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.
