in a budget memo to members of the Portland City Council.

That deficit is about 17% of the $65.5 million in shelter program funding sought by Mayor Keith Wilson. Councilors approved the plan in June under the assumption that the vast majority of one-time dollars wouldn’t come from city coffers.

The revelat

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