Elected Officials And Candidates Assure Future FAILURE Of The Public Housing Authority Of Multnomah County

Forty-five elected officials and candidates for offices in Multnomah county governments that have a direct connection to governing and oversight of the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County were asked to choose which of three options best reflected their views on what actions needed to be taken to mitigate the damages caused by the scandal plagued institution and dysfunctional oversight by several governments of the Public Housing Authority Of Multnomah County.

Historical Background And Context

The United States Housing Act of 1937 (often called the Wagner-Steagall Act) provided the funding and subsidies. The Oregon Housing Authorities Law, enacted in 1937 was designed to facilitate the requirements of the federal law and gave cities and counties the legal framework to establish local housing authorities. The legislative machinery which created the Housing Authority of Portland dates from December 11, 1941. HAP was established by the Portland City Council to provide temporary housing for incoming defense and shipyard workers during World War II.

ORS 456 is not a single piece of legislation; it is a compilation of various housing and community development laws passed over many decades. It was primarily codified as a unified chapter during the 1953 reorganization of the Oregon Revised Statutes. ORS 456.110, removal of housing authority commissioners, was created and codified during the reorganization of Oregon laws into the Oregon Revised Statutes in 1953, drawing its original legal authority from the historic Housing Authorities Law passed by the Oregon Legislative Assembly in 1937.

In Summary

The laws governing the scope, operation and oversight of the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County are eighty-nine years old. Over many decades its role and jurisdiction have expanded dramatically resulting in the mayor of Portland continuing to have the clearly outdated singular authority to nominate candidates for the PHAMC board to be approved by the Portland city council. And, to have the singular authority to remove members of the PHAMC board. All the weight of authority remains with the mayor and the Portland city council when that authority, by rights, should have long ago evolved to the Multnomah County Chair and Commission.

The results of this survey of elected officials and viable candidates within Multnomah county in the upcoming November election are very disturbing. They expose unsettling facts about the abundance of individual character flaws and ignorance as well as government and institutional failures related to Oregon’s largest Public Housing Authority that should be of concern to all Oregonians.

Despite overwhelming evidence of an archaic legal structure, scandal, mismanagement, and dysfunctional oversight by the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County board and elected officials, almost all of them are self-deniers who refuse to acknowledge any problem and choose to carry on with business as usual. This is a result of self-inflicted ignorance, fear and political cowardice. It is a virtual tsunami of political failure. Multnomah County Residents Are BIG Losers. Those that support Option A, supporting the status quo, accept that the relevant portions of ORS 456…, established in 1937 are credibly and defensibly serving the public housing needs of Multnomah County citizens as well today as they had for the last eighty-nine years. You should be especially concerned, indeed, very reluctant to vote for or support any of those who believe doing business as usual is the best path forward.

The following elected officials and credible candidates for their offices chose Option A: Status Quo is just fine.

Multnomah County

Multnomah County Commissioner and Chair Candidate Julia Brim Edwards

Multnomah County Chair Candidate Sharon Meieran

Multnomah County Commissioner and Chair Candidate Shannon Singleton [Singleton publicly called for the dismissal of the entire board of the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County and then disappeared. What does this tell voters?]

[It is unfathomable how all three leading candidates for Multnomah County Chair reject the necessary changes and control of the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County without explanation. The implications of this inexplicable behavior are very dark.]

Multnomah County District 2 Candidate Bruce Broussard

Multnomah County District 2 Candidate Serena Cruz

Multnomah County District 2 Candidate Herman Greene

Multnomah County Commissioner Vincent Jones-Dixon

Multnomah County Commissioner Meghan Moyer

Multnomah County District 2 Candidate Bri Williams

Multnomah County District 2 Candidate Nabil Zaghloul

[It is difficult to understand why all these commissioners and candidates reject the necessary changes and control of the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County without explanation.]

Portland

Mayor Keith Wilson [Just another example of Wilson’s inexperience, ignorance and ineptitude with regard to Public Housing Policy.]

District 3 Council Candidate Matthias Hallett, “Your proposed necessary changes don't seem irrational to me.” [I appreciate the observation. However, this is not an affirmative choice.]

