Street Roots asked candidates running for Multnomah County Board Chair and District 2 Commissioner their plans for addressing homelessness, cost of living, pandemic recovery and more. You can read more 2022 election coverage here.
MULTNOMAH COUNTY BOARD CHAIR
LORI STEGMANN
The Multnomah County Chair is a position with much responsibility and power. In terms of actual policies and qualifications, what makes you right for the job?
I currently serve as the vice-chair on the Multnomah County Board. I’m a mom, a successful small business owner and a former Gresham City Councilor and Redevelopment Commissioner. I am the only candidate that has actual experience in economic recovery that has resulted in the redevelopment of over 1,200 acres in East County where we assisted 40 new businesses to relocate, added 700 new jobs with a $62k average annual salary, increased access to affordable housing, built a new public safety building and leveraged $80 million to provide community services that include a daycare, medical services, workforce development and small business services, and a market hall to address the food desert. This experience is critical as I lead the charge to redevelop the Vance Project, nearly 90 acres of county-owned property that will be transformed into housing, a workforce center, and green space in one of the most low-income and diverse neighborhoods in the County.
We have a lot of life-threatening challenges in our community from homelessness, to addiction, to gun violence and generational poverty - all steeped in racial injustice. One or two well-meaning policies that my opponents have offered will not holistically address the root causes of these symptoms. We must go upstream and offer people access to opportunities to make better choices for themselves by addressing generational poverty, trauma, shame, addiction, and racism. That’s how we make our communities stronger and safer. I’ll take this approach to scale countywide and focus on economic stability and recovery not just for some, but for all. This is how we revive our county and restore our region.
Having experienced many of these traumas myself, I have a deep understanding of the barriers and the solutions. Which is why, as the next chair I will:
Increase investments in homeless services and public safety.
Open the Behavioral Health Resource Center and expand locations countywide.
Create an Economic Development & Workforce Stability Department to connect people to family-wage jobs.
Create an Office of Reentry Services to prevent people from churning through our criminal justice system.
Update our civil commitment laws and create a team, similar to the Portland Street Response.
Create a 24/7 First Responder drop-off site and detox center with urgency.
Multnomah County can’t do this work alone. Which is why skill, nuance and diplomacy are imperative as we collaborate with our jurisdictional partners. I have been through the fire and am a well-seasoned expert in negotiating the bureaucracy of government. I am the only commissioner who has successfully partnered with all five of the cities in my district including Portland, Gresham, Fairview, Troutdale, and Wood Village. And because of those deep relationships, I have been able to direct significant investments, like $40 million for homeless services, plans for a new Homeless Service Center with 50 beds of alternative shelter, 334 new units of deeply affordable housing, a food bank, and funding for the Multnomah County’s Sheriff's Office’s Homeless Outreach & Programs Engagement Team.
In addressing homelessness, do you plan to emphasize government-funded long-term housing as a solution? If so, how would you secure and distribute those funds? If not, what strategy would you emphasize instead?
Leveraging the deep relationships I have with both our state and federal delegates, I’ll fight for more funding alongside our Governmental Affairs Department at the county. The federal government has disinvested in housing and left local governments without the resources to fill that gap. We need them to step up. And they have somewhat but nowhere near the degree that we need with the recent allotment of 476 new vouchers earlier this year. Federal vouchers are typically distributed through our housing authority, Home Forward. We need to hold Home Forward accountable to ensure those vouchers are getting out in a timely manner. And if they can’t then the County has expertise in getting rental assistance out the door and could help.
Also, revenue from the Supportive Housing Services (SHS) measure will provide services for as many as 5,000 people experiencing prolonged homelessness with complex disabilities, and as many as 10,000 households experiencing short-term homelessness or at risk of homelessness. A key strategy for achieving the measure’s goals is the Regional Long-term Rent Assistance (RLRA) program. The program provides flexible and continued rent subsidies that will significantly expand access to housing for households with extremely and very low incomes across the region.
But, while long-term, permanent housing is the solution to homelessness, we have to take a more holistic approach by addressing the root causes of homelessness, violence, addiction, and trauma. Which is why I have been working on identifying and addressing the drivers of economic mobility which can be found at https://www.multco.us/commissioner-stegmann/economic-mobility.
Should the city and county decrease its reliance on emergency congregate homeless shelters to address unsheltered homelessness (623 congregate beds out Of 1,614)? If so, what should the city and county do instead? If not, what benefits do emergency congregate homeless shelters have versus other strategies?
For congregate shelters, striking a balance is always the challenge. Congregate shelters are less expensive and can serve more individuals but I don’t know anyone who wants to live in one. And because they are low barrier, they are not the best places for people who struggle with addiction and mental health disorders. We refer to our shelter system as “Safety off the Streets” and I think that is an appropriate description. By providing shelter for just a few days or weeks that keeps someone safe until a better option is available is critical. Creating non-congregate shelters is more expensive and every dollar we spend on short-term solutions is a dollar we could have spent on actually solving the problem.
There has to be a continuum of housing opportunities that includes: shelter, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, and affordable housing. Working with our IT department and the JOHS I will develop a dashboard that will track the inventory of housing and shelter and compare it with the need. By using evidence-based data to inform us where the gaps are will tell us where we should be investing our resources. It’s about creating an ecosystem that takes into account:
Who will come into shelter and do we have enough capacity for each particular population, i.e., families, individuals, veterans, domestic violence survivors, etc?
Who will not come into shelter and why, i.e., if we offered more non-congregate shelter would more people seek services?
What are the individual needs of our houseless neighbors? Sometimes people need one-time or short-term assistance while others need longer-term assistance.
What kind of assistance do they need? Financial, addiction, mental health, legal, etc?
How long will they need services?
These are just a few of the data points that can guide our policies. This approach is similar to the work I’ve been doing with our Local Public Safety Coordinating Council’s Jail Bed Reduction Subcommittee that has analyzed and reduced the need and duration of jail stays as we try to right-size our detention centers.
In developing your policy ideas regarding homelessness, how many homeless Portlanders have you spoken with? How would you prioritize their input about policies if elected?
