Metro MUST Address Homelessness With A REGIONAL Plan, NOW

Co-presidents Elon Musk/Donald Trump are wantonly slashing federal staff and programs, especially at HUD, which will have the effect of creating a dramatic increase in the homeless population. Significant budget shortfalls in Portland and Multnomah County as well as bewilderment and confusion among elected officials over Who’s In Charge Here will add to this looming crisis. The Metro Regional Government must act swiftly in its area of influence and authority.

First, let’s state the obvious, Housing Priorities:

#1 Get all those illegally camping on public property removed from those properties.

#2 Provide immediate temporary shelter followed eventually by permanent Public Housing for the homeless as resources and the public mood and values will allow.

The “first dollar” of any and all Metro housing spending MUST be directed toward achieving these priorities. Failure to achieve these goals as soon as possible will meaningfully reduce the public’s confidence in all the governments and elected officials involved. As it should.

Metro must immediately declare Equitable Distribution of Public Housing among the three counties within its regional jurisdiction as its overriding and guiding housing policy. Equitable Distribution of Public Housing will be achieved when Clackamas county (3%) and Washington county (5%) achieve Public Housing unit parity with Multnomah County (11%).

Metro must immediately exercise its regional authority, through additional intergovernmental agreements and/or state legislation, if necessary, to remove all illegal camping on public property in Multnomah County and transfer those involved to sanctioned Public Housing sites or detention centers in Clackamas County. Each individual transfer shall be counted as an additional Public Housing unit for purposes of parity evaluation.

Metro must immediately agree to pay for all police and other services required to move homeless persons from public property in Multnomah county to temporary tent/pod/other sanctioned Public Housing in Clackamas County. These sanctioned Public Housing sites must include all necessary services also paid for by Metro.

All Metro housing bonds, tax funds and staff resources shall be refocused on this effort.

Richard Ellmyer

Portland resident since 1975.

Oregon Voter since 1971. NAV, Non Affiliated Voter. Citizen Activist.

Campaign manager and legislative assistant to state senator Bill McCoy 1980-1981.

Campaign manager and senior staff to Multnomah county commissioner Gladys McCoy 1981-1984.

Celebrate North Portland award 2016 for Volunteer Work and Service with Political and Social Issues Impacting North Portland.

Certified Oregon Change Agent by Governor John Kitzhaber 2011.

PSU Senior Adult Learner, Spring 2021 - Public Participation GiS, 500 level class

PSU Senior Adult Learner, Spring 2024 - Planning and Housing Markets, 500 level class

Author of more stories on the politics, players and policies of Public Housing in Oregon over the last twenty-three 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

Richard Ellmyer - 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

Lifelong Learning at PSU by Jennifer Jordan-Wong.

LET KNOWLEDGE SERVE THE CITY [Section] “Richard used a course he audited at PSU to create a citizen activist mapping tool to benefit Oregon residents, stakeholders, and policy makers…His interest in mapping as a tool for change began when he noticed that public housing was not being distributed equitably”

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

Portland Politics Plus. Contributor: Patch news.