FILE: Windows are cracked open at Home Forward's Northwest Tower in 2024. Home Forward is a public agency that operates alongside other local governments to provide roughly 14,500 units of low-income housing subsidized by the federal government.
Anna Lueck / OPB
Ivory Mathews, executive director of Portland-area public housing authority Home Forward, is resigning. Mathews has led the agency since 2022.
The news comes after reporting by Willamette Week revealed Mathews had spent more than $100,000 in public dollars on travel during a period of crises at the agency — where vacancies at the low-income housing provider crept upwards during an ongoing housing shortage.
Home Forward is a public agency that operates alongside other local governments to provide roughly 14,500 units of low-income housing subsidized by the federal government. The agency is governed by a board whose members are appointed by the Mayor of Portland and approved by Portland City Council, giving the city a level of accountability over their work.
Home Forward’s Board Chair Matthew Gebhardt has supported Mathews’ leadership throughout the recent tumult. In a statement shared with OPB, Gebhardt thanked Mathews for her contribution to the agency.
Ivory Mathews attends a groundbreaking for the PCC Killingsworth apartments in Northeast Portland, in May 2024. Mathews, executive director of Portland-area public housing authority Home Forward since 2022, is resigning.
Courtesy of Portland Community College / AP
“We as an organization have work to do to improve our accountability and performance,” he added. “Our commitment to those initiatives remains our top priority.”
Revelations about Mathews’ travel expenses and apparent inability to address vacant apartments has sparked public outrage, both among Portland residents and local elected officials. Portland City Councilors have questioned Mathew’s leadership and her support from the board in several public meetings. At a Tuesday meeting on the city and county’s homelessness programs, Councilor Eric Zimmerman called the fact that hundreds of Home Forward units had sat vacant for months “criminal.”
“We need to get real serious about the fact that we have this semi-public-private entity with its own governing board who uses our money to put people in housing, and they’re not meeting the mark,” Zimmerman said.
Friday is Mathews’ last day. Michael Buonocore, a longtime leader in the region’s housing systems, will step in as interim director.
It’s a familiar job. Buonocore led Home Forward as its executive director from 2014 to 2022. Since then, he’s often stepped in to lead housing agencies across the region, serving as the interim director of Washington County’s housing department and now the interim director of Portland’s Housing Bureau, a role he’s held for 10 months. Buonocore said he’s “deeply committed” to Home Forward’s success.
“Strengthening our accountability to residents, partners, and the public is the top priority I will carry as interim,” he said in a statement. “I look forward to working alongside this team to do right by the mission.”
It’s not immediately clear who will step into Buonocore’s role at the city. According to city spokesperson Elliott Kozuch, city leaders are still “finalizing a transition plan.”
Along with addressing the pattern of apartment vacancies, Buonocore will be expected to lead an organization in a uniquely challenging financial landscape. Under the Trump administration, federal housing assistance dollars have all but dried up, potentially forcing hundreds into homelessness in the region.
