A proposed ordinance that would effectively ban daytime camping in Portland drew five hours of public testimony, but no vote Wednesday, May 31. After a first reading, the Portland City Council is expected to vote on the ordinance Wednesday, June 7. Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office introduced the camping ban proposal, which would prohibit sleeping or placing tents within 250 feet from schools or child care centers, parks, public right-of-ways, and other designated “no camping” areas.
A group of community-based organizations in the Portland area are calling on elected officials in city and county governments to raise the wages of social service workers who are struggling to survive economically doing demanding and critically important work. It’s a serious problem. Social service nonprofits comprise a major part of the region’s response to the effects of the housing crisis, with cities, counties, and the state all routinely contracting with nonprofits to provide services.
The Multnomah County Commission voted unanimously Thursday to direct $28 million in excess funds toward an array of rental assistance programs, dodging a request from Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office to spend some of those dollars on the city’s mass homeless encampment plan. Due to an unpredicted influx in revenue collected through the regional homeless services tax in the past fiscal year, the county has more than $28 million in one-time funds available to spend on.