My District 2 Councilor, Sameer Kanal [ As one of my district councilors I do not consider this response representative of my view nor those of a majority of the voters in our district. Very disappointing.]

My District 2 Councilor, Councilor Dan Ryan [ As one of my district councilors I do not consider this response representative of my view nor those of a majority of the voters in our district. Very disappointing.]

My District 2 Councilor, Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney “I agree it should be easier for our executive leaders to dismiss board members, just as they can appointees to many other boards and commissions. I am interested in your suggestion (#6) that two of the three legislative bodies, each representing its respective jurisdiction, be able to dismiss any board member … It’s clear that transparency around the work to bring units online needs to improve, and your suggestions in points #10 and #11 are an important start.” [This is clearly the most thoughtful response. However, agreeing that it should be easier to dismiss board members and expressing an “interest” in necessary changes #6, #10 and #11 while welcome they do not count as affirmative action to actually resolve the problem. Perhaps when all of the necessary changes in Option B are submitted to legislators for action in the next legislative session Councilor Pirtle-Guiney will encourage her colleagues to step out of the shadows and join her in the sunlight and testify in support of those changes.]

District 4 Council Candidate TJ Anderson

District 4 Council Candidate Eli Arnold

Councilor Candace Avalos

District 4 Council Candidate Jeremy Beausoleil Smith

Councilor Olivia Clark

District 3 Council Candidate Joel Corcoran

Councilor Jamie Dunphy

District 4 Council Candidate Jamey Evenstar

Councilor Mitchell Green

Councilor Tiffany Koyama-Lane

District 3 Council Candidate Esther Leon

Councilor Angelita Morillo

Councilor Steve Novick

Councilor Loretta Smith

District 3 Council Candidate Tom Sollitt

District 3 Council Candidate Nicole Tignor

District 3 Council Candidate Kellie Torres

Councilor Eric Zimmerman

[Do not expect anything in the way of credible much less successful Public Housing policy from this group.]

Gresham

Mayor Travis Stovall

District 4 Council Candidate Joshua Al-Jaouni

District 4 Council Candidate Krestina Aziz

Councilor Kayla Brown

District 2 Council Candidate Heather Coleman-Cox

District 2 Council Candidate Wil DelPlato

Councilor Janine Gladfelter

Councilor Jerry Hinton

Councilor Cathy Keathley

Councilor Eddy Morales

Councilor Sue Piazza

District 4 Council Candidate Teo Ramirez

[It is interesting that all of these Gresham players rejected increasing their collective power to influence Public Housing policy to benefit their constituents. How unfortunate for the citizens of Gresham.]

Not a single elected official nor any credible candidates for their offices chose Option B: Necessary changes to relevant portions of ORS 456…, which was made into law eighty-nine years ago. [These are the minimum necessary legislative changes required to bring credibility back to the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County. The failure of this magnitude to recognize and act on the glaringly obvious need for legislative and Public Housing policy change is a blight on our community’s competence at democratic self-government.]

1. The name, “Home Forward”, shall be dropped as a disingenuous, and deliberately misleading euphemism and replaced by the name that accurately reflects the nature and purpose of the organization i.e., “The Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County.” *

2. The governing body of The Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County shall consist of nine members; three representing Multnomah county; three representing Portland; two representing Gresham and one representing all the head of household clients of The Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County.

3. The Chair of this board shall be one of the three members representing Multnomah county chosen by majority vote of all the members. If no candidate receives a majority of votes on the first round of voting then the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and a second vote shall be taken. The Multnomah County chair shall cast a deciding vote In the case of a tie of the bottom two candidates.

4. Multnomah county, Portland and Gresham shall by majority vote select candidates to represent their respective jurisdictions. The director of the The Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County shall invite all Housing Authority head of household clients to nominate and vote for a representative. The mechanics of these operations shall be determined by the director. This process shall be approved and overseen by the Multnomah County Chair.

5. The Multnomah County chair, the mayor of Portland and the mayor of Gresham may dismiss any board member representing their respective jurisdictions with or without cause.

6. A majority of the following: The Multnomah County Commission, The Portland City Council and the Gresham City Council may dismiss any board member representing their respective jurisdictions with or without cause.

