Portland Mayor Proposes Goals For Reducing Homelessness

By Julie Sabatier (OPB)
Sept. 25, 2015 10:42 p.m.
Portland Mayor Charlie Hales

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales

Alan Sylvestre / OPB

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Portland Mayor Charlie Hales said Wednesday he plans to ask the city council to declare a state of emergency to address homelessness. On Friday, Hales spoke to OPB's Think Out Loud and provided some possible metrics to measure the plan's success.

"I think the emergency should last until our street count falls below 1,000 and our vacancy rate goes above 3 percent," said Hales.

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A one-night count conducted in January showed 1,887 people sleeping on Portland's streets. According to the Portland Housing Bureau, the city's current vacancy rate for multi-family units is 3.2 percent.

Declaring a state of emergency would allow Hales to waive city zoning rules to make more shelter space available, more easily.

"We have this appalling map...of all the places in the city where it's either difficult or impossible to site a shelter, which is over 90 percent of the city, and that's a real problem,"  Hales said.

Hales pointed out that the city has been trying for decades to address homelessness. He said he recently took a look back at a 10-year plan to end homelessness created in 1987.

"We've had lots of 10-year plans and we haven't moved the needle very much," Hales said. "Let's move faster with new tools rather than keep hoping that the next 10-year plan is going to finally reduce the number."

The Portland City Council is expected to vote on Hales's plan sometime in October.

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