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c3Category — Housing & Homelessness
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Mayor Wilson’s Shelter Plans Are Both Ambitious and Ambiguous

Staring down a ballooning homeless population and growing death toll, Portland mayor eyes 1,500 new shelter beds. Some councilors question the logistics and strategy.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

Corrections: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the status of a Temporary Alternative Shelter Site in North Portland, and initially included a financial figure for city spending given during a public meeting that has since been updated to more accurately reflect city expenditures on campsite removals.  Portland Mayor Keith Wilson made homelessness the […]

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Two Hundred New Overnight Shelter Beds Will Open This Winter

Mayor-elect Keith Wilson promised to end unsheltered homelessness. He’s already helped kick-start plans for hundreds of winter shelter beds before taking office.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

Portland’s next mayor hasn’t taken office yet, but he’s already working to open hundreds of winter shelter beds.  Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, and Mayor-elect Keith Wilson announced Thursday that the city and county are jointly opening at least 200 new winter emergency shelter beds “to provide urgent relief to […]

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Affordable Housing Advocates Warn Slashing Supportive Housing Tax Could Be Catastrophic

As the regional government considers a handful of changes to the Supportive Housing Services tax on high-income earners, social service providers are sounding the alarm.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

Dec. 17: This story has been updated to clarify the status of SHS spending by Multnomah County. Since its rollout in 2021, Metro’s Supportive Housing Services tax has raked in nearly $912 million to help prevent evictions and transition people from homelessness to housing. But as Metro Council faces pressure to help lower the tax […]

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UPDATED: Street Roots Staff Announce Intent to Unionize

Workers at Street Roots plan to join Communications Workers of America, adding to the growing ranks of local news outlets with union representation.
Avatar photo Taylor Griggs

UPDATED: December 10, 4:15 pm—  The Street Roots board has declined to voluntarily recognize the union. According to the Street Roots Workers Guild, the board notified the NLRB of the decision on December 9, citing their wish to reduce the bargaining unit by two members who they are ineligible for the union due to their […]

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UPDATE: City Commissioners Abandon Plans to Terminate Joint Homeless Response Agreement With Multnomah County

A Portland City Council discussion that could’ve ended a collaborative agreement, without a backup plan in place, has been scrapped a day after the election. The move would’ve cost the city more than $40M.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

Update: Nov. 6- This story has been updated to note that this week’s Council discussion has been canceled. A day after an election showing Portland City Commissioners Mingus Mapps and Rene Gonzalez losing their bids for mayor, a plan to revisit an intergovernmental agreement on homelessness between the city and Multnomah County has been canceled.  […]

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Tenants Take Cues From Labor Unions in Effort to Remedy Property Management Issues

Portland lacks a formal process for renters to form a tenant union, but residents at one apartment complex say they’ve found leverage by banding together.
Avatar photo Abe Asher

Tenants at The Russell, a 68-unit apartment building in Northeast Portland, had a problem: the elevator in their building was out, and Trion Living, the company that owns the building, wasn’t in a hurry to do anything about it.  “We just wouldn’t hear from them,” Nick Narsing, a software engineer who has lived in the […]

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Sisters of the Road Will Resume Property Search After Prior Purchase Falls Through

The organization’s executive director is departing as the nonprofit scraps plans to reopen its cafe in the former House of Louie building.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

Board members of Sisters of the Road are trying to pick up the pieces and plot a new path forward after a long-awaited building purchase fell through.  The nonprofit social justice organization had been fundraising to finalize the purchase of the building where former restaurant House of Louie used to serve up dim sum in […]

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Rent Assistance Vouchers Are Helping Dig People Out of Homelessness

Service providers say Regional Long-Term Rent Assistance is among the most successful tools to combat homelessness. The only problem? A 5,560-person waiting list
Avatar photo Ellen Clarke

Regional Long-Term Rent Assistance vouchers are helping dig people out of homelessness. They’re one of the most successful tools to come out of Metro’s Supportive Housing Services tax. Service providers say they go a long way in keeping people housed, including domestic violence survivors, but the need far outpaces the availability of vouchers.

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New Marie Equi Day Center Offers Unhoused LGBTQ+ Portlanders Respite, Resources, and Hope

With new digs and the help of Supportive Housing Services funding, a local nonprofit is helping queer and trans residents find safety, and a path off the streets.
Avatar photo Anna Del Savio

Portland’s first day center for unhoused queer and trans people is opening this month in Southeast. The Marie Equi Center’s new Brooklyn neighborhood day shelter will welcome visitors “just coming in to regulate their nervous systems in the space and hang out, or to get connected to our peer services,” center director Katie Cox said. […]

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