I have spoken to hundreds of houseless individuals and not just in Portland. East County has homeless people too. It’s frustrating to me that there is little acknowledgement of the challenges that occur east of 82nd. And that’s one of the reasons I am running so I can represent every person who feels invisible, who has been told their voice doesn’t count and that no matter what they do they will never be good enough. People with lived experience are our most precious natural resource and yet we devalue and ignore them all too often. I already partner with houseless individuals, nonprofits and community organizations who work with and employ houseless residents and have incorporated their input as we site a new homeless service center with 50 beds of alternative shelter, create hundreds of units of deeply affordable housing, and provide access to food. I will continue to meet with and uplift the voices of those closest to the challenges who hold the solutions.
What is your biggest priority for the county if you are elected?
Solving our social, economic and racial inequities by addressing the root causes of homelessness, violence, addiction, and trauma. I’ve incorporated this holistic approach for the last five years in a multitude of policies and programs that I have implemented. Below are just a few of those accomplishments:
Sponsored Construction Diversity Equity Fund to fund apprenticeships.
Redeveloping 90 acres into housing and jobs - Vance Project.
Funded Legal Services Day — expunges low-level offenses in exchange for community service.
Spearheaded Census outreach that resulted in a 3% increase in our self response rate, resulting in millions of dollars to the county and a sixth congressional seat for Oregon.
Proclaimed Racism as a Public Health Crisis.
Placement of a flagship library in East County encouraging prosocial activities and economic activity.
Sited a school based health center that provides mental health services to our youth who are struggling post pandemic.
Passed Prosperity 10,000 — part of a $200 million workforce initiative.
Developing economic recovery strategies funded by (a) $100,000 grant from the Gates Foundation
Creating a Resilience Hub network to protect people during extreme heat events and other emergencies.
All of my work has been informed by analyzing the drivers of economic mobility as mentioned above at https://www.multco.us/commissioner-stegmann/economic-mobility.
Rent in Portland is skyrocketing. A recent report by Rent.com found the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Portland ($2,155) increased by 34.1% from February 2021 to February 2022. For that cost to be affordable per HUD guidelines, a renter would need an annual salary approaching $90,000 — well beyond the median household income ($73,159) or average individual income ($43,811) in Portland according to U.S. Census data. What tangible, concrete solutions, if any, do you propose to address the rapidly rising cost of rent in Portland?
By bringing more units online we can impact the supply and demand for housing. More units will help reduce the pressure on high rents.
Contribute county assets to build more affordable housing. I’ve already led the way by transferring nearly 4 acres for 100 units of deeply affordable housing and removing barriers for an additional 224 units.
Insist Portland streamline their permitting process with the urgency needed to increase housing supply. As a Gresham City Councilor, I enacted our 66-day industrial land use application review that resulted in highly sought-after traded-sector businesses and quality jobs in our Gresham Vista Business Park.
Offer incentives for the private market to build by waiving system development charges and permitting fees.
Build other types of housing that can be built in months not years like 3D and modular housing. Build different kinds of housing like dormitory-style housing for seniors.
Offer commercial property owners incentives to redevelop commercial space into residential.
Promote Home Share Oregon, Oxford Houses and Second Home programs.
Among the actions you would take to address pandemic recovery, which is the most important?
The number one priority is to ensure our Public Health department is fully funded and staffed. As the Local Public Health Authority, we are responsible for preventing the spread of communicable diseases and ensuring the health of our community. Hopefully, we will not see a resurgence in COVID-19 but we are not completely out of the woods yet. And we must be ready to respond quickly and urgently no matter what unforeseen events may arise.
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While I am pleased we were able to get millions of dollars of rental assistance out the door during the pandemic that prevented thousands of people from becoming homeless, we never asked “what will you do when the rental assistance money runs out?” and now it has. It’s imperative that we turn our attention to actually breaking the cycle of poverty and restoring our economic vitality which is why I will create an Economic Development & Workforce Stability Department. We must attract employers here who will offer good jobs and benefits to our community members. As a board member of Greater Portland Inc, we have already developed that blueprint called the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS).
Also, I want to connect recipients of our services with jobs at the county and will do that in my Vance Project’s workforce center. Additionally, I will partner with community colleges, trade unions, the private sector, worksystems, etc to create a more streamlined ecosystem that focuses on anti-poverty initiatives and connects people to family-wage jobs.
If elected, what is a specific action you would take to address climate change and climate justice?
There are so many, but here’s my top three:
Seventy-one people died from hyperthermia during last summer’s heat dome in Multnomah County. We know that these extreme climate events impact our most vulnerable residents first and hardest, especially in low-income areas. I am actively working on a pilot to create a network of resilience hubs that have solar-powered microgrids to protect and shelter our residents during an emergency. I have secured $225k to fund this pilot and am engaging with community organizations and sustainability partners using an environmental justice lens. As chair, I will ensure we have a county-wide network.
Implement policies that require the fossil fuel industry to bear the full cost of damages caused by transporting, storing, or using fossil fuels and guarantee that the county is protected from the local and global impacts of fossil fuels at our critical energy infrastructure hub at export facilities like the Zenith Energy Portland Terminal. And work alongside our jurisdictional partners, to require the replacement of old, outdated, and unsafe tanks that would not withstand an earthquake.
Phase out petroleum diesel and replace it with renewable diesel over six years by working with Titan Freight owner, Keith Wilson to pass his Renewable Energy Now Act bill. Using the County’s considerable purchasing power, we can encourage and require contractors to move towards renewable diesel.
JESSICA VEGA PEDERSON
The Multnomah County Chair is a position with much responsibility and power. In terms of actual policies and qualifications, what makes you right for the job?
I am the only candidate in this race with a proven record of achieving impactful policy wins at both the state and local levels. As a state legislator, I fought for paid sick leave, to raise the minimum wage, and to end coal in Oregon’s energy mix. As a county commissioner, I led the development and passage of Preschool for All, a groundbreaking program which will ensure every three- and four-year-old in Multnomah County can access high-quality preschool. All these game-changing policies required deep negotiation and political acumen to get them across the finish line and make policy a reality. Right now our community is at a critical inflection point as we face major challenges, from homelessness to gun violence to the climate crisis. I am the candidate in this race best prepared to meet this moment and get us back on track.
