Murmurs: Metro Ponders Shifting Homeless Tax Dollars to Housing

METRO PONDERS SHIFTING HOMELESS TAX DOLLARS TO HOUSING: On Jan. 16, the Metro Council greenlighted the formation of an independent panel to study shifting a big chunk of money from the 2020 supportive housing services measure to building more affordable housing. The move comes as Metro nears the end of spending $652.8 million from a 2018 housing bond (it will deliver 4,700 units, 20% more than promised), but the regional agency is also collecting more than $100 million annually above what was forecast for the homeless tax to help unhoused people get and stay indoors. Meanwhile, as WW and others have reported, the three big counties have struggled to spend their Metro homeless tax allocations. Polling shows voters would not support a new housing bond to succeed the old one (which would mean a property tax increase), so Metro is asking stakeholders to consider diverting some of the unforeseen homeless tax revenues, a move that business groups are likely to support—that is, if the reformed measure were to include greater accountability and incentives such as a higher threshold for taxation. “We are hearing grave concerns about financing and taxation and grave concerns about housing and homelessness,” Metro Council President Lynn Peterson said. “We have to figure out how to address both at once.”

CITY PARAMEDICS COULD DISTRIBUTE OPIOID ADDICTION TREATMENT MEDICATION: The Portland City Council is set to approve a new pilot program that would allow Portland Fire & Rescue paramedics to hand out medication to treat opioid use disorder. Such medications, the most well known being buprenorphine, help treat addiction by reducing urges. (Buprenorphine is less strictly regulated than its cousin, methadone.) The new program complements another recent initiative from PF&R’s Community Health Section: sending smaller cars to respond to overdoses instead of 80,000-pound ladder trucks. According to a description of the program posted in the City Council’s agenda for Jan. 17, the “city will dispense medication for opioid use disorder and/or attempt follow-up to offer medication and support, care coordination.” It’s an effort to address the overdoses that have skyrocketed downtown as the cheap, powerful opioid fentanyl became the drug of choice on Portland’s streets. The initiative will be funded, at least in part, by a $400,000 grant from CareOregon, the state’s Medicaid insurer.

SIZZLE PIE COOLING OFF: Sizzle Pie, a restaurant group in the Sortis Holdings stable, appears to be losing some of its signature heat. The landlord for Sizzle Pie’s Concordia neighborhood location on Northeast 33rd Avenue filed a lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Jan. 8, alleging that the pizzeria, after signing a seven-year lease that began in July, failed to pay rent for October, November and December, and now owes $22,338. (Sortis Holdings has not yet responded to the lawsuit.) The Port of Portland also says Sizzle Pie will not be the operator of the Sizzle Pie location scheduled to open in the new main terminal at Portland International Airport in May. In other words, it will carry the Sizzle name, but somebody else will make the pizzas. “Sortis informed us last fall that they didn’t have financing to move forward and therefore would not be executing the lease,” PDX business director Chris Czarnecki told WW on Jan. 12. “Sizzle Pie is a strong Portland brand and we believe it would be popular with passengers, so we’re helping facilitate an agreement that would bring in a trusted third-party as the owner and operator of the PDX location. Sortis Holdings has agreed to license the brand.” A Sortis representative declined to comment. WW reported in November that the holding company, which owns such prominent brands as Bamboo Sushi and Water Avenue Coffee, faced several lawsuits (“All Sizzle,” Nov. 8, 2023).

PORTLAND OFFICE MARKET GETS UNEXPECTEDLY CHEERY REPORT: One of the nation’s leading commercial real estate brokerage firms sees some positive signs in the downtown Portland office market. Jones Lang LaSalle released a report on the Portland market Jan. 11, examining activity in the fourth quarter of 2023. The report says more prospective renters are looking for space. “Overall leasing volume held steady in Q4 as the market saw a noticeable increase in tour activity,” the report says. “Decision-makers, who opted for short-term renewals from 2020 to 2022, are now showing more confidence in making long-term commitments for their office space needs, driving increased activity.” While the downtown vacancy rate, which Jones Lang LaSalle pegs at just over 20%, remains high, there are a couple of reasons for optimism. First, the amount of new office space coming to market slowed markedly in the fourth quarter. Second, things are cheaper here than in other West Coast cities. “Portland’s office vacancy is among the lowest of markets JLL tracks nationally,” the report says. “The city’s low cost of living makes it an economical option on the West Coast. The implementation of the Chips Act is expected to increase the formation of startup companies and boost investment in established semiconductor players, creating demand for office and flex [space].”