Jordan Schnitzer isn’t used to losing.
Schnitzer, the Portland real estate investor buoyed by his family’s financial success in the steel industry, is easily one of the city’s wealthiest residents. Whether it’s through massive campaign donations or pressuring powerful pals for favors, Schnitzer usually gets his way.
But it appears no amount of string-pulling or hobnobbing will get Schnitzer’s latest crusade off the ground.
To cringeworthy results, Schnitzer has spent the past year lobbying to turn the long-empty Wapato Jail—a remote North Portland detention center he purchased from Multnomah County in 2018—into a massive homeless shelter. Despite his deep pockets, Schnitzer says he needs extra funding to get the project off the ground and wants the cash-strapped public sector to pitch in.
For Schnitzer, who owns more than 20 downtown buildings, the proposal makes his campaign to remove homeless locals (or, as Schnitzer calls them, “unfortunate people”) from the streets of Portland feel a little less sinister. But Schnitzer’s plan to shuttle homeless people to an isolated compound 10 miles from the city center (where the vast majority of homeless services are located) has never gained traction.
Zero local public officials support Schnitzer’s proposal. Multnomah County Commissioners voted to sell the costly property in 2018, after a report on the feasibility of turning the jail into a homeless shelter found it would cost more than $6 million to remodel the facility and get it up to code. The commissioners have instead directed public dollars toward the construction of permanent housing for formerly homeless people and opening a peer-run drop-in shelter downtown, blocks from the city’s major homeless service providers.
The City of Portland has echoed the county’s dismissal of the idea of using Wapato as a shelter, despite Mayor Ted Wheeler’s efforts to avoid completely disavowing the project. (That might have something to do with Wheeler’s upcoming reelection campaign: Over the past decade, the Schnitzer family has been a faithful and generous contributor to Wheeler, having donated over $9,000 to his past campaigns. A member of the family has yet to sign a check for Wheeler’s 2020 run.)
More importantly, the region’s leading homeless service providers and advocacy groups—from Street Roots to Transition Projects—have come out strongly against the proposal, arguing that the plan will further push members of the homeless community to the margins of society.
Instead of acknowledging and understanding local leaders’ concerns and criticism, Schnitzer has made empty claims that TriMet has agreed to fund a bus line from downtown Portland to Wapato (it hasn’t) and that homeless service providers are being bullied out of supporting his Wapato plan (they aren’t). Insinuating that the mere sight of homeless Portlanders would scare away visitors, Schnitzer’s also claimed that the county’s new drop-in homeless shelter is too close to Powell’s Books, “one of the state’s biggest tourist attractions.”
In the past year, Schnitzer’s made at least three grandiose announcements that he’s about to demolish Wapato—unless the government or a private donor makes a financial contribution to get the idea off the ground. No one has.
Instead of taking the hint—let alone using his resources and purported compassion to invest in established programs that are already working—Schnitzer’s dug in his heels, putting more pressure on monied connections to fund his pipe dream.
On a recent Monday afternoon, Schnitzer led local investors, business leaders, and developers on a tour of the sprawling detention center. Attendees included Oregon Senator Betsy Johnson (who’s received over $20,000 in campaign donations from the Schnitzer family); Kay Toran, the Oregon chapter president of Volunteers of America (a nonprofit kept afloat with Schnitzer family dollars); and John DiLorenzo, Schnitzer’s sometimes-lawyer who’s known for taking the city to court over policy decisions.
The guest of honor was Jeffery McMorris, a US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administrator who oversees HUD projects in the Pacific Northwest. In an email sent to Wheeler and other local leaders announcing the tour, Schnitzer said he has a buddy who’s pals with HUD Secretary Ben Carson, who helped get McMorris on the ground.
Schnitzer also said Carson is interested in using Wapato as “a pilot program for the homeless.” But, McMorris tells the Mercury, “no one’s really talked about doing a pilot program there.” He says that HUD has no extra funding to aid a program that doesn’t have the support of local government.
But the pride of a wealthy white man knows no bounds. Based on Schnitzer’s past claims, Wapato should have been demolished two months ago. He’s still not ready to give it up.
When a guest joked about getting lost in the labyrinthine jail during the Monday tour, Schnitzer flashed a smile. “Write a check,” he said, “and we’ll show you where the door is.”
If John Dilorenzo’s there, it’s really snaky.
This guy seems a little creepy.
This is the typical sleaze that passes for reporting in our city. Zielinski is one of the worst offenders. Push false narratives, openly lie about who was there (she claims it was investors, developers, and business leaders who showed up, and not actually regular citizens..because, of course, citizens would never be interested in Wapato), lie about the facts in the case, and then assassinate the character of anyone who simply wants a good option for this crisis, one that just so happens to disagree with hers. She even lied to get into the event.
whatadick.
This article sounds quite biased and borderline racist. Zielinski is far off base with her ridiculous rhetoric. Someone (Jordan) is trying to solve this terrible problem and this amateur writer slams him….talking about his wealthy white pride…how immature. Nobody in leadership is doing anything useful to solve this issue other than ask for more money for bonds, affordable housing and other stuff that is in place but nowhere near enough. So what if it is not in the middle of the city where all the existing services are?? Services can be brought to them at Wapato and transportation can be arranged by trimet. This is a great solution that can be implemented and made successful if people really want it to be.
Sounds like some of Jordan Schnitzer’s buddies are in a twist over some real reporting that challenges the Great Man’s infallibility. So sad for them!
PS. That joke about “write me a check and I’ll show you how to get out… har har…” That’s standard hack realtor material. But I guess when you’re rich, the fawning hangers-on laugh at your jokes, witty or not.
5 and #7 – you couldn’t be more spot on. The bias here is cringeworthy, especially when it is on a topic (an actual viable solution for many of our homeless) that you would think the faux “progressives” would get behind.