Commissioner Rubio Statement on Joint Office of Homeless Services Intergovernmental Agreement

"Colleagues, I supported the extension of the current IGA last year because it gave us the time we needed to define the next iteration of our partnership with the County.

"It is my belief that it is only together, combining our resources and growing expertise, that we can build the better systems and results that Portlanders are counting on.   

"It's been a long road. We knew that we needed more data-driven decisions to track progress, increase accountability, and provide greater transparency and role clarity.  

"And we knew that we wanted greater collaboration and partnership on the city's Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites, which we created a plan for, then found partners who know how to do this work with dignity, and are now seeing the very real benefits for the City leaning in and trying something new. 

"My team had the opportunity to provide input on the Homelessness Response Action Plan as it was being drafted to ensure that the strategies in there - including those in Goal 6 related to Housing - are in alignment with our work here at the City. I also participated in the shelter expansion workgroup to define how we will grow the number of needed shelters, and targeted populations served.

"Fast-forward to today - to a pivotal point in our relationship and work together. With this new agreement, we are redefining our relationship with Multnomah County - to one that is a more accountable and transparent way forward as we navigate our way through, and to the end of, our homelessness crisis.

"This is a leadership moment. Now is the time to really lean in and double down on getting people out of tents and into shelters - and get them the services they need to be ready and successful in permanent housing.

"That takes time, as there are no magic wands or quick solutions, but recent data shows we can be successful. Under this agreement, we have the best hope, to date, that we will finally see the change we all want to see.

"I also want to reiterate my position related to tents and tarps since that issue has garnered so much attention. As I shared with County leadership weeks ago, a tent and tarp policy must be shaped and implemented responsibly - a policy where we reduce them over time as shelter beds increase.

"We first must know how, when, and to whom tents and tarps get distributed, which involves more than 80 organizations that have their own policies not dictated by the Joint Office. Then, after evaluating how organizations are approaching this work, we need to take into account the availability of shelter beds.

"This is how we can balance accountability with the reality of needing to protect humans from the elements. That's real and factual. If we don't do it right, by reducing tents in coordination with increasing shelters, we could be creating a worse situation out on the streets than what we see today.

"Back to the leadership moment before us: With the full support of every elected body in this region and our state, we are on track to build a fuller continuum of support for many different individual needs, and provide a path away from a houseless crisis and, over time, to housing for all.  

"A vote against this is, in effect, a rejection of the leadership alignment that has been built over the past year plus - and is the ONLY reason why we were able to garner $50 million from the State. That money is helping to fund our collective strategy - and the soon-to-come-online drop-off center for first responders. Without leadership alignment, the State would have never awarded our City and County those investments.

"The past may have gotten us here, but we DO comprise a new constellation of leadership at every government body, and we are actively changing the past, sometimes fraught trajectory to one that is working and moving Portland forward - and in the right direction.  

"So as an elected leader who is ready and willing to take responsibility for the way forward, with our colleagues at the County and our Governor, I vote aye."