Review - Portland 3-11-25 Homelessness and Housing Committee Meeting

A. Staff presenter, Skyler Brocker-Knapp, used “affordable Housing” NOT PUBLIC HOUSING when explaining the Intergovernmental Agreement, IGA, with Multnomah County and the Joint Office of Homeless Services, JOHS. The JOHS is all about PUBLIC HOUSING NOT Affordable Housing.

Portland Solutions group director Skyler Brocker-Knapp went unchallenged by committee members when she misused “affordable housing” when discussing “PUBLIC HOUSING.” Councilors that do not challenge staff when they publicly misuse language betray their acceptance of the most misleading error in discussing housing issues. The result of this deliberate misdirection is no useful communication and NO PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY for the speaker.

B. Councilor Dunphy said, “Mayor Wilson was elected to get 100% of the homeless off of public property within a year.” While this may be the case, no one on the committee mentioned that the mayor does NOT make policy. The only reason the mayor is taking action on his homeless policy is because the City Council has yet to develop and instruct the mayor on the council’s homeless policy. This is the council’s responsibility which, to date, they have not only failed to deliver but failed to even publicly discuss.

C. The committee spent a lot of time focused on Multnomah County with no mention of Metro as failing to provide a publicly vetted REGIONAL housing policy and the effects of LCDC’s Housing GOAL 10 on Portland. No solution to Portland’s homeless and housing problems can be resolved without a serious public confrontation with Metro and LCDC.

D. There was a deep dive into the minutia of the budget details. Most Portlanders would not understand nor care and be overwhelmed.

E. Councilors Morillo and Dunphy gave some tepid acknowledgments that multiple factors will increase Portland’s homeless population in the near future. Nevertheless, most of the committee’s time was spent traipsing through the weeds of process with NO sense of urgency in dealing with the #1 item on the PUBLIC’S HOUSING AGENDA, namely, taking action to immediately address the homeless problem.

F. Deputy City Administrator for Community and Economic Development Donnie Oliveira used lots of government jargon and statistics which would be unintelligible and uninteresting to most voters. He provided no easily understandable charts showing existing and planned spending from all sources including bills in the legislature in the three basic housing categories, i.e.

0-80% MFI (Median Family Income)

Private developers will not build in this category because there is no profit to be made, unless there are government subsidies. This category is known as Public Housing because, realistically, building units in this category only happens with government financial support.

Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps https://www.goodgrowthnw.org/maps

81-120% MFI

There is a need for rental and for sale housing in this category. To make these units affordable [see definition below] governments must incentivize developers with financial, regulation and other inducements. These are market rate developments. Means Tests cannot be required.

>121% MFI

This is private developers main focus because it provides the highest return on investment. There is no shortage of housing in this category. Governments need not and should not expend resources here.

G. Housing Bureau Director Helmi Hisserich showed many slides which consistently misused “affordable housing” for PUBLIC HOUSING. She testified that, “Portland has high production of “affordable Housing” when referring to PUBLIC HOUSING projects. Councilor Dunphy accepted Hisserich’s misstatements by repeating her claim of “New Affordable Housing” when referring to new PUBLIC HOUSING units.

Unless and until Portland staffers are challenged by city councilors to use “affordable” and PUBLIC HOUSING language correctly councilors cannot successfully resolve Portland’s homeless and housing crisis.

H. Councilors have not yet but must demand that all city bureaus use Public Housing and Affordable Housing correctly on all official city documents and testimony.

Public Housing, Means Test (<=80% MFI) + Government Subsidy (any government, kind, amount) + Rental Agreement.

Affordable Housing, A mathematical calculation, i.e. Mortgage/Rent + Taxes + Insurance + Utilities <= 30% of household income.

The term Affordable Housing is meaningless and deceptive unless it is accompanied by for whom. For example, this for sale or rent dwelling meets the definition of affordable housing for those households with an MFI >= 60%. ALL Affordable Housing properties must always be described as equal to or greater than any given MFI, never less than.

The terms Public Housing and Affordable Housing are NOT the same and are NOT interchangeable. When you use these terms incorrectly you are deliberately misusing language to feel good about yourself, not to communicate.

Most Public Housing is not affordable housing.

I. The term “Public Housing” was never mentioned throughout this entire meeting. Very discouraging.

J. To date there is no evidence of emerging housing policy leadership by any of the twelve city councilors. There is no evidence of any individual councilor accepting and declaring their own accountability for setting homeless goals, policies and plans. Not good.

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

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