Tens of thousands of people are unhoused in this region, and many more are on the brink of homelessness. That was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Record unemployment levels point to drastic increases in severe poverty ahead.
So it is fortunate to have a homeless-services tax measure cued up to vote on right now. Developed over the past year and a half by the Here Together Coalition, of which Street Roots is a part, Measure 26-210 was originally designed to bring $250 million a year into the Portland metro region for 10 years. With all the uncertainty stemming from the pandemic, the exact dollar figure is in flux, but this we do know: We’ll need every penny.
Crafted as a means to support people to get out of homelessness and stay housed, this measure would be funded by a tax on high-income earners and businesses. Individuals earning more than $125,000 or households earning more than $200,000 a year would be taxed 1% at a marginal rate — in other words, the tax will be levied only on the chunk of income over that threshold.
Regional businesses with sales over $5 million would be taxed at 1% on net profits.
Let’s be blunt: Those who’d pay the tax are comfortable enough to kick in a little extra when people are struggling through poverty and illness on the streets.
EDITORIAL: To fight homelessness, Metro asks the wealthy to pay their fair share
Measure 26-210 pairs with the previous Portland and Metro housing bonds (2016 and 2018) like a 1-2 punch. Those bonds secured money for bricks and sticks — the buildings. This new measure funds the kind of support people need to actually live in that housing.
First of all, even though buildings can be built, purchased and maintained through the past housing bonds, that money doesn’t cover the cost of renting apartments to people who make less than 30% of the median income. In other words, people in poverty.
The only way that’s possible is through subsidy. This is why rent assistance provided through this measure is so crucial. It makes it possible for poor people to rent the housing that’s deemed affordable.
The measure also covers other services for people to stay in housing, a humane and proven approach called supportive housing. The majority of people on the streets in our region struggle with some kind of disability. This measure would fund support for coping with these struggles — as well as coping with substance use disorders.
STREET ROOTS PODCAST: Deborah Kafoury and Cole Merkel on Measure 26-210
At Street Roots, we witness a lot of suffering, and much of what is sorrowful seeds our collective passion for systemic change. We picture people in the throes of struggle, some of whom you might encounter, too:
We ask you to cast your vote for the man who wants to get clean, but struggles mightily just to survive another day. He deserves a fighting chance.
Cast your vote for the woman who sleeps in a sagging tent, mobile only by means of an electronic wheelchair that barely holds a charge. She deserves a fighting chance.
Cast your vote for all the people whose voices inside their heads get louder when the voices outside are unsafe, too. They deserve a fighting chance.
We witness, too — after people get the housing and services they need — the smoother faces, steadier voices, calmer minds. And this is just astonishing. This is what is at stake. Let us imagine a future where housing and health are taken care of for everyone in the community.
Imagine that future with us. Vote yes on Measure 26-210.
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