FILE: Portland City Council chambers pictured in November 2025.
Eli Imadali / OPB
The Portland Housing Bureau has identified at least $15 million in additional unspent funds that could be spent on affordable housing, rental support, and other housing programs.
The news comes months after the city revealed roughly $21 million in housing dollars sitting unspent in city coffers.
Council President Jamie Dunphy, who made these dollars public in an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive. Monday, urged the public not to suspect wrongdoing.
“While the timing of this information is difficult,” Dunphy wrote in a statement Tuesday. “I do not believe these were hidden maliciously, but are instead a relic of the old government system of accounting.”
Dunphy said he believes the money didn’t draw scrutiny until now due to the city’s transition to a new form of government.
Under the city’s previous government system, which ended Dec. 31, 2024, bureaus were overseen by councilors rather than a unified administrative branch.
The news comes as Portland officials prepare to address a significant budget deficit, which will require citywide funding cuts.
It’s added to the sense of urgency from Dunphy’s office and others in City Hall to understand how tens of millions of dollars dedicated to housing, a priority issue in the Portland area for more than a decade, went unspent and unnoticed.
This new cache of funding – which hadn’t been included in the housing bureau’s budget – comes from two sources. At least $10 million was generated by the city’s fees on short-term rental companies like Airbnb or VRBO.
And at least $5 million came from the Transient Lodging Tax, a charge paid by people who stay at hotels, motels, short-term rentals, or other vacation rentals.
FILE: Portland City Council President Jamie Dunphy pictured in a file photo in 2025.
Eli Imadali / OPB
According to Dunphy’s office, it’s part of the Housing Bureau’s policy to let these two funds accrue over several years, in order to fund large affordable housing projects.
Dunphy said he doesn’t believe the bureau was intentionally trying to conceal the funds.
“These fund balances are not the result of sneaky or nefarious behavior by city staff,” he wrote.
Councilor Loretta Smith, however, has urged the city administrator’s office to look into the city’s financial staff creating “inefficiencies” in the budget process.
The Portland Housing Bureau did not immediately respond to OPB’s request for comment.
According to Mayor Keith Wilson’s office, the money was discovered during a deep financial review into the housing bureau, which began after city officials revealed the $21 million in unspent housing funds in November.
The $15 million discovery comes as city councilors are already haggling over how to spend the unanticipated $21 million, a pool of money generated by a fee that landlords must pay to register new rentals. City officials say the rental registration fund had accumulated rapidly during the COVID pandemic, when city housing staff were stretched thin with distributing federal pandemic funds.
This rental registration fee, established in 2019, is meant to fund the city’s Rental Services Office, which offers rental assistance, eviction prevention services, and other tenant support.
Councilors have spent two city council meetings debating where to spend those dollars. While some have advocated it be used to pay for rental assistance and legal defense for people faced with an eviction, others have lobbied for it to subsidize affordable housing construction and homeownership programs.
Others, including Mayor Wilson, have argued that the unspent money should go back into the city’s general fund, which pays for public safety, parks, homeless services, and transportation. City economists have predicted a $67 million shortfall in the city’s budget in the fiscal year starting July 1.
The discussion over where to spend these dollars was supposed to continue this Thursday. According to Dunphy’s office, now the time will largely be spent allowing City Administrator Raymond Lee to explain the origins of the newly discovered $15 million.
City councilors have previously criticized the city administrator’s office for appearing to delay the disclosure of the $21 million to city councilors. On Wednesday, councilors will consider whether or not to hold an oversight meeting with Lee’s office to understand why this information was purportedly withheld.
The $15 million remains an estimate. Dunphy said city staff are working to narrow down the exact amount available. It’s not yet clear how that money could be spent. But Dunphy said it will be a public discussion.
“Once we have final numbers from our city’s professional staff, council owes it to the city to come to a swift, collaborative conclusion of the process of allocating these funds,” he said.
