A low-income housing program is pouring big money into housing many Oregonians can’t afford
On any given night, thousands of people sleep on the streets in Portland, Oregon. They seek shelter in tents, bushes and overpasses in a city that has struggled with one of the worst housing crises in the country. Portland, like many cities, has raced to increase its supply of affordable housing by turning to a…
Oregon fights feds’ demand for undercover license plates
State attorneys have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to force Oregon to offer undercover license plates to federal agents, arguing that the Trump administration cannot force the state to use its resources to enforce federal law. The development came in a Tuesday legal filing responding to the federal government’s May…
City starts removal process of manicured longtime camp ‘Sammy’s Tarp Palace’
The Portland Department of Permitting and Development is forcing a land trust to remove two longtime homeless residents from lots they live on with the land trust’s permission. The planned evictions come as the city has dramatically ramped up the pace of sweeps, which city data shows have increased by 664% in four years. One…
Poetry & Art
‘Gentrification masks’ draw from history of the Albina neighborhood
The first mask that came forth was so powerful, a Portlander called Byrd had to set it down when she felt its force and energy. Although she does not consider herself an artist, about 30 masks made their presence known to Byrd while she battled the legal system over Black families’ loss of generational wealth…
Opinion
Recriminalizing drugs won’t fix Oregon’s overdose crisis
In March 2024, Oregon lawmakers voted to recriminalize the simple possession of small amounts of opioids, heroin, fentanyl and other drugs, reversing Measure 110, the landmark 2020 voter initiative that had decriminalized personal possession in favor of a health-centered response. The reversal was sold as a necessary correction. Politicians, police unions and prohibitionists’ voices pointed…
