Commissioner Dan Ryan supports slow, ‘methodical’ expansion of Portland Street Response program
Updated May 06, 2021;
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Portland Commissioner Dan Ryan said Thursday he wants to slowly expand the city’s experimental new program to dispatch a non-police response to people experiencing homelessness or a mental health crisis.
That position, which Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Mingus Mapps also support, effectively thwarts Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s attempt to immediately provide funding to expand the program known as Portland Street Response six-fold. Hardesty oversees the Portland fire bureau, which operates the program.
“We all want a citywide first responder program to meet the needs of our houseless neighbors experiencing mental health crises,” Ryan told The Oregonian/OregonLive in a statement.