Mayor Keith Wilson was elected in November with a pledge to end homeless camping on Portland’s streets within one year. On Wednesday, he explained to regional leaders just how he wants to accomplish that goal.

“We face a crisis that feels overwhelming,” said Wilson during a morning meeting with local county and city officials who oversee the region’s new homelessness response plan. “I believe we can solve this crisis and help suffering neighbors on our streets.”

As anticipated, the plan centers on investing in nighttime-only shelters to relocate people sleeping outside. Wilson’s goal is to open 3,000 night shelter beds by December to accommodate the estimated 5,398 unsheltered people living in Multnomah County. Half of those beds can be funded by dollars already set aside for shelters, like the regional supportive housing services funds, but 1,500 are unfunded. He aims to pair these new shelters with additional shelters open only during the day and new storage facilities that people living outside can use. He proposes opening one day shelter and storage facility in each of the city’s four council districts.

Wilson estimates this costing around $28 million for the first year, and $24 million the second year. Wilson, who will present this plan to Portland City Council Wednesday afternoon, said he hopes the state and federal government could help the city and county foot the bill. Both the city and county face substantial funding gaps in their upcoming budgets.

“We’re going to require help,” he said.

Wilson’s proposal was met with cautious optimism – and skepticism – from the region’s top officials and longtime homelessness experts.

Both Multnomah Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and Jillian Schoene, director of Multnomah County’s Homelessness Response System, questioned Wilson’s cost estimates.

Schoene noted that the current winter nighttime shelters, which are the region’s only nighttime shelters, cost up to $55 per person per night – not the $35 nightly cost included in the mayor’s proposal. Wilson said that number is an estimate, based on the wide range of operating costs for nonprofit shelters.

Vega Pederson urged Wilson to meet with county shelter staff.

“We need to be agreeing on what something is going to cost,” she said. “My concern is that, if we go by numbers that are lower than what the reality is, we’re going to end up at a place where we’re going to need more resources.”

Schoene also questioned the drive to open both new nighttime and daytime shelters instead of shelters that are open 24/7, to keep people from having to move multiple times. She said the cost to operate one 24/7 shelter was equivalent to opening up two shelters limited to day or night use.

The city and county currently operate dozens of 24/7 shelters with space for nearly 3,000 people in all. According to the county, the county’s unsheltered population is nearly twice that amount.

Wilson has long argued that nighttime shelters are the missing piece to the region’s homeless shelter network. He said it would be wasteful to open more 24/7 shelters.

“In a fully functioning society, you just need something for somebody at night because they’re working the next day or they’re down on their luck,” Wilson said Wednesday. “You don’t need as many day centers as you do need the beds at night.”

Others on the oversight board expressed optimism in Wilson’s plan. City Councilor Eric Zimmerman is the only councilor on the board. He said Wilson’s plan “challenges the status quo” in a way the region needs.

“I think, with the mayor’s election, Portland has introduced a desire for a new operating scheme,” Zimmerman said.

He urged leaders to take a chance on a bold plan, and iron out the funding after.

“I’m not sure that the question is ‘What does it cost?’” he said. “I think more of the question for me is, ‘What do we value?’ …and then tackle the cost.”

Wilson’s plan proposes winding down shelter costs after the first year, suggesting that the number of unsheltered people needing a place to sleep will decline.

Marisa Zapata is the director of Portland State University’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, which studies the causes and solutions to homelessness. She questioned how Wilson’s plan will end unsheltered homelessness without a strategy to move people into housing.

“This is not a plan for ending unsheltered homelessness,” said Zapata. “This is a plan to attempt to have fewer people outside overnight. But they will still be homeless. This will be an ongoing cost if there’s no investment in housing by the city.”

Zapata pointed to another cost not accounted for in Wilson’s plan: enforcement. Per Wilson’s proposal, he will direct law enforcement to start enforcing the city’s public camping ban in December, once the city meets its shelter capacity needs. Yet there’s no budget for how much it could cost to increase police enforcement and cover jail costs to ticket or arrest people who violate the camping ban.

“It’s going to increase costs beyond just shelter operations,” she said. “Where is that budgeted for?”

Along with enforcing the city’s camping rules, Wilson’s proposal also directs the city to stop following the state law that requires staff give people 72-hour notice before removing a homeless encampment. It’s not immediately clear how his office plans to skirt that law, or if he intends on lobbying the state Legislature to overhaul it.

Wilson said he will present a more in-depth version of his proposal to Portland City Council at 2 pm.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/01/22/portland-mayor-keith-wilson-pitches-28-million-plan-to-end-unsheltered-homelessness/