If you appreciate the Mercury‘s interesting and useful news & culture reporting, consider making a small monthly contribution to support our editorial team. Your donation is tax-deductible. You can also subscribe and have our papers delivered! Good Morning, Portland: Happy May Day! It’s a beautiful day out and it’s looking good this weekend too. We hope […]
Jeremiah Hayden
Jeremiah Hayden reports on housing, homelessness, and other issues affecting Portlanders. He's lived in Oregon nearly all his life, and in Portland since 2001. jhayden@portlandmercury.com
Posted inNews
Home Forward CEO Resigns Amid Scrutiny Over Travel
The housing authority announced Ivory Matthews’ departure Wednesday morning.
The CEO of Multnomah County’s housing authority, Home Forward, is resigning effective May 1. Home Forward announced Ivory Matthews’ departure via a press release Wednesday morning. Matthews’ resignation comes amid questions about travel she made on the public’s dime, first reported by Willamette Week earlier this month. Home Forward offers program vouchers and rent assistance […]
Posted inNews
Mayor Wilson’s Economic Development Budget Is a Balancing Act of Cuts and Cash Infusion
Climate programs, Prosper Portland, and tree permitting slated for cutbacks while graffiti abatement and Metro Chamber marketing could see a boost
“Tough choices” is public officials’ shorthand for this year’s budget cycle. In Portland’s Community and Economic Development service area, the mayor and his administrators have turned to cutting social programs and staff to balance a proposed $1.24 billion budget for the service area’s bureaus. This service area—which could see a 7 percent budget cut this […]
Posted inGood Morning, News!
Good Morning News! Blazers Game 3, City Council Grills Housing Admin, Transpo Fee Expected To Pass, and Even Kash Patel Thinks This Is Weird
If you appreciate the Mercury‘s interesting and useful news & culture reporting, consider making a small monthly contribution to support our editorial team. Your donation is tax-deductible. You can also subscribe and have our papers delivered! Good Morning, Portland: Behold, the sun! It’s looking to be a gorgeous weekend, starting today (look outside, sleepyhead). The birds […]
Posted inNews
Council Grills City Administrators About Unbudgeted Housing Funds During First Oversight Hearing
Despite claims of renewed transparency, new records show city leadership was told not to accept requests from councilors regarding current budget talks.
Portland City Council launched its first ever oversight hearing Thursday, April 23, to determine why the administrative branch of the city did not disclose millions of dollars in unspent housing funds for several months last year. On November 20, 2025, the City Council approved a routine budget adjustment called the Fall Technical Ordinance Adjustment (TAO). […]
Posted inGood Morning, News!
Good Morning News! Lloyd Center To Close, Trail Blazers in the Playoffs, Pulp Fiction Prayers, Your $4K For War, New Tom Waits Anyone?
If you appreciate the Mercury‘s interesting and useful news & culture reporting, consider making a small monthly contribution to support our editorial team. Your donation is tax-deductible. You can also subscribe and have our papers delivered! Good Morning, Portland: Hello, it’s looking so nice this weekend! Here’s a whole bunch of morning news, including Lloyd Center […]
Posted inNews
Ethics Commission Dismisses Complaints Over Peacocks’ Legal Representation
Whether progressive caucus members violated ethics law during a retreat is still unclear. Attorney says the decision represents a bulwark for local democracy.
Portland city councilors are allowed to receive free representation to defend against legal complaints, so long as they go through the proper channels outlined in state law. That’s according to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC), which officially dismissed a complaint against five Portland city councilors on April 10. The commission said none of the […]
Posted inNews
Ethics Commission Fines Homelessness Influencer Over State Violations
Kevin Dahlgren used his position as a city employee for personal gain. The state penalty stems from a previous felony plea.
Likely very few people think it is lucrative to take advantage of homeless people, but one former outreach worker is still paying the consequences for trying. The Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC) approved a final settlement April 10 for claims against the local social media influencer Kevin Dahlgren for violating state law when he worked […]
Posted inBooks
Why Portland Author Justin Hocking Calls Toxic Masculinity “Extractive”
His second full-length memoir, A Field Guide to the Subterranean, digs into memory, history, trauma, and place.
Justin Hocking’s memoir A Field Guide to the Subterranean digs into both memory and history—of Hocking’s life and of the minerals and profit extraction in the places he’s lived. It’s an “unearthing,” he says, of both the natural world and the sense of self. The work is a collage narrative of past events, some of […]
Posted inNews
Advocates Reject Zenith Energy Investigation in Letter Delivered to Mayor’s Office
An “artificially narrowed scope” predetermined the outcome of city-led investigation, letter says.
Local environmental advocates remain frustrated with Mayor Keith Wilson over his handling of Zenith Energy, saying he has not kept his promise to revoke the Houston-based fossil fuel company’s land use credentials if the city found it violated the law. A small group of environmental advocates gathered at Portland City Hall Monday to deliver a […]
Posted inGood Morning, News!
Good Morning, News! Money Helps With Poverty, We 🌹 Portland Arts, Top “Hillbilly Elegy” Diplomat to Pakistan, ICE and Other Dumbass Trump News
If you appreciate the Mercury‘s interesting and useful news & culture reporting, consider making a small monthly contribution to support our editorial team. Your donation is tax-deductible. You can also subscribe and have our papers delivered! Good Morning, Portland: There’s so much going on this weekend that the local section of this edition of Good […]
Posted inNews
Study: Rent Assistance is the Most Requested Support Service Among Homeless Residents
Nearly every homeless person surveyed in a new PSU housing needs report said they want housing they can afford. But they don’t want to lose it again.
The city of Portland and Multnomah County first agreed on a plan to address homelessness in 1983. What followed was a 12-point plan, a shelter reconfiguration plan, a 10-year plan, countless committees, sit-lie ordinances, and other creative solutions. In a new report, researchers deployed a fresh concept: ask homeless residents what they need. The data […]