PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland voters will elect a new mayor and all the members of a newly-expanded city council in November, and homelessness will inevitably be one of the biggest topics throughout the course of the election. With that in mind, KGW is sitting down with Portland's mayoral candidates to see how they plan to address the crisis.
Three of the top candidates in 2024 are sitting city commissioners: Carmen Rubio, Mingus Mapps and Rene Gonzalez. Of the three, Gonzalez has distinguished himself as being laser-focused on public safety, winning his seat by running on a law and order platform and earning a mix of praise and criticism for his tough talk on homelessness.
KGW reporter Blair Best recently sat down to talk with Gonzalez about his vision for the city and what he would do to address homelessness and the city's beleaguered downtown. The following excerpt from that interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Homeless camps, tents and tarps
Gonzalez: We’ve spent about $13 million as a city cleaning up homeless camps in the city of Portland, and sometimes it feels like whack-a-mole, but it is creating some positive environments in parts of the city. Secondly, we banned outdoor drug use in the city of Portland. I led that charge and the state has recently taken that up at the state legislative level and now essentially reversed Measure 110 overall. That’s sending a message that we don’t want this drug use in our city. We still see way too much of it on our streets but every time we take a stand it's positively impacting the environment.
Editor's note: Portland's ban on public drug use has not gone into effect as the legislature did not address it directly this year. House Bill 4002 does recriminalize simple drug possession, however, with enforcement beginning in September.
Best: If elected, will people still be sleeping on the sidewalks?
Gonzalez: You know, I think for the last 20 years we’ve had folks running for mayor promise to end homelessness. I think in every election cycle we’ll hear someone promise to end unsheltered camping. I’m not going to promise that’s going to disappear. It has been with us for as long as the city of Portland has existed but it used to be much better than it is today. I will commit to returning Portland to one of the cleanest, safest cities in America and that means taking sometimes hard positions on unsanctioned camping but never abandoning compassion.
Best: Will you support camp removals without adequate shelter?
Gonzalez: Yes.
Best: Why?
Gonzalez: One, I don’t think it’s an either-or; we’re going to continue to invest in shelter.
Best: Many people argue that your response to homelessness is too harsh, one example is calling for Portland Street Response to stop handing out tents. How do you plan — without adequate shelter — to make change in this crisis in a humane way?
Gonzalez: Yeah, I mean what we’re seeing is really debilitating drug use and self-destructive behavior in certain segments of our unsheltered population — we cannot continue to feed that beast. It wasn’t just tents and tarps. We stopped the distribution of drug kits.
Best: So, if elected you’ll continue to call for no more handing out tents and tarps?
Gonzalez: Absolutely (I will), except for potentially in sanctioned camping sites. The broad handing out of tents and tarps by the city and county, absolutely not.
Taking the county to task
Best: So, the city can only do so much when it comes to things like handing out tents and tarps, so how will you approach the relationship with the county? What will you do differently to fix what has been somewhat of a rocky relationship thus far?
Gonzalez: I will say there have been shifts at the county level. They’re emphasizing — to a much greater extent — shelter than they were ... a year ago it was all about "Housing First" at the Joint Office of Homeless Services. You’ve seen some shifts (in) even how they define Housing First now, and they are willing to support shelter. I think that’s because the city has a stern voice on that and we didn’t back down. We didn’t get guilted into wanting to alleviate on the street when we are all fighting for long-term housing. So, I think I’m proud of what I’ve contributed to the shift in tone from the city … The bottom line is we send $35-plus million to the Joint Office each year. I will not support continuing to send dollars there unless we see real improvements in shelter being brought online, unless we see support for Portland Street Response, some of our other houseless outreach that the city has to pay for directly. We should be getting financial support for that from the Joint Office of Homelessness.
Best: So, you think the county has been enabling some of this crisis?
Gonzalez: Yes, and I think a lot of the well-intentioned nonprofits have as well.
Best: They oversee some 200 nonprofits. How will you be the one to change the way they hold those nonprofits accountable?
Gonzalez: We’re already seeing progress in the proposed new (inter-governmental agreement) in terms of, first of all, just metrics — what are your actual outcomes and are you actually going to report on how many people are you getting into shelter, getting into supportive housing ... We have seen positive shifts in the county in the last year based on the demands from the city and the public as a whole. I think we continue down that path, but they aren’t going to have our money from the city if they’re not going to support the programs we’re doing in direct outreach.
Best: So, let’s talk about some of those programs that they help you out with, like the (Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites) or Safe Rest Villages. Will you continue to support those programs if elected?
Gonzalez: Yes, I think they are showing some real progress.
Best: If you’re calling for the city to stop funding the Joint Office, how do you expect the county then to continue funding the city’s sheltering programs?
Gonzalez: We would stop funding it. They are engaging in enabling behaviors and don’t send dollars back to our city programs. Having said that they are well-supported by Metro and supportive housing bonds, and they are struggling to get those dollars out the door, so I’m not sure they really need the city money, frankly … This is no longer a place where nonprofits and governmental entities are giving people a means for people to really engage in damaging behavior.
Best: So, the people who choose to live outside and say no to shelter, do you see them as a city responsibility or a county responsibility?
Gonzalez: I think we (the city) are law enforcement. We are first responders. So, when it comes to having someone in front of your house that you don’t want there anymore, there’s only one government that’s going to respond — that’s the city. And frankly we’d like there to be outreach workers who can get those people to move, but if they refuse to move it’s the police department that’s going to be responsible ultimately for that piece … But long-term for people to rebuild their lives, that’s largely a county and state responsibility in terms of behavioral health. It’s very, very important the next mayor is committed to restoring the commons and isn’t afraid to say that.
KGW plans to interview each of the major candidates for mayor, three of whom currently serve on Portland City Council, ahead of the 2024 election. We'll be sitting down with Commissioner Carmen Rubio next week.