In addition to my experience as a legislator and a commissioner, I have the life experience to meet this moment and strongly lead Multnomah County in the right direction. As a Latina, as a mother, as an East Portland resident of 16 years, I have led with compassion by centering those most impacted by the inequalities we face and bringing more voices to the table. I’ve proven that I can get things done. And I have a huge group of people who know are with me in this fight.
I have been endorsed by stakeholders including former Governor Barbara Roberts; Secretary of State Shemia Fagan; AFSCME Local 88 (the union representing Multnomah County’s employees); Oregon League of Conservation Voters; the NW Oregon Labor Council; Pro-Choice Oregon and dozens of other organizations, elected officials, and community leaders. Visit jessicavegapederson.com/endorsers for more information. I’ve received these endorsements because I collaborate, work diligently and inclusively, can stay focused, and can get big things done.
In addressing homelessness, do you plan to emphasize government-funded long-term housing as a solution? If so, how would you secure and distribute those funds? If not, what strategy would you emphasize instead?
We know that government-funded long-term housing, paired with wrap-around services that are on-site or easily accessible, is a key component of our solution to homelessness, and our community is fortunate to have the resources provided by the Supportive Housing Services measure to ensure we can provide those services sustainably. As chair, I would continue investing in long-term housing as a solution.
Addressing homelessness requires a comprehensive systematic approach that focuses on keeping people housed, helping people off our streets, and ensuring access to critical support services so people are successful in housing. That means using rental assistance, rapid rehousing, and vouchers to keep people from becoming homeless. We need to expand our shelter capacity with traditional shelter, pod villages, and safe rest and safe parking sites. It means scaling-up behavioral health services and permanent supportive housing to make sure those who require additional support are successful in housing. We won’t solve our homelessness crisis by pitting shelter and housing against each other.
Should the city and county decrease its reliance on emergency congregate homeless shelters to address unsheltered homelessness (623 congregate beds out Of 1,614)? If so, what should the city and county do instead? If not, what benefits do emergency congregate homeless shelters have versus other strategies?
The Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) provides an array of shelter models, including permanent congregate shelters, motel shelters, and alternative shelter models, and I support expanding all these forms of shelter because we know that every individual has different needs that can be best addressed using different forms of shelter. We also utilize congregate emergency shelters during severe weather events such as snowstorms and heat waves, however, that model is not the primary model of shelter we provide.
In developing your policy ideas regarding homelessness, how many homeless Portlanders have you spoken with? How would you prioritize their input about policies if elected?
I have spoken with numerous people who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness, including neighbors experiencing homelessness, as well as service providers and other key stakeholders. As a commissioner I have prioritized ensuring that the voices of those most impacted by any policy I am working on are centered, and as chair I will seek to expand those efforts by establishing strong partnerships with organizations such as Street Roots that are working actively with homeless residents to help bring those voices to the table when we are making policy decisions.
What is your biggest priority for the county if you are elected?
As chair, my top priority will be addressing our housing and homelessness crisis. I will improve coordination between Multnomah County, Metro, and the city of Portland as we work together to get people safely into housing and connected to the support resources they need and address the impacts of camping on our streets. We must do a better job of working together as jurisdictions to address homelessness.
That said, the underlying issue that drives much of our houselessness, as well as issues such as crime, unemployment, climate resiliency, and many others, is poverty and the huge and growing economic divide between those who have so much in our county and those who are struggling to get by. In my East Portland neighborhood, so many of my neighbors are bearing the brunt of this divide, experiencing some of the highest COVID rates in the state while being the front-line workers that went to work every day during the pandemic. My neighborhood, like so many others in Multnomah County, is seeing housing prices skyrocket and rent increases of up to 30% forcing people to move further away from their jobs, displacing children from school and increasing transportation costs at a time when gas prices are also rising.
As chair, I will invest in organizations and programs that build economic opportunity for Black, Latinx, Indigenous and all communities of color and create wealth within communities where BIPOC and low-income people live. I will use my position to advocate for a just economic recovery from COVID that puts money and investment into those communities through partners like Prosper Portland and the state. I will partner with businesses and unions to increase job opportunities for BIPOC, youth, and people transitioning from our justice system. I will advocate at the state and federal level for more support for childcare, the profession that makes all other work possible. And I will expand programs like the Multnomah Mother’s Trust which invests in Black female heads of households in East County. We can and must do better to address the systemic wealth divide in Multnomah County.
Rent in Portland is skyrocketing. A recent report by Rent.com found the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Portland ($2,155) increased by 34.1% from February 2021 to February 2022. For that cost to be affordable per HUD guidelines, a renter would need an annual salary approaching $90,000 — well beyond the median household income ($73,159) or average individual income ($43,811) in Portland according to U.S. Census data. What tangible, concrete solutions, if any, do you propose to address the rapidly rising cost of rent in Portland?
The root of our homelessness crisis is a lack of affordable housing, and fundamentally we will not lower housing costs and end homelessness without building more housing. We simply have not built enough housing at all price points, and this is escalating the price of housing, driving people out of our region, skewing our economy, and causing tremendous hardship and homelessness, particularly for communities of color, those with low incomes and seniors.
While the responsibility for housing and land use policy in our community primarily lies with the city of Portland and Metro, I will continue to be a tireless advocate for increasing density and building more housing near transit and service investments, investing in land banking, and reducing barriers to new development by simplifying processes and expanding partnerships between local jurisdictions that have bond dollars that can be used for affordable housing development and private builders. I don’t want Multnomah County to be a place where only the rich can afford to live.
Among the actions you would take to address pandemic recovery, which is the most important?
The pandemic has been an unprecedented test of Multnomah County’s capacity to adapt and respond to multiple concurrent emergency crises, and I am incredibly proud of the thousands of county employees who demonstrated remarkable resilience during the challenges of the past two years.
