Portland City commissioners file to end joint homelessness efforts with Multnomah County
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Three Portland city commissioners filed a formal ordinance on Friday to terminate their joint efforts to tackle homelessness with Multnomah County.
This comes after an Oct. 16 City Council meeting in which Commissioners Dan Ryan, Mingus Mapps and Rene Gonzalez signaled potentially withdrawing the city from its multi-year, $31 million contract with the county’s Joint Office of Homeless Services in favor of a fresh approach which they said was because the current agreement wasn’t getting the results they were looking for.
In a press release, the three commissioners jointly called the efforts with Multnomah County "ineffective" and called out several issues with the agreement, including unclear roles, lack of data, no support for Safe Rest Villages, oversight issues, as well as county underspending.
If the city council votes to end the partnership, they must give a 90-day notice to the county to start winding things down.
Although current City Commissioner Carmen Rubio and current Mayor Ted Wheeler previously expressed reservations, in their joint press release on Friday, Ryan, Mingus and Gonzalez assured no existing homelessness services would be disrupted during the withdrawal process.
The ordinance is set to be heard at the next City Council meeting on Nov. 7. A second meeting and vote is still to be determined.
Mingus, Gonzalez and Rubio are all running in Portland's mayoral election on Nov. 5, while Ryan is looking to be a City Council for District 2 in the Rose City's reformed city government.