News
MultCo Sheriff orders deputies not to book anyone in jail under the city’s latest sleeping ban
Just under a month after Mayor Ted Wheeler directed the Portland Police Bureau, or PPB, to enforce an emergency ordinance prohibiting homeless Portlanders from sleeping on public property under threat of fines and jail time, the plan encountered a setback. Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell announced the sheriff’s office won’t book individuals into jail…
Nearly 30% of ‘affordable’ rents within $6 of ‘fair market rate’ under Inclusionary Housing
Over seven years after the city created the Inclusionary Housing, or IH, program to address Portland's housing affordability crisis, the program’s parameters skew away from low-income Portlanders. Created in 2017 and administered by the Portland Housing Bureau, or PHB, the program’s stated goal is to contribute to the city’s identified need for 23,000 housing units…
Navigating the invisible fines and fees embedded in Oregon’s legal system
If a defendant financially qualifies for a court-appointed attorney to represent them in court because they are unemployed or homeless, they may still have to pay for it. The judge can still order them to pay, say, $103,827.26 in attorney fees. To make matters worse, the defendant may only become aware of these fees after…
City of Albany orders people to vacate its only designated spot for public sleeping
Albany city officials set aside two vacant lots at Ninth Avenue and Jackson Street a year ago where people living on the street could pitch up to 15 tents. Now those people have until Thursday, Aug. 29, to go somewhere else. "Where am I going to go? Probably to hell," Sean Cassidy, one of the…
Housing
Nearly 30% of ‘affordable’ rents within $6 of ‘fair market rate’ under Inclusionary Housing
Over seven years after the city created the Inclusionary Housing, or IH, program to address Portland's housing affordability crisis, the program’s parameters skew away from low-income Portlanders. Created in 2017 and administered by the Portland Housing Bureau, or PHB, the program’s stated goal is to contribute to the city’s identified need for 23,000 housing units…
Opinion
Kaia Sand | Wheeler pushes forward with arresting people for homelessness, worsening future homelessness
From the looks of it, Mayor Ted Wheeler is cursing the future. Kaia Sand is the executive director of Street Roots. This column represents her views. Wheeler ordered police to cite homeless Portlanders with a criminal violation if they don’t immediately accept a shelter offer from police. He doubled down on this wrong-headed approach —…
