Randy Stapilus: The mayor and his mission with Portland's unhoused
Approaching his first anniversary in office, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, who ran most prominently on grappling seriously with the city’s homelessness, just made a major course shift. It may — and should — indicate more to come.
Homelessness seems to be one of the Rose City’s most intractable and high-profile problems. Voters have made clear their demand for a solution (though not what that should be), and when they elected Wilson a year ago, they chose a candidate pledging to end unsheltered homelessness in the city by 2026.
An estimate in July pegged Multnomah County homeless population, the bulk of which is in Portland, at around 7,500. That’s a large number, but one, you might think, small enough for a large city to cope with.
Wilson has taken his pledge seriously. He’s worked at it. But he’s still unlikely to hit the mark, — or even come close.
Last year, in an effort launched by then-Mayor Ted Wheeler, the city ordered a ban on public camping.
Not long after taking office, Wilson put a hold on its enforcement and announced a plan to spend $28 million on beds for unsheltered people in the meantime. But earlier this month, he declared enforcement of the ordinance would resume.
That doesn’t mean previous get-tough policy is simply back in force.
Wilson said in a statement, “We can’t arrest our way out of homelessness, nor should we. I’ve asked our police to issue citations for lawbreaking behavior and actions that harm our community. No one will be arrested simply for camping, nor should they.”
Despite the policy shift, he said Portlanders should not expect lots of arrests, which seems to suggest a continued low-key city presence on the issue. A city statement promised “an emphasis on connecting people to available shelter and supportive services.”
Portland has been actively trying to develop locations that “may include congregate shelters, transitional housing, hotel or motel placements, or other appropriate overnight facilities.” But that has not gone quickly or easily.
One indicator here seems to be that the laissez-faire approach — simply offering shelter and services and hoping the unhoused would migrate to them — hasn’t gotten the job done. The city said it has been working to develop 1,000 or more beds this year, but if the homeless census is anywhere near correct, that won’t come close to addressing the problem.
Wilson has been trying other ideas, too. One of the most interesting is what he called “reunification,” which involves giving people tickets to ride on planes and buses if they’re willing to head back to family in other locations.
In one recent news report, he said he was hoping to do that for about 700 people, which even if completely successful, would affect only about 1 in 10 of the homeless people now living in the city.
In the end, when 2026 arrives, how will the local number compare to the countywide estimate of 7,500 from July? Will it be reduced by a quarter, or a third?
Indicators from the city seem to suggest that may be about the best Portland could hope for.
This isn’t intended as a criticism of Wilson. He is certainly attacking the problem in a serious way.
But it may be that over the months ahead, both a narrower and wider net might be cast, to make deeper inroads.
The wider net could include a larger cocktail of approaches to address a population with a wide range of needs and personal stories.
The narrower net would involve building on the individual entail information about homeless people in the area, learning from their individual stories and finding custom ways to solve the problem one by one.
The reunification effort, for example, could link with some of that. It’s not a solve-all for the homeless problem in Portland, but in those cases where the cost of a ticket or other relatively modest barriers to finding a stable home could be overcome with a little help from the city, that may be enough to help in a number of cases.
How many, we don’t know. But it may cut the size of the problem somewhat.
Another individualized approach might be a variant on drug courts, which in many places around the country have been highly successful in resolving the larger social problems revolving around substance abuse.
Combining camping ban enforcement authority and court involvement — the stick — with a range of services to meet with the homeless population as it is — the carrot — could help solve the problem one individual and distinctive story at a time.
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