7. Any two of the following: The Multnomah County chair, the mayor of Portland and the mayor of Gresham may dismiss any board member with or without cause.

8. A majority of two of the following: The Multnomah County Commission, The Portland City Council and the Gresham City Council may dismiss any board member with or without cause.

9. The governor of Oregon may dismiss any board member with or without cause.

10. The director of The Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County shall personally and publicly report quarterly to the board about the number and status of available units that remain unoccupied. Copies of that report shall simultaneously be distributed to the Multnomah County Commission, the Portland City Council and the Gresham City Council.

11. The director of The Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County shall personally and publicly report quarterly to the board about all staff travel expenses. Copies of that report shall simultaneously be distributed to the Multnomah County Commission, the Portland City Council and the Gresham City Council.

Not a single elected official nor any credible candidates for their offices chose Option C: Your legislative proposals [Not a single one of the these councilors, commissioners and candidates had any ideas about how to approach fixing this inadequate, broken, and antiquated system. This is not just distressing it’s pathetic. Something is very wrong here.]

Conclusion

Parts of ORS 456… , related to the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County (aka Home Forward), are dysfunctional, out of date and inadequate to provide credible and defensible Public Housing Services to the citizens of Multnomah county. The legislature needs to update the relevant statutes to reflect the current political reality. Oregon legislators must not join their political brethren who are Disciples of Inaction. The question of whether or not Oregon legislators, who have the power to address these serious problems and are to be asked to pre-file legislation on this matter, will rise to the occasion is yet to be determined.

This survey is a harbinger of more likely bad news to come when we next investigate and analyze with a similar survey the matter and consequences of the existence or nonexistence of Metro’s Rightly Self-declared Authority Over Regional Public Housing Policy.

Richard Ellmyer

Portland resident since 1975.

Oregon Voter since 1971. NAV, Non Affiliated Voter. Citizen Activist.

Campaign manager and legislative assistant to state senator Bill McCoy 1980-1981.

Campaign manager and senior staff to Multnomah county commissioner Gladys McCoy 1981-1984.

Celebrate North Portland award 2016 for Volunteer Work and Service with Political and Social Issues Impacting North Portland.

Certified Oregon Change Agent by Governor John Kitzhaber 2011.

PSU Senior Adult Learner, Spring 2021 - Public Participation GiS, 500 level class

PSU Senior Adult Learner, Spring 2024 - Planning and Housing Markets, 500 level class

Author of more stories on the politics, players and policies of Public Housing in Oregon over the last twenty-five years than all other journalists and elected officials combined.

Project Champion and Data Wrangler - Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps https://www.goodgrowthnw.org/maps

GIS for Activism conference, May 23, 2022, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon

Richard Ellmyer - How I, A Citizen Activist, Used GIS To Effectively Tell A Necessary Yet Unavailable Truth About Public Housing

30 minute Video https://media.pdx.edu/media/t/1_2vrzokta

Lifelong Learning at PSU by Jennifer Jordan-Wong.

LET KNOWLEDGE SERVE THE CITY [Section] “Richard used a course he audited at PSU to create a citizen activist mapping tool to benefit Oregon residents, stakeholders, and policy makers…His interest in mapping as a tool for change began when he noticed that public housing was not being distributed equitably”

https://psucollegeofed.wordpress.com/2022/09/23/lifelong-learning-at-psu/?fbclid=IwAR3S9Pff0mBGeT6Ha8dQeAqL0nAqU7QzZ-0pJC_oTQJxBWlAb2fdXzdE0w4

Author of The Ellmyer Report, a newsletter that informs, educates and influences on public policy. Its target audiences are elected officials, journalists and civically engaged citizens. Facebook, Portland Politics Plus. Contributor: Patch news.

*

https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2026R1/Downloads/PublicTestimonyDocument/252873

February 6, 2026

House Committee on Housing and Homelessness

RE: Support for HB 4123

Dear Chair Marsh, Vice-Chairs Anderson and Breese-Iverson, and Members of the Committee:

Home Forward is The Public Housing Authority (PHA) for Multnomah County

Sincerely,

Christina Dirks

Director of Policy and Planning