Nonetheless, the stress of the pandemic on our organization has demonstrated clear areas where we can strengthen our systems to better support our employees and better serve our community. First, we know that many employees are struggling with burnout, exhaustion and stress from the extreme workloads and intensity we’ve experienced. Addressing those challenges will require a broad approach that focuses on lowering caseloads and simplifying internal processes where possible. Second, the pandemic has demonstrated how government at every level needs to do much better at identifying and reaching communities of color, immigrant and refugee communities, and other marginalized communities, and then ensuring that we are providing culturally appropriate services to those communities.
As chair, I will work to increase the number of culturally specific staff and providers we work with, and I will engage with community-based and culturally specific organizations to understand where we need to adjust our programs and processes to ensure they are reaching everyone. Third, we need to strengthen our emergency management capabilities, to deal with future disasters, such as wildfires or a major earthquake. Lastly, during the pandemic, we fell behind in our work to incorporate our diversity, equity, and inclusion goals of inclusively leading with race in our county policies and practices. As chair, I will immediately resume that critical work while also partnering with our employees to integrate the lessons we’ve learned over the past two years into that work.
If elected, what is a specific action you would take to address climate change and climate justice?
As chair, I will focus on radically speeding up our transition away from fossil fuels, improving our air quality, and addressing all issues related to climate change with an equity lens.
It’s critical that we speed up our transition to a fossil-free future on all fronts. I know that without immediate action, the deadly heat waves, floods, storms, and droughts we’ve experienced will only intensify and grow more frequent. Tragically, the impacts of what we’ve already pumped into the atmosphere have set off a cycle of warming that will only grow worse and last longer if we do not change course.
As county chair, I will speed up our overall #100by50 resolution to #100by2035 for all energy sectors. I will continue to fight for more stringent carbon limits, funding for alternative energy, and for comprehensive congestion pricing throughout our region. I will focus on implementing the Climate Justice Initiative, which empowers communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis to lead in developing solutions that reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. As a commissioner, I convened an environmental justice summit with local organizers and advocates and championed passage of the county’s environmental justice proclamation, which requires the county to consult and consider environmental justice principles when adopting environmental policy. And I will continue my strong advocacy for national and global agreements to stem carbon and other harmful emissions.
In addition, I will phase out the use of gas-powered leaf blowers and ensure the regulation of wood-fired stoves in both residential and commercial settings. These sources of pollution emit harmful particulate matter and black carbon, a contributor to climate change. I’ll also continue to implement our clean diesel construction regulations, to phase out the use of dirty diesel in construction equipment. As the lead advocate for setting a timeline to phase out TriMet’s diesel fleet, I will continue to push policies that improve air quality and address climate change, both of which disproportionately impact communities of color.
SHARON MEIRAN
The Multnomah County Chair is a position with much responsibility and power. In terms of actual policies and qualifications, what makes you right for the job?
I have been dedicated to public service throughout my working life including as an emergency room doctor. When I applied to medical school it was with the intent to both serve individuals and improve access to healthcare and public health for all. Through my work, including my clinical work in Peru, Guatemala and Cuba, along with my volunteering with Portland Street Medicine, I have cared for thousands of individuals and their families, of all different backgrounds, languages, cultures, races, ethnicities, gender identities, religions, and more. Through my work on the frontline, I have been exposed to and learned from a vast array of people, including many that are historically marginalized, vulnerable and underserved. This has been my greatest privilege.
Serving not only these individuals and their families, but their broader communities, has been the driving force behind what I do, and serving as county commissioner has been an extension of my frontline work. People too often end up in crisis, in the emergency room, for reasons that are far beyond the “emergency” that brought them there (homelessness, food insecurity, climate injustice, mental illness, substance use disorder).
As a commissioner, I can focus on intervening upstream to prevent people from falling into crisis in the first place, and change their trajectory to put them on a better path. Multnomah County is the Local Mental Health Authority, the Local Public Health Authority, the Board of Health, oversees one of the largest community health networks in the state, and the core work of the county has been my core work as a direct service provider and a policymaker.
The reason I am running for chair is because this is the position where I can most directly affect change. There’s a lot that can be done as commissioner, but the chair has the majority of authority at the county in a number of ways: The chair drafts the budget (at Multnomah County this is approximately $2.8 billion); the chair sets the agenda for meetings, hearings, briefings, homelessness policy, public safety and more; the chair hires and oversees all the department heads in the county, who report directly to her and who direct the overarching policy and day-to-day work of the county; the chair is responsible for communication with the public.
I have been a leader throughout my career, both as an elected official and as an ER doctor, and the perspective I bring working in the ER, where multiple systems converge and I interact with thousands of people from all different backgrounds, seeing how policies impact people in the real world, is invaluable in informing the policy work that I do. My priorities have not shifted based on political opportunities, and the role of chair is not a stepping stone to another political office for me. I am running for this specific position because it is the place where I can apply my unique background and skill set, at this unique point in time, to make a difference.
In addressing homelessness, do you plan to emphasize government-funded long-term housing as a solution? If so, how would you secure and distribute those funds? If not, what strategy would you emphasize instead?
To address the issue, my initial focus would be on saving lives and addressing the squalid conditions in which people are living, and the associated public health and safety crises impacting our entire County. For the longer term, I would invest in the rent assistance and the supportive services that we know help people become housed and enable them to sustain that housing. And I would change the internal structures and systems at the county so that they were streamlined, integrated, coordinated and ensured accountability in our contracting and use of taxpayer money.
We have the money but we need urgency- some key steps in this process would include:
● Continue to inform and listen to those most impacted by this issue through my work as a Portland Street Medicine volunteer and advocate.
● Establish a crisis task force to come up with a plan to immediately reduce the harm facing people living outside.
● Rapidly implement a large-scale alternative shelter continuum that meets a variety of needs at a scale that will improve the health and safety of people living outside, along with the community at large.
● Do a “By Name Count” to understand not only how many people are living unsheltered, but who they are, where they are, and what they need.
