The Multnomah County Auditor's Office reported potential overpayments of $1,180,000 on county real estate purchases, including $840,000 above appraised value for the Days Inn Motel site bought for the Homeless Services Department, and found none of the 15 purchases reviewed from 2019 to 2025 had an independent appraisal. Federal and county prosecutors charged the leader of the defunct Los Angeles nonprofit Abundant Blessings with fraud, alleging he pocketed at least $10 million in homelessness funds that flowed through LAHSA. The King County Regional Homelessness Authority laid off 10 staff in the first round of its wind-down while an outside consultant traces $8 million in unreconciled funds. The First Circuit has not ruled on HUD's stay motion in the Continuum of Care NOFO appeal, and the House returns from recess August 31. The national section runs thin today, with one item.
Multnomah County Auditor's Office · 2026-08-26 · on the county auditor's $1.18 million real estate overpayment finding
The Multnomah County Auditor's Office released a performance audit finding potential overpayments of $1,180,000 on two of four county real estate purchases it had retrospectively appraised, including $840,000 above appraised value for the Days Inn Motel site bought for the Homeless Services Department and $340,000 above appraised value for the Oak Street Village site. The audit reported the county relied on commission-based broker price opinions and obtained an independent appraisal for none of the 15 purchases reviewed from 2019 to 2025, a period in which the Facilities and Property Management Division spent $50.4 million on real estate.
The audit recommends the chief operating officer adopt five acquisition policies, including mandatory independent appraisals and board approval for purchases over $1 million, by March 1, 2027.
Street Roots reported that Portland's Impact Reduction Program had conducted 5,491 sweeps between the citywide camping ban's November 1 effective date and August 1, more than 1,248 of them since June, and that coordinated camp removals are suspended during excessive heat warnings while police can still ticket for camping-ban violations. County data cited in the story showed total homelessness in Multnomah County rose from 17,155 people in November to 18,248 by May, and that 75% of people exiting shelters as of May remained homeless.
Portland Police Bureau data cited in the story showed 492 of 1,134 people offered shelter as of June accepted it.
A preliminary review by an Oregon Government Ethics Commission investigator found former Home Forward CEO Ivory Mathews did not obtain authorization for travel spending between 2023 and 2025, including $784.95 for three nights at the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront during a conference Home Forward was hosting and $8,135 charged to the agency for a Hawaii trip. The investigator found a "substantial objective basis" to believe Mathews violated conflict-of-interest and misuse-of-office provisions; Home Forward's general counsel said the agency's travel policy did not apply at the CEO level.
The commission voted unanimously the prior week to open a full investigation; Mathews resigned in May 2025.
The Oregonian · 2026-08-22 · on the pace of Moda Center lease negotiations since the Dundon sale
The Oregonian reported that the pace of Moda Center renovation and lease negotiations has slowed since Tom Dundon's purchase of the team closed in late March, with a December deadline to reach an agreement. Carl Hirsh, a consultant retained by the city for the project, said "The Trail Blazers have not acted like a team focused on a long-term lease"; the team did not directly answer the paper's questions, including how much the proposed terms would cost the franchise over 20 years.
Portland City Council approved a term sheet for Moda Center renovations on August 12; the Blazers' lease at the arena runs through 2030.
Federal and county prosecutors charged Alex Soofer, leader of the now-defunct nonprofit Abundant Blessings, with fraud, alleging he pocketed at least $10 million in homelessness funds that flowed through LAHSA to his nonprofit and his for-profit company. LAist reported that LAHSA's top two compliance officials declared Abundant Blessings "High-Risk" in a May 2024 delinquency notice while the agency continued awarding it new contracts, paying $5 million to the nonprofit through direct contracts starting in 2023. Soofer and the nonprofit agreed last November to pay LAHSA $1.25 million in a settlement; he has pleaded not guilty.
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously August 26 to request a review of LAHSA's 2026 point-in-time homeless count, citing accuracy concerns. The count showed homelessness in District 8 increased 128% from 2025 to 2026, and in one census tract covering the West Park Terrace neighborhood the number of unhoused people observed went from fewer than 20 in recent years to 277 in 2026.
The Los Angeles Times reported August 11 that an accounting error caused nearly half of the increase in the city's 2026 homeless count.
