Review - Portland 4-8-25 Homelessness And Housing Committee Meeting

A. Item 1. Community testimony on Homelessness and Housing (Public Hearing)

Public testimony: Nothing new nor provocative.

1. Stopping the use of software used by property owners to help determine apartment rental prices is not anywhere near a major concern for most voters. Which begs the question: Why is this item the top priority for the Homeless and Housing Committee?

No committee member mentioned that the legislature shelved this issue.

2. Support for micro villages.

3. Support for family shelters.

4. Inclusionary zoning not moving forward in legislative committee.

B. Item 2. Perspectives from shelter providers (Presentation)

AFSCME local 1790 promoting their own interests.

1. Oppose mayor’s Emergency Shelter Model.

2. Support safe rest villages and motel shelters.

C. Item 3. Councilor Avalos One Housing Plan (Presentation)

Chair Avalos introduces her housing ideas and committee calendar.

1. Housing is a human right.

Really? A human right? It would be useful to read that declaration in the Portland city code.

2. Avalos mentions Key Goals and Concepts that includes housing inventory aligning with county, Metro and state.

There are three housing inventory types the voters will understand:

#1) 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. Oregonians can discover which public jurisdictions are overloaded or underserved with Public Housing units by viewing the Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps https://www.goodgrowthnw.org/m...

#2) 81-120% MFI

There is a need for rental and for sale housing in this category. To make these units affordable** governments must incentivize developers with financial, regulation and other inducements. These are market rate developments.

#3) >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.

There is no evidence that any councilor knows how much inventory of each housing category exists in their districts.

There is no evidence that a majority of councilors are enthusiastic about continuing the status quo partnership with Multnomah county and the Joint Office of Homeless Services. The JOHS has been recently renamed the Multnomah County Homeless Services Department. This is a very clear message that Multnomah County wants to be completely in charge and no longer interested in even pretending that this is a “joint” effort.

A soon to be released survey of all elected officials in the Metro area will reveal the all twelve Portland councilors have indicated that they can find no evidence that Metro has a vetted Regional housing policy and plan.

So the question arises: Given these circumstances how does the Homeless and Housing Committee* expect to “align its housing inventory” with Multnomah county, Metro and our state legislature which refuses to tell the councilors how much money in its housing bills is intended for Portland in each of the housing inventory types mentioned above?

3. Avalos mentions Timeline & Deliverables: Goals, metrics and deliverables.

To be determined in the near future. Maybe.

4. Avalos mentions “Portland accountability” but NOT individual councilor accountability.

What is Portland accountability? To date no councilor has publicly committed to their homeless and housing policy and plan thereby avoiding all personal accountably.

5. Avalos accepts mayor Wilson’s homeless policy as her own. She does NOT place her policy position on the table for the committee to discuss, debate and vote out to council. She does not remind the committee that it is the committee’s job to recommend and the council’s authority and responsibility to make homeless and housing policy and then direct the mayor to carry out that policy. A not insignificant omission.

6. Councilor Dunphy says, “Avalos’ plan is ending our homelessness and crisis.”

Really? You remember that commissioner Erik Sten said he had a plan to end homelessness in ten years. Dunphy, conveniently, did not mention Sten nor Avalos’ timeline for success. However, since Avalos has adopted the mayor’s homeless policy and plan, which includes a new funding commitment of twenty-eight million dollars, her timeline to end homelessness in Portland is now the same as Wilson’s, i.e. on January 1, 2026 there will be not be a single person illegally camping on any Portland public property.

7. Councilor Dunphy says, “Housing is not a privilege but a guarantee.”

Really? Guaranteed? It would be useful to read that declaration in the Portland city code. That statement also raises the questions: Housing for whom? What kind? Where? How much money in the city treasury would be required to annually uphold this guarantee? Dunphy has yet to state his personal homeless and housing goals, policies and plans for his own accountability.

Avalos and Dunphy would be well advised to be more circumspect in their use of language when referring to Portland’s legal obligations to house anyone. Legislative committee meetings are for seriously debating the matter at hand with action as the end goal. They are not opportunities to throw political red meat to the crowd for personal self-aggrandizement.

8. Avalos talks about “affordable housing providers” when she clearly is referring to PUBLIC HOUSING PROVIDERS.

This verbal blunder is a clear sign that Avalos has not yet come to grips with the difference between PUBLIC HOUSING and AFFORDABLE HOUSING.** This is a warning sign which defines her ability to competently continue to chair the Homeless and Housing Committee.

9. Ryan reinforces “ACCOUNTABILITY” as necessary for success.

Ryan is right. Not just committee and council, but INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY of each councilor.

10. Avalos’ vision and calendar does NOT include addressing the obvious increase in the homeless population expected over the next twelve months and beyond.

This is a gross oversight and another mark against her ability to competently continue to chair the Homeless and Housing Committee.

11. Councilor Zimmerman says the Homeless and Housing Committee needs to stop talking and start acting. He wants an action focused work plan.

Zimmerman is exactly right. A sense of urgency is still inexplicably absent.

D. Item 4. Housing production strategy overview and discussion (Presentation)

1. Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) Director Eric Engstrom shows slides which promote affordable housing 0=80% MFI. This is a gross error which is not caught by any member of the committee. The 0=80% MFI range is always PUBLIC HOUSING.**

In the Spring of 2024 - I was taking a graduate level class, Planning and Housing Markets at PSU. Engstrom and his staff were invited to speak to our class which, except for me, were students expecting to make a career in a public planning department. Neither Engstrom nor anyone on his staff were interested in talking to us. This was an insult to our class and PSU. This unprofessional behavior speaks to the culture and values of BPS staff. Councilors should be wary.

2. Portland Permitting & Development Bureau shows slides which state the bureau’s intention to streamline and simplify the permitting process by removing inefficiencies that slow down projects and increase development costs.

I cannot count the number of times in the last fifty years as a citizen activist that I have heard this same story. It’s wearing thin.

3. Portland Permitting & Development Bureau shows slides which focus on Upzoning in central SE Portland for new Public Housing.

Why are we not looking at WHERE is Public Housing overloaded or underserved by neighborhood and councilor district? SEE MAPS.

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

4. Prosper Portland, Lisa talks of affordable housing NOT Public Housing though many if not most of their projects are PUBLIC HOUSING.**

All of these presentations were very, very deep in the weeds. There was NO chance any councilor, much less any citizen, could understand or care about any of this. The councilors themselves had either glazed over or had drifted off.

E. Citizens and elected leaders throughout Oregon have overwhelmingly and unequivocally made homelessness the top most important item on the public’s agenda.

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

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

We are more than three months into 2025 when these councilors took office and still this committee, and the council as a whole, continues to deliberately avoid the most important item on the citizens’ agenda. This does not bode well.

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

Patch news.

*

**

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.