● Put an effective and transparent advisory and oversight body in place. ● Coordinate outreach and crisis services
● Collect, maintain and effectively use meaningful data.
● Change contracting processes to ensure accountability for outcomes.
Should the city and county decrease its reliance on emergency congregate homeless shelters to address unsheltered homelessness (623 congregate beds out Of 1,614)? If so, what should the city and county do instead? If not, what benefits do emergency congregate homeless shelters have versus other strategies?
The city and county are siloed - between each other and within their own organizational structures.
Nothing in this quagmire speaks to efficiency or accountability. Changing it will take dedication, deep understanding of the system, leadership, and unprecedented collaboration. I’ve been deeply engaged in this work while being the only sitting commissioner to challenge the status quo. As chair, I will have the power to make change happen, and my experiences have given me the perspective to truly understand the issues, identify real solutions and have the skills to implement them.
In terms of specific policy solutions, as an ER doctor I always first stop the bleeding. To urgently respond to our humanitarian crisis, I’ve proposed adding three new crucial elements to our system:
Micro-sites of 10-ish structures, with minimal footprint, distributed throughout the county, providing basic amenities (toilet, hygiene, shower/laundry, trash pickup), supported by peers.
A network of safe parking sites.
Meaningful coordination so case management, behavioral health and housing services are effective.
We need to stop the one-off and reactive approaches that shelter tens to hundreds of people, when the need is thousands. We need to stop putting money into systems lacking accountability. We need to triage crises and act with innovative policies, such as my proposal (www.votesharon.com), while we restructure the chaos of our current system.
I have consistently spoken against the status quo which isn’t working, called out the humanitarian crisis of people living unsheltered on our streets, and proposed a viable plan to move us forward.
To read more please visit my website and my full plan at www.votesharon.com
In developing your policy ideas regarding homelessness, how many homeless Portlanders have you spoken with? How would you prioritize their input about policies if elected?
I am a medical volunteer providing services to people living outside with Portland Street Medicine. I am meeting these individuals where they are living, suffering and dying. This experience has shaped my understanding of homeless individuals and helps me understand their needs.
I understand from the systems standpoint people end up in crisis and then in the ER because the services meant to support them have failed. Then I sit at the policy table, where I watch a dysfunctional status quo play out in meeting after meeting without any tangible results. I have been the only candidate to consistently challenge the status quo, calling out the reasons we have not seen progress.
I would prioritize solutions and services with the input of homeless individuals. Too often politicians speak for communities without engaging and meeting them where they are. We need to understand how policies will affect the people we are trying to help and then develop the systems to do so.
What is your biggest priority for the county if you are elected?
Homelessness is my biggest priority. We are experiencing a humanitarian crisis of unsheltered homelessness that is getting worse, with increasing numbers of people living and dying on our streets, often suffering from serious mental health and/or substance abuse issues. Tens of thousands of people are living on the edge, one medical bill or lost paycheck away from losing their home. We do not have enough housing available that people can afford, or services to support and sustain people in housing once they have it. What services we do have are often not effectively coordinated. There are administrative, operational, and systems barriers at every turn. There is poor data management, a lack of transparency and poor communication with the public. And there is an overarching lack of accountability for how money - hundreds of millions of dollars - is being spent in this system.
I have a vision to meet the immediate crisis as outlined in the above questions and one that can be ready in greater detail at www.votesharon.com
Rent in Portland is skyrocketing. A recent report by Rent.com found the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Portland ($2,155) increased by 34.1% from February 2021 to February 2022. For that cost to be affordable per HUD guidelines, a renter would need an annualsalary approaching $90,000 — well beyond the median household income ($73,159) or average individual income ($43,811) in Portland according to U.S. Census data. What tangible, concrete solutions, if any, do you propose to address the rapidly rising cost of rent in Portland?
Rental prices in Portland and Multnomah County are not aligned with the incomes that are earned. From a supply side, we do not have enough rental units, which in turn drives up prices. To solve this problem, I believe we must bring all stakeholders to the table, including tenant rights advocates, homeless services and small/large landlord groups. We must take a hard look at what is keeping the inventory low. We must also look at existing policies and make sure there are no unintended consequences resulting in lower inventory. I have spoken with many “mom and pop” landlords who are taking their small bungalows off the market because the risk of increased fees and expenses are too high. This is an unintended consequence. We should continue to provide incentives for development of ADUs and missing middle housing. We will not solve this problem until we get everyone at the table, having meaningful discussions, addressing the hard questions without demonizing each other. I have a history of bringing groups together to accomplish goals.
Among the actions you would take to address pandemic recovery, which is the most important?
The pandemic has made clear how deficient the region is in providing an adequate level of behavioral health services. As the Local Mental Health Authority, the county holds a unique role overseeing our local mental health system, including crisis response. Unfortunately, we have not taken full advantage of this role, and we could improve and save many more lives if we fulfilled the potential of our authority.
As a commissioner, I sponsored a deep systems analysis that identifies major issues in our behavioral health system but also provided a roadmap for reform. The biggest issues include defining a shared vision, workforce, lack of culturally specific services, lack of a full continuum of services (particularly residential services and crisis services other than ERs and jail), and major gaps relating to our criminal justice system and housing. I have been collaborating with elected leaders at the federal, state and local levels, along with healthcare providers and people with lived experience of mental illness and addiction, to change our systems. As chair I would convene, prioritize, elevate this work so that we are not just spending more money, but using our money effectively.
I would also implement more immediate measures, including championing the Behavioral Health Emergency Coordination Network which I, dedicating resources to combat methamphetamine use and its devastating impacts, fulfilling the potential of the Behavioral Health Resource Center, and dedicating resources to programs that support youth and seniors in ways that they’ve told us would help them. Support workforce, particularly peers and culturally specific providers. Work with Commissioner Mapps to implement a functional and coordinated behavioral health crisis response system.
As a clinician working with thousands of people suffering from mental illness and substance use disorder, an advocate for improved behavioral health systems, and a lawyer, I understand our community’s behavioral health needs in a way that is both broad and deep. And I have relationships and connections throughout our healthcare, criminal justice and housing systems who will support me in this work and enable real change to happen.
