Portland Mayor Keith Wilson is delivering his second State of the City address Friday evening, 14 months into his first term in office.

He is expected to offer an optimistic take on the Rose City’s rebound in response to homelessness, public safety and economic recovery.

Wilson entered office with lofty ambitions to end the homelessness crisis on Portland’s streets and spur economic growth after the pandemic-era decline.

While the number of people experiencing homelessness has increased in the region, Wilson was able to find money to open more than 1,500 overnight shelter beds. Portland is still lagging in attracting new businesses and residents, leading to declining tax revenues that have hurt the city’s bottom line.

On Monday, Wilson will release a budget plan to address a $169 million budget shortfall, a task he has publicly called the “hardest thing he’s ever done” in his career. He’s expected to preview some of that budget proposal in his speech Friday.

Wilson isn’t a stranger to the budget crisis. He entered office last year with a projected $65 million budget deficit, a gap that ballooned to nearly $130 million to pay for his new shelter plan and unexpected other shelter costs. Last year, Wilson proposed balancing this shortfall with citywide layoffs, program cuts, new fees and a reliance on temporary outside funding from other governments. City council eventually adopted a $8.6 billion budget that preserved much of Wilson’s initial proposal.

Wilson will deliver his speech Friday evening at Portland State University’s Hoffman Hall, at an event hosted by the City Club of Portland. After speaking, Wilson will answer questions from New York Times journalist (and one-time Oregon gubernatorial candidate) Nicholas Kristof.

Members of the public can follow a livestream of the event on YouTube.

This story will be updated Friday evening

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/04/17/portland-mayor-keith-wilson-state-of-the-city-address/