Good Government Is About Making Good Choices. Metro Has Failed

Metro Councilors Must Be Held Accountable To Voters For Their FAILED NONEXISTENT REGIONAL Public Housing/Homeless Policy

The Metro regional government asserted, rightly, that Public Housing was a regional issue and that it would provide a regional Public Housing policy, execute that plan and enforce it. Metro asked the voters to endorse its pronouncement and they did, giving Metro millions of dollars to carry out its regional Public Housing policy.

The Metro regional government has authority over more than a majority of Public Housing units in the state of Oregon, 54%, and an estimated 30% of homeless persons. Metro cannot be allowed by other elected officials and constituents to neglect, deny or abandon its enormous self-asserted and voter granted responsibility.

The Metro regional government has failed the taxpayers. It has failed to establish a regional Public Housing policy. It has failed to execute a regional Public Housing policy. It has failed to enforce a regional Public Housing policy.

To regain the trust of Metro voters, Metro councilors must immediately do the following:

1. Establish Equitable Distribution of Public Housing as Metro’s regional Public Housing policy.

2. Stop all payments to Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington county Public Housing authorities and governments from Public Housing funds collected from Metro taxpayers.

3. Execute Metro’s regional Public Housing policy of Equitable Distribution of Public Housing under councilor and staff control.

4. Establish the Metro Housing Bureau to enforce Metro’s regional Public Housing policy of Equitable Distribution of Public Housing. The main task of the Metro Housing Bureau will be to remove all tents, personal belongings etc. and persons using public property as a campsite from any public property within Metro’s sphere of authority and, in accordance with the ninth circuit court of appeals decision that requires a public jurisdiction to have an alternative place to be in order to remove them from public spaces, provide an alternative camp site or other suitable housing accommodation in Clackamas county which has a mere 3.5% Public Housing units compared to Washington county with 5.% and Multnomah with 11.4%. See the Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps for details.

5. Metro Councilors for Districts 5 and 1, i.e. Mary Nolan and Ashton Simpson, must publicly announce that they recognize that their districts are disproportionally overloaded with Public Housing and will actively reject any and all new Public Housing funding from Metro and other sources aimed at their districts.

6. Metro Councilors for District 2, 3, 4 and 6, i.e. Christine Lewis, Gerritt Rosenthal, Juan Carlos Gonzalez and Duncan Hwang must publicly announce that they recognize that their districts are disproportionally underserved with Public Housing and will actively encourage any and all new Public Housing funding from Metro and other sources aimed at their districts.

7. Last, but not least, Metro Council President, Lynn Peterson, needs to address Metro’s regional Public Housing policy failures and what she intends to do to correct them.

Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran says the Joint Office of Homeless Services has “no plan to address homelessness”. Why should it? Neither the JOHS nor Multnomah county nor the city of Portland nor any other government within Metro’s boundaries are responsible for dealing with the homeless. Regional Public Housing policy, which includes the homeless, is Metro’s responsibility. Cooperating with Metro’s regional plan is the only obligation of other governments within Metro’s boundaries.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson must stop playing political gamesmanship. They must:

1. Immediately dismantle the failed, dysfunctional and unaccountable Joint Office of Homeless Services.

2. Acknowledge that the Metro Regional Government is the rightful authority over Regional Public Housing SUPERSEDING Portland, Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington county.

3. Hold Metro publicly accountable daily until it establishes, executes and enforces an equitable Regional Public Housing Plan.

4. Direct all citizen complaints regarding homeless camping on public property to the Metro Housing Bureau for resolution and enforcement.

If you are an elected official serving within Metro’s purview, your constituents and future political competitors will want to know your position on adopting the actions stated above as of early June 2023. Issuing an immediate press release, with a copy to me, will help assure that you will not be labeled as denying Metro’s role as the authority over regional Public Housing policy, execution and enforcement.

I shall report to your colleagues, constituents and the Press your views in the near future. Looking forward to your response. Thank you.

Richard Ellmyer

Author of more stories on the politics, players and policies of Public Housing in Oregon over the last twenty-one years than all other journalists and elected officials combined.

Project Champion and Data Wrangler - Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps https://www.goodgrowthnw.org/maps

GIS for Activism conference, May 23, 2022, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon

RichardEllmyer - How I, A Citizen Activist, Used GIS To Effectively Tell A Necessary Yet Unavailable Truth About Public Housing

30 minute Video https://media.pdx.edu/media/t/1_2vrzokta

LET KNOWLEDGE SERVE THE CITY

https://psucollegeofed.wordpress.com/2022/09/23/lifelong-learning-at-psu/?fbclid=IwAR3S9Pff0mBGeT6Ha8dQeAqL0nAqU7QzZ-0pJC_oTQJxBWlAb2fdXzdE0w4

Author of The Ellmyer Report, a newsletter that informs, educates and influences on public policy. Occasionally distributed to more than a quarter of million readers in Oregon and beyond. Facebook, Portland Politics Plus . Contributor: Patch news