If we are ever to reform our behavioral health system so that it is functional, accessible and responsive to the needs of our community, it must be me, and it must be now.
If elected, what is a specific action you would take to address climate change and climate justice?
Climate models have confirmed that global emissions must be halved by 2030 to keep warming below 1.5 deg C. We know that exceeding this level will have catastrophic impacts on global health, safety, and the economy, and we have already gone beyond the tipping point. We, as a global community, need to take aggressive action to (1) prevent further harm, (2) reduce carbon
emissions and reverse the impacts of the climate crisis, and (3) improve resiliency in our communities so that we can respond/adapt to the ongoing impacts of the climate crisis. And all of this needs to happen as we shift our paradigms to center environmental justice and the voices of those most impacted.
Multnomah County’s various roles provide unique opportunities to lead in climate justice and the enactment of environmental policies. Multnomah County can of course push the envelope on more “traditional” policies to actively reduce carbon emissions in our County - we have fleets of vehicles that can be electrified, own facilities that we can be decarbonized, partner with agencies whose agendas we can support to reduce emissions, provide weatherization and home improvement services to many low-income and historically marginalized and vulnerable households, address woodsmoke and gas-powered leaf blowers, and more.
We can advocate at the state and federal levels for progressive climate policies (such as HB 2021 and other bills discussed further below) that will advance us toward a no-carbon economy. We can also expand our approaches to think outside the box and maximize our scope of authority to do the most good. As an emergency physician, I’m particularly excited about pushing the envelope and exploring the county’s authority that has not been applied as effectively in the environmental context - as the Local Public Health Authority and the Local Board of Health. I envision a number of ways our intersectional work at the county can be uplifted to proactively lead at the intersection of health and climate justice. In particular, I have sought to declare the climate emergency a “public health crisis,” which I believe can serve a number of purposes to elevate the issues of climate justice and advance policies that are intersectional and can guide work at the county level and encourage similar actions at the state level. As chair, I would make this a priority - not just to say that we are the authority or have the authority, but to use the authority to make a difference.
Finally, Multnomah County has established relationships with many community-based organizations and partners who are intimately familiar with their communities and help guide our work and also get services out to the community. I believe we need to continue to build trust and deepen those relationships, and also expand them to people and organizations we may not yet have partnered with so that we can serve as many people as possible.
SHARIA MAYFIELD
The Multnomah County Chair is a position with much responsibility and power. In terms of actual policies and qualifications, what makes you right for the job?
As an employment rights attorney and law professor with local, state, and federal level experience, I have a track record of success in actually getting things done. Despite being the youngest candidate, my vision, energy, and commitment make me best suited to get the county back on track and away from the political stagnation of my commissioner opponents. I will prioritize urgent action and not letting perfection be the enemy of good. I have real goals to end our chronic unsheltered crisis, ramp up humane short-term alternatives, move away from housing first absolutism, and expand cheaper, more accessible treatment to deal with our drug and mental health crises. Finally, as a Muslim Egyptian-American and workers rights lawyer, I will ensure my policies are rooted in equity and inclusion.
In addressing homelessness, do you plan to emphasize government-funded long-term housing as a solution? If so, how would you secure and distribute those funds? If not, what strategy would you emphasize instead?
Long-term solutions are critical to prevent homelessness and get people who have simply slipped through the cracks back on their feet again, using policies like rent assistance and temporary vouchers. However, the unsheltered crisis is largely a drug addiction and mental health crisis and must be met with much more urgent short-term action. We've been in a homeless emergency since 2015, while the unsheltered population continues to explode under a County leadership that has put almost all its eggs in the long-term housing solutions, and look where it has gotten us. Once ARPA funds run out, we must use the JOHS and housing bond funds to enact emergency shelter alternatives to "raise the floor." We don't have the luxury of waiting on perfect solutions while people die in record numbers on our streets. We must ramp up immediately sanctioned camp areas, tiny home villages, safe parks with free hook-ups, more shelter options, and enforce the camp ban laws. It is unconscionable that we have people defecating, overdosing, and amassing property in public shared spaces, many of whom are unable to make safe decisions for themselves.
Should the city and county decrease its reliance on emergency congregate homeless shelters to address unsheltered homelessness (623 congregate beds out Of 1,614)? If so, what should the city and county do instead? If not, what benefits do emergency congregate homeless shelters have versus other strategies?
No. We should continue to center successful shelter options, just as they do in many developed countries around the world, where they work just fine. But I'd also urge leaders to ramp up alternatives to better cater to the varied unsheltered folks, some of whom would like to just continue camping with hygiene services provided or to live in an RV at a safe park. We need to be a lot more creative, a lot more bold, and a lot more collaborative, to work within the budget to provide the homeless more options. In tandem with more options and a stepping-stone path to recovery and independent housing for those who want that, we must also get people off the streets so we can better streamline sanitation and wrap-around services. That means getting every eligible disabled person onto SSDI benefits for a steady income. The solutions require compromise and duties both to and from the housed and unhoused people in the region.
In developing your policy ideas regarding homelessness, how many homeless Portlanders have you spoken with? How would you prioritize their input about policies if elected?
I make it a point to speak with homeless people outside all the time, and also have a loved one who has been housing unstable for years, which has been a sobering learning experience for me. Homelessness affects both the homeless and housed, so their voices must all weigh equally on the policy solution conversations. I will continue to craft policies that respond to concerns of the unsheltered and provide clarity and transparency, while also communicating the need for cooperation as we do the hard work to end homelessness.
What is your biggest priority for the county if you are elected?
The homeless crisis is at the intersection of mental health and drug addiction. It is sinking this region and must be dealt with as the emergency it is, as Oregon is attracting a disproportionate amount of the nation's unsheltered people.
