Portland City Council Changing Its Homeless Tune? Good News? Maybe.

It remains a mystery when a majority of the Portland City Council * realized that campaigning on a platform of support for illegal camping on public property would NOT be a successful strategy for reelection and HOW they directed mayor Wilson to change course on implementing the Council’s homeless policy.

Mayor Wilson recently announced that on November 1, 2025 he would abandon the Council’s current homeless policy: “not seek out or ‘apprehend’ people living in working and registered vehicles, or even sleeping on the street, and force them into shelter … Am I going to go and apprehend them? No, that’s their personal autonomy. What we’re going to do is when that person does have that moment of clarity, whether there’s addiction involved or behavioral, when they’re ready, we’re going to be ready.” **

Instead, a majority of the Council has apparently instructed Wilson, behind closed doors, to: “Enforce community standards. That’s Wilson’s way of saying he wants to enforce Portland’s anti-camping rules … The homelessness policy, adopted last year, prohibits people from camping in public spaces when “reasonable” alternative shelter is available. If someone camping refuses to move into shelter, they could be hit with a $100 fine or spend up to a week in jail … Starting Nov. 1, Wilson said, ‘we are going to be going to encampments and with officers there, and we will be citing for criminal activity or code infraction.’ Wilson stressed that everyone violating the camping policy will be first given the option to move into shelter. If they don’t, they’ll get a ticket to appear in court. But he’s clear-eyed about what happens if people don’t follow orders. If you don’t show up to court, that’s a failure to appear, he said. It turns into arrest.” ***

Yet Wilson is committed to his pledge that the Council will not criminalize homelessness. The mayor is being disingenuous and obfuscating here. Homelessness is already NOT a crime. But, illegal camping on public property is a crime.

All of this is complicated by conflicts among Portland, Oregon**** and the U.S. Supreme Court Homeless laws.

And, lest we forget, our Metro Regional Government. Once the Council sorts out which government holds supreme jurisdictional authority over homeless policy it MUST address Metro’s claim of REGIONAL AUTHORITY Over Public Housing (0 to 80% MFI). A mandatory subject and essential conversation that the Portland City Council has steadfastly and assiduously avoided.

Finally, the under the radar, sleeper authority over all housing, Oregon’s Land Conservation And Development Commission, is waiting in the wings.

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/m...

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/...

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

Author of The Ellmyer Report, a newsletter that informs, educates and influences on public policy. Its target audiences are elected officials, journalists and civically engaged citizens. Facebook, Portland Politics Plus. Contributor: Patch news.

*

**

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2025/06/portland-mayor-stands-by-improbable-pledge-to-end-unsheltered-homelessness-this-year.html

***

https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/23/portland-mayor-keith-wilson-addiction-recovery-shelter-beds/

****

https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/10/21/salem-mayor-leads-effort-to-expand-local-ability-to-sweep-homeless-encampments/