Portland is no stranger to difficult choices, especially when it comes to addressing our ongoing affordable housing crisis. The recent debate before the Portland City Council over how to allocate “found” Housing Bureau dollars is a clear example: a range of worthy proposals, each reflecting urgent and legitimate needs across our community.
We do not underestimate the challenge of prioritizing among them.
But some choices carry greater moral and practical weight than others. The request put forward by Central City Concern and New Narrative was one of those choices. We asked for a modest investment to preserve deeply affordable housing for Portlanders living with severe substance use disorders, serious mental illness, and complex medical conditions—individuals experiencing homelessness and living with the highest acuity behavioral health needs.
These are the people most often seen in the background of viral videos and neighborhood complaints—the individuals whose visible suffering fuels fear, frustration, and anger among residents and business owners. They are also the people our systems are least equipped to serve.
When the City Council declined to fund this request, it sent a troubling message: that even in a moment of opportunity, we are willing to look past those who need help the most.
To be clear, there were councilors who recognized the urgency of this need. We are grateful to Councilors Pirtley-Guiney, Ryan, Clark, and Smith for their votes in support on April 8. Their leadership reflects an understanding that addressing homelessness and behavioral health at its most severe is not optional—it is foundational to any real progress.
But the broader decision reveals a deeper concern about the direction of our city’s leadership.
Organizations like Central City Concern, New Narrative, and a small network of providers are tasked with caring for Portland’s most vulnerable residents—those who do not thrive in traditional shelters and who require stable, supportive housing paired with intensive services. Yet both our behavioral health system and our permanent supportive housing infrastructure remain chronically underfunded.
The result is a system that asks the most vulnerable to survive in conditions that would otherwise warrant hospital-level care. Instead, they live outside, cycle through shelters, or reside in deeply affordable housing that lacks the resources needed to meet their needs. This not only perpetuates individual suffering but also destabilizes the broader community and its economy.
Portland has reached a pivotal moment. As noted in All In On Portland’s Central City: A Roadmap to Reclaim, Rebuild, and Reconnect (June 2025), “homelessness and visible disorder have created powerful negative perceptions, even as progress has emerged beneath the surface.” Both realities are true—and both demand action. Ignoring those with the highest needs is not a viable path forward. It undermines public confidence, strains community resources, and perpetuates the very conditions we claim to be addressing.
This is why the recent decision by the Portland City Council is so concerning. It reflects a pattern of short-term thinking and a lack of alignment with the scale and complexity of the challenges before us. At a time when collaboration and clarity of purpose are essential, we instead see fragmentation and competing agendas.
Portland deserves better.
We need leadership that is fully informed, coordinated, and willing to make difficult but necessary investments—especially when they serve those who are too often overlooked. Addressing the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors is not just an act of compassion; it is a prerequisite for a healthier, safer, and more resilient city.
The question is not whether we can afford to act. It is whether we can afford not to.
Co-authored by Julie Ibrahim, LPC, CEO of New Narrative and Dr. Andy Mendenhall, President and CEO of Central City Concern.