Rent in Portland is skyrocketing. A recent report by Rent.com found the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Portland ($2,155) increased by 34.1% from February 2021 to February 2022. For that cost to be affordable per HUD guidelines, a renter would need an annual salary approaching $90,000 — well beyond the median household income ($73,159) or average individual income ($43,811) in Portland according to U.S. Census data. What tangible, concrete solutions, if any, do you propose to address the rapidly rising cost of rent in Portland?
I have an entire homeshare program at www.votemayfield.com that lays out a county-run program to incentivize mom and pop landlords to rent a room out to working-class people and students. Ironically, it's a bit similar to Move-In Multnomah but has mediation services, free background checks, and urgent intervention in the case of irreconcilable tenant-landlord disputes. It would also provide rent assistance to tenants to prevent eviction and assure payment to landlords. Because roommating and subleasing are the cheapest housing options, we must ensure small landlords can continue to keep their doors open, as we've lost over 6,000 rental properties over the last few years. If more homeowners are phased out of the rental market, fewer units are available, which causes rent hikes.
Among the actions you would take to address pandemic recovery, which is the most important?
Anti-isolation efforts will be key, as people have forgotten how to have fun as a community! As an introvert myself, I'd love to see more County-hosted mixers, concerts in the park, movies, hikes, mushroom hunts, and local art and multicultural events to bring us together. Let's have some fun again. We need to lean on each other as we heal from the blows of the pandemic and economic crisis.
If elected, what is a specific action you would take to address climate change and climate justice?
I will be pushing as hard as I can to expand paratransit services to incentivize more people to use public transit. Paratransit can be improved to better reach people in hard-to-reach areas, those with disabilities, and ideally anyone who would feel safer using smaller, more on-demand type services. My climate policy is rooted in climate justice and equity, as oftentimes the poor are shamed into bearing the brunt of climate action, while the rich will continue having the luxury and money to do what they want. Let's work to make public transit clean, safe, fast, efficient, and free or cheap, and people WILL use it more. I will also push for single-member districting at the city level to ensure more equitable resource distribution in the event of more climate chaos and extreme weather.
MULTNOMAH COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 2
Derry Jackson
In addressing homelessness, do you plan to emphasize government-funded long-term housing as a solution? If so, how would you secure and distribute those funds? If not, what strategy would you emphasize instead?
The county government is the branch of government that should be most intimate to our citizenry, as the extension of the state of Oregon as well as the US Federal government and the resources we, the people, allocate to help those among us in need of help. My plan is three part: First, and immediately, I will lead a full-court press to contract with empty large buildings, working with owners to convert them into temporary housing, starting with women with children, next women, segregating those two populations, but finally covering men. This can immediately pull tents off the curbs. Secondly, spearhead the county's efforts to pull together a coordinated solution among all the NGOs already acting as our frontline force. These guys know what we need to do. Finally, and long-term, my focus is on bringing the Navy's 5th public shipyard right here in our district. With great paying blue-collar jobs, our people can afford to stay and live in district 2.
Should the city and county decrease its reliance on emergency congregate homeless shelters to address unsheltered homelessness (623 congregate beds out Of 1,614)? If so, what should the city and county do instead? If not, what benefits do emergency congregate homeless shelters have versus other strategies?
We cannot afford to pull offline any resources used or needed to house the unhoused. What I do recognize is needed is a permanent solution for emergency shelters. In my private role as a businessman, I am actively involved in developing a boutique hotel model, beautifully place buildings, staffed with professionals capable of mentoring those residing therein through lifeskills, allowing them to graduate through levels, including matriculating out of the program, and into their own housing. Clients work around the facilities offsetting their costs, and with a debit card, are able start practicing commerce. Here, clients have the ability (to) get their GED, complete high school diploma (those who qualify), but all will have options to learn and master a vocation/building trade.
In developing your policy ideas regarding homelessness, how many homeless Portlanders have you spoken with? How would you prioritize their input about policies if elected?
Listen, upon relocating back to Portland, I have been delivering food to folks on the street in and around my community. You ask. Many know my white avalanche and my four rescues that accompany me. Thanks to 7-11, they donate food, filling my truck every Monday and Thursday. I have food to deliver next, after completing this piece. Point is, I love and continue to meet and encourage these folks to not give up. …
What is your biggest priority for the county if you are elected?
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs! Not just service, we each combing our hair jobs. No! Great blue-collar jobs, as would be the case when the Navy commence operating the 5th US Naval Shipyard right here, building the greenest warships on the planet. This will flip our state from a donor state (more money leaving the state headed to DC than returns) to a donee state (one where we receive more cash flowing into the state from DC than leaving).
Rent in Portland is skyrocketing. A recent report by Rent.com found the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Portland ($2,155) increased by 34.1% from February 2021 to February 2022. For that cost to be affordable per HUD guidelines, a renter would need an annual salary approaching $90,000 — well beyond the median household income ($73,159) or average individual income ($43,811) in Portland according to U.S. Census data. What tangible, concrete solutions, if any, do you propose to address the rapidly rising cost of rent in Portland?
We must cut the time to secure building permits in half, minimum. Next, press (to) release more land from the Urban Growth Boundary, as well as revisit the frequency between which we release more land. Price is basic economic. Milton Friedman once said, too many dollars chasing too few (homes) get us to where we are. While the Landlords and overlords may despise this remark, we must flood the market with homes. Incidentally, these cannot be most or by and large single-family structures. We do not have the land to make the difference we need. We must promote incentives and capital to allow owners to consider redeveloping their single-family home into a free-standing multi-home structure.
Among the actions you would take to address pandemic recovery, which is the most important?
As a high school teacher, what I recognized is the future. We will be back again to a lockdown. As a systems engineer, I have made a conscientious effort to have resources in place that can better assist my students, as well as my ability to serve them even if isolated to my home.
If elected, what is a specific action you would take to address climate change and climate justice?
My office will be trained on building "agency" to and for our citizens. Citizens with good-paying jobs and homes will have the capacity to engage the discourse on global warming. Far too many are merely trying to survive the day, and thus are unable to genuflect on their role and participation in dealing with climate change.
