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Three Portland city councilors say they’re troubled by Home Forward CEO Ivory Mathews’ travel expenditures after WW reported that she spent more than $100,000 on agency-funded travel between 2023 and 2025. Three other councilors say the agency’s finances and practices merit a closer inspection.
Their statements add to mounting pressure on Mathews and Home Forward’s board; since WW revealed Mathews’ dozens of trips to housing conferences across the country, the union representing more than half of the housing authority’s employees has said it has “no confidence or trust” anymore in Mathews' leadership, even as the agency’s board has largely defended Mathews’ travel.
An October 2024 trip that Mathews took to Hawaii—she says to attend an insurance conference—remains obscured from public view after Home Forward declined to provide any concrete details to WW about Mathews’ attendance—including any notes she took during the conference, her itinerary, or a list of specific conference events she attended while there.
As a public corporation, Home Forward is in many ways autonomous from local government. But the Portland mayor appoints board members based on the recommendations of local advisers (including the cities of Gresham and Portland, Multnomah County, and a tenant recommended by Home Forward), and the Portland City Council is the final stamp of approval for board appointments. That means the council and Mayor Keith Wilson have some oversight over Home Forward, insofar as they have a say in selecting its board members.
Six councilors provided statements to WW about Mathews’ travel.
Councilor Steve Novick says in a statement that he spends much of his time arguing that “the perception that government is inherently wasteful and inefficient is inaccurate” but that spending $33,000 a year on travel “just doesn’t past the smell test.”
“It adds fuel to the argument that government is all about waste, fraud and abuse,” Novick says. “I think public officials should be mindful of one of the rules we lawyers are subject to—‘avoid even the appearance of impropriety.’ Thirty-three thousand dollars a year on travel creates the appearance of impropriety.”
Councilor Dan Ryan says he doesn’t think Mathews’ travel was a “responsible use of taxpayer funds.” He adds: “It doesn’t make sense for the Home Forward CEO to be out of office, traveling more than one month of the year and at a significant expense, when their properties are in crisis. That crisis should have been getting all of the CEO’s time and attention.”
Councilor Angelita Morillo says the agency’s leadership has an “obligation to ensure those dollars are spent appropriately and to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.” She added that the union’s concerns about Mathews’ leadership “deserve to be heard and addressed through the proper channels.”
(Councilor Eric Zimmerman has previously said: “When an organization is in crisis, you expect leaders to be present. I think the hundreds of vacant units and six-month average vacancy is damning information. The Home Forward board of commissioners and the executive team need to be fully engaged in turning this around, and I have deep concerns about the future of Home Forward.”)
Other councilors expressed concerns about Home Forward’s operations more broadly.
Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney, who attended a forum at a North Portland church in January during which tenants of the Dawson Park Apartments, a Home Forward building, begged agency leaders and local elected officials to take their concerns about safety and drug dealing seriously, said she expects Home Forward leaders to prioritize “building maintenance, getting empty units back online, security needs, and investment in meeting our City’s housing goals.”
Pirtle-Guiney did not say anything specific to Mathews’ travel expenses.
“After everything we’ve learned, we clearly need a closer look at Home Forward,” Councilor Olivia Clark said. “The new form of government affords us a greater accountability that I hope will deliver clarity.”
Mayor Keith Wilson earlier this week said he “expects public agencies to use taxpayer and ratepayer dollars responsibly and to stay focused on their core responsibilities.”
The elected officials made their remarks before WW reported Thursday evening that Mathews took 10 Home Forward staff with her to an Orlando conference in 2024. While there, some of her staff helped her campaign for a national association board position, an agency spokesman said last week.
While Mathews spent an average of 45 days each year out of the state traveling to conferences between 2023 and 2025 (and campaigning, unopposed, for the national leadership position), Home Forward’s portfolio of 7,000 affordable housing units was struggling. Its overall portfolio was inching closer to financial distress. Its residents complained of drug dealing inside buildings and a lack of security measures to prevent intruders. As of November 2025, 955 units lay empty, and it took Home Forward an average of 185 days to fill them.
The board and Mathews have consistently defended her travel.
“My participation in national affordable housing work ensures Home Forward is connected to best practices, peer agencies, and federal policy decisions that directly impact our funding and operations,” Mathews told WW last week. “That perspective helps strengthen how we respond to challenges locally, while our team continues to make progress on key priorities.”
