PORTLAND, Ore. — The newly elected officials coming to city and county offices will shape the response to Portland’s homeless crisis, which is the top issue for voters.
The Multnomah County commissioners are behind many of the area homeless policies and the millions meant to address it. On Tuesday, Portland voters elected Shannon Singleton, who is a longtime social worker representing District 2, and Meghan Moyer, a public policy specialist representing District 1. Moyer will replace commissioner Sharon Meieran, who has been a loud critic of the county’s current homeless response.
“I plan to be a very active member of county commission and want to get my hands dirty in the policy and in how we deliver services — so, to the extent that the chair is open to that and wants that from me, I am really optimistic, but I’m not interested in sitting on the sidelines,” Moyer said.
Singleton sent KGW the following statement, saying in part: “Some of my short-term priorities include getting buildings the county owns online as shelters as soon as possible, clearing the decks for more addiction and behavioral health services… we don’t have to wait for good things to happen, we can make them happen now.”
Another layer to this response lies in Portland City Hall, where turmoil is brewing behind the future of the city’s partnership with the county.
In a statement, the county chair Jessica Vega Pederson said, in part, “We must work together if we have any hope of solving the most pressing and challenging issues… people need to believe partnership is possible, regardless of our differences.”
Leading the race for Portland mayor is political newcomer and trucking company CEO Keith Wilson. He explained his plan for the crisis when KGW sat down with him earlier in his campaign.
“We’ll start bringing that group that I’ve developed of experts together within 30 days we’ll have a plan developed and then we are going to start standing up nighttime walking emergency shelters,” Wilson said.
It's immediate change those who see the crisis every day — like Scott Kerman, the head of Blanchet House, a Portland day center — are hoping for.
“I think we are better as a community when our county and our city are collaborating and communicating and working in concert with one another,” Kerman said.
Continuing the thread of partnership, on Thursday, Portland City Council was set to vote on whether they would continue funding the county-led Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS). Commissioner Dan Ryan, Mingus Mapps and Rene Gonzalez were leading the push to sever ties, a controversial move that county leaders were calling “political shenanigans” leading up to the election that followed months of heated debates.
One day after the election, the same city commissioners decided to pull the termination and renegotiation ordinance from Thursday’s council agenda to “allow space for the new city council, mayor, and county commissioners to renegotiate the homelessness response services intergovernmental agreement if they choose.”