Portland Metro Challenges

By Cliff Hockley, President of Bluestone and Hockley Real Estate Services Executive Director, SVN | Bluestone and Hockley

A review of the issues facing us in 2021

With the re-election of Mayor Ted Wheeler and Mingus Maps and Dan Ryan as City Commissioners, the city of Portland has turned a corner towards moderation, and it is not a moment too soon.

Portland has been gripped by so many challenges this year that it makes your head spin. This overview will give you a taste of some of the challenges ahead for the next twenty-four months. Portland region. It will enact two new taxes starting in January 2021: •1% marginal income tax on individuals earning more than $125,000 annually or couples who earn more than $200,000; and •1% tax on the profits of businesses with annual gross receipts of more than $5 million. Those taxes will be distributed to the tri-county area based on population and will fund services including case management, rental assistance, and addiction and mental health treatment.

Homelessness

The Homelessness problem has grown in leaps and bounds over the last few years. Portland and Seattle seem to have become meccas for homeless people. There are shelters, warm food, medical care, and organizations standing by to help. Word is on the street, so to speak, that homeless people can set up camp in the public right of way and not face arrest. There are so many homeless, that even if they were arrested, they would be released the next day because there is not enough jail space.

It appears that the city and Multnomah County have finally arrived at a strategy of encouraging homeless people off of tenants in the city’s right of way and parks, and into buildings and camps, where services such as clean water, power and restrooms exist. This takes many of the homeless off of the street and is a good start. The next necessary step is to reduce the cost and regulations involved with new construction of workforce housing, in order to deliver rental units to the marketplace for lower-income renters. The mayor has a plan: Move the tents and campers into large, managed camps. “We’re also gonna have to look at bigger strategies, like extending our managed camp system, potentially creating areas that are safe camp areas where people know that if they pitch a tent and there are some areas – perhaps out by the airport – there are some areas closer to the central city, if we identify those places and say look, in a pinch you can camp here,” he said.

Additionally, the Bybee Lakes Hope Center has opened in North Portland which could house close to 500 people in emergency and long-term beds once renovations are completed. At this moment close to 25 people are living and working on their recovery in what was once the Wapato jail. Founder Alan Evans said the Bybee Lakes Hope Center is transitioning to operating as a homeless shelter in North Portland. The number of occupants is far lower than the goal, because of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

The goal of this program is to transition homeless people off the streets. It provides services to those experiencing homelessness who are ready to make sustainable changes to achieve self-sufficiency. They serve men, women, and children and operate sober campuses. They have two eligibility requirements for their clients: they must be willing to be clean and sober and they cannot be a registered sex offender.

In addition, METRO the regional government for the Portland metro area is raising a tax base of upwards of $250 million per year to support people experiencing homelessness in the

Civil Unrest

Riots affected downtown Portland after the death of George Floyd. Many buildings in downtown, close to the justice center and the police headquarters were damaged and spray painted. With the advent of the winter and the cold weather, and the increasing Covid cases, the riots have slowed, but not evaporated. Originally started as a response to the Black Lives Matter, the movement has been challenged by anarchists protesting against big business, who prefer to damage property rather than march peacefully to accomplish change.

The protests are limited to commercial areas of the central business district and the inner northeast and southeast sides of town, but they are a threat to businesses and are a sober reminder that it continues to be difficult to do business in Portland.

The word has spread across America, via press coverage, and national businesses are hesitant to invest in Portland until the protests and concomitant property damage is stopped. The city council recognizes this and is working through solutions to this problem.

Covid

What can one say about COVID-19? The world is locked down and businesses, especially downtown businesses in office and retail buildings, have encouraged their staff to work from home. This is good and bad. A double-edged sword so to speak. With no workers downtown, retail businesses are having trouble staying open because they lack sales. At the same time, those workers are better able to protect themselves from Covid. Unfortunately, reduced sales revenues mean more layoffs and a reduced tax base as well.

Oregon’s governor issued Executive Order 20-65 on the 17th of November 2020 that instituted a “Temporary Freeze” to control the surging Covid 19 cases. This Order intended to reduce the circulation of Oregonians and protect the most vulnerable from Covid 19 and included new limitations on gatherings of people, with a particular focus on Holiday gatherings, travel, and work. On December 2nd, the date Executive Order 20-65 was set to expire, the Governor issued Executive Order 20-66 which replaced the previous Order and provided for a county-bycounty risk-based metics approach. The biggest challenge to this order is the restriction on food and drinking establishments, basically limiting them to delivery service options and outside dining. This is a repeat of a former (continued on page 6)