The King County Regional Homelessness Authority made its first round of layoffs August 25: a spokesperson confirmed 10 people were laid off, one resigned beforehand, and six vacant positions will stay vacant, with laid-off staff receiving no severance and one month of paid administrative leave. The same day, the agency's two top executives told a King County Council committee that an outside consultant is still tracing $8 million in unreconciled funds identified by this year's forensic audit, a figure COO William Towey said could be higher.
CEO Kelly Kinnison told staff not to expect additional layoffs until after October 5.
Miami Herald · 2026-08-21 · on Miami-Dade Homeless Trust payments to a sanctioned assisted-living operator
A Miami Herald investigation reported that Jackson Health System paid Roxana Solano's company, Unlimited Senior Solutions, nearly $35.2 million over roughly a decade to place patients in assisted living facilities, including $12 million — 34 percent — involving patients discharged to a home Solano owned. The Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, which hired Solano during the pandemic to run a shelter and find assisted-living beds for incapacitated homeless elders, has paid her $5.7 million since 2023, while Florida's health care regulator cited, fined, and in two cases closed her facilities.
The state halted new admissions to one of Solano's homes in 2019 and closed two others after documented violations.
San Antonio is testing a "decommissioning" strategy for homeless encampments in which the city pauses sweeps of targeted campsites for up to six weeks while outreach workers help residents find housing or shelter, then uses fences, patrols or trespassing enforcement to keep the camps from re-forming. The Express-News reported the city plans to spend $9 million from the 2022 affordable housing bond on new facilities for the homeless, potentially an emergency shelter or transitional housing, to offset a loss of shelter beds.
The city's fiscal year 2025 budget allocated $44 million for homeless services, including the cleanup of 1,300 encampments.
The San Antonio Housing Trust approved a 28-month Homeless Response Action Plan for Cattleman Square, a historic district west of downtown where more than 160 people experiencing homelessness are sleeping near abandoned buildings. Nearly 40 nonprofits and other organizations are participating; the first six months focus on outreach and needs identification, and the plan's first two years could cost more than $12 million.
A draft master plan is expected in October, with the final version potentially available by January.
One fresh national item today: the Ninth Circuit grant-conditions ruling, HUD's MTW offset notice, and the week's housing-data releases all ran in earlier editions; the First Circuit has not ruled on HUD's stay motion in the CoC NOFO appeal, and Congress is in recess until August 31.
Apartment List · 2026-08-26 · on the August 2026 national rent report
Apartment List reported that the national median rent rose 0.1% in August to $1,390, the seventh consecutive monthly increase, while rents remained down 0.8% from August 2025. The national multifamily vacancy index fell to 7.1%, its first decline since late 2021, and the firm said San Francisco and San Jose posted the nation's fastest year-over-year metro rent growth at +11% and +7.9%.
The firm's vacancy index peaked at 7.3% in February 2026, the highest level since its tracking began in 2017.
2026-08-28 — Appearance forms and docketing statements due in First Circuit No. 26-1923 (NAEH v. HUD); the stay motion has been fully briefed since August 24 and the court has said it intends to rule promptly (source)
2026-08-31 — House returns from recess; it must reconcile its CR (through December 4) with the Senate-passed CR (through December 11) ahead of the September 30 funding deadline (source)
2026-08-31 — St. Johns drop-in center closes after Multnomah County pulled funding (source)
2026-08-31 — Portland's council-ordered social housing study final report due, with a City Council presentation to follow (source)
2026-09-01 — KCRHA all-staff meeting on adjustments to the agency's interim organizational structure and workflow (source)
2026-09-08 — Comments due on HUD's proposed rescission of the 2024 floodplain and Federal Flood Risk Management Standard rules (source)
2026-09-14 — Comments due on HUD's CDBG-DR allocation formula notice (Docket No. FR-6337-N-02) (source)
2026-09-30 — FY2026 government funding expires absent a continuing resolution (source)
2026-10-09 — Comments due on HUD's proposed amendments to the Fair Housing Act disparate-impact standard (source)
2026-10-19 — Offset appeals due 5 p.m. ET from original Moving to Work agencies under HUD Notice PIH 2026-22 (source)
2026-11-10 — Trial scheduled to begin for Alex Soofer on charges of pocketing at least $10 million in LAHSA-routed homelessness funds (source)
2027-03-01 — Deadline for Multnomah County's chief operating officer to adopt the five real estate acquisition policies recommended by the county auditor (source)