Susheela Jayapal
In addressing homelessness, do you plan to emphasize government-funded long-term housing as a solution? If so, how would you secure and distribute those funds? If not, what strategy would you emphasize instead?
Yes, I plan to continue to emphasize government-funded long-term housing as the primary solution.
Homelessness is caused by the lack of housing that is affordable. Other individual factors - mental illness, substance abuse disorder, domestic violence - can make it more likely that someone falls into homelessness, but the lack of affordable housing is the root cause. Accordingly, we must increase access to affordable housing. There are two ways to create affordable housing: we can build or incentivize the building of government-subsidized affordable housing, and we can make private market housing affordable by subsidizing rent.
Long-term rent assistance is a proven strategy for lifting and keeping people out of homelessness; and with the passage of the Metro Supportive Housing Services Measure (SHSM), we now have a local funding stream for paying for long-term rent assistance. I will ensure that the SHSM continues to fund long-term rent assistance and supportive services as the primary strategy.
While the SHSM has injected significant new revenue into the system, we must also keep advocating for additional state and federal resources, particularly given we still do not know the longer-term implications of the COVID pandemic on homelessness. With eviction moratoria and federal emergency rent assistance expiring earlier this year, it’s possible that we will see a rise in evictions and in people newly houseless.
Should the city and county decrease its reliance on emergency congregate homeless shelters to address unsheltered homelessness (623 congregate beds out Of 1,614)? If so, what should the city and county do instead? If not, what benefits do emergency congregate homeless shelters have versus other strategies?
I believe we need to continuously evaluate our shelter inventory. We need emergency shelter as one strategy among our array of tools for mitigating the impacts of homelessness and for creating a pathway back into housing, but to try and develop sufficient emergency shelter for everyone experiencing homelessness would swallow our resources and not solve the problem. We should continue to fill out that array of options by adding types or models of shelter we don’t currently have (ie safe parking, village and tiny home models); adding shelter to parts of the county where there’s currently a dearth, and adding shelter that is culturally appropriate for specific populations who do not feel safe or comfortable in our existing shelters.
Congregate shelter allows us to shelter more people in a given footprint than does alternative or village-type shelter. We also know that it is not a preferred option for people experiencing homelessness. In balancing these considerations, we may also need to be opportunistic; it is so difficult to find sites appropriate to shelter that if such sites come on the market, we should consider them in light of the array of needs and opportunities at that time.
With all of these decisions, we must recognize that shelter is not a solution, that it is just as expensive and takes just as much time to stand up as permanent housing solutions, and that it diverts scarce human resources from the urgent task of moving people into long term housing.
Finally, I believe we need to be more intentional about the kinds of permanent housing options we are creating. We tend to talk about village models as shelter or transitional housing rather than permanent housing, but there are aspects of those village models that may be appropriate to include in our permanent housing models. And we need to create new housing models appropriate to those people experiencing the most acute mental and behavioral health issues - housing models that are similar to residential treatment models in that they incorporate higher levels of care and even more scaffolded services than our typical supportive housing.
In developing your policy ideas regarding homelessness, how many homeless Portlanders have you spoken with? How would you prioritize their input about policies if elected?
Not enough. I have regularly visited encampments to talk to homeless Portlanders, and also regularly talk to providers who are on the front lines, but always need to do more of this direct engagement, and will continue to seek it. I highly prioritize the input of homeless Portlanders.
What is your biggest priority for the county if you are elected?
Continuing to tackle homelessness. This includes by monitoring the SHSM investments (I serve on the Regional Oversight Committee and will serve on the Tri-County Planning Body); working to increase the inventory of available housing through strategies such as master leasing; focusing on keeping people who are at risk of homelessness in their homes; improving our data systems, and ensuring transparency and accountability.
Rent in Portland is skyrocketing. A recent report by Rent.com found the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Portland ($2,155) increased by 34.1% from February 2021 to February 2022. For that cost to be affordable per HUD guidelines, a renter would need an annual salary approaching $90,000 — well beyond the median household income ($73,159) or average individual income ($43,811) in Portland according to U.S. Census data. What tangible, concrete solutions, if any, do you propose to address the rapidly rising cost of rent in Portland?
Increasing the supply of housing will help reduce the rate of rent increase. Although the county doesn’t develop housing (that falls within the jurisdiction of cities and Metro), one strategy I am exploring is partnering with developers in a model where the county agrees to master lease new units, providing them with an assured income stream and potentially facilitating access to financing. This may be an alternative public-private model to the current model of tax credit and bond-financed affordable housing.
As far as I know, the county has few options for directly regulating rent. We can, however, influence the other side of the affordability equation - income - by working to ensure that the service sector workers who provide so many of the county’s services are paid an equitable wage. Too many of those workers are themselves housing insecure and rely on County services. This is unsustainable, and the county must take steps to address it.
Among the actions you would take to address pandemic recovery, which is the most important?
Building economic resilience. The pandemic exacerbated income inequality and economic fragility in communities that were already marginalized — BIPOC, people experiencing poverty, survivors of domestic violence, people trapped in the criminal legal system. The county provides services to these communities to help alleviate poverty and inequality. As we move into recovery, however, we need to do more than put band-aids on the symptoms of poverty and inequality: we need to implement strategies that will ensure economic stability and resilience. These strategies include direct and unconditional cash payments; asset building; credit recovery; benefit acquisition, such as making sure people claim their Earned Income Tax Credits; entrepreneurship support for people for whom nine-to-five jobs won’t work; clearance of fees and fines; etc.
If elected, what is a specific action you would take to address climate change and climate justice?
Diesel emissions are a driver of poor health outcomes in Multnomah County, and a leading contributor to climate change. I will continue my work to reduce diesel emissions by advocating for additional regulations at the state level. I’ll also explore strategies to continue to decarbonize our infrastructure. And I’ll advocate for transportation policy that prioritizes climate, public transit, and bike and pedestrian infrastructure over vehicles.
At the time of publishing we did not recieve responses from candidates Joe Demers, Bruce Broussard and Elizabeth Taylor Dixon.
Editor’s note: Answers are edited for length and clarity.