Willamette Week · on the three Multnomah County chair candidates on Sunstone Way contract oversight
In WW endorsement interviews, chair candidates Shannon Singleton, Sharon Meieran and Julia Brim-Edwards each answered what oversight should have caught Sunstone Way, the homeless services nonprofit the county said in June had billed $3.6 million in unallowable expenses since 2024 and which has since shut down. Singleton said county fiscal monitoring is done “more as a spot check” and that underperforming contractors should lose funding; Meieran said focusing on individual contracts “will just continue to manage decline” and called for contracting that ties spending to results; Brim-Edwards said her budget note requires outcomes to be entered in the county’s contract management system, with a review of all county contracts possible in January. WW noted the county has spent some $150 million a year in Supportive Housing Services tax dollars since 2021.
The county’s letter alleging $3.6 million in unallowable Sunstone Way billing went out in June 2026; the November 3 chair election is the county’s first using ranked-choice voting.
The Oregonian/OregonLive · on an exit interview with departing Portland Solutions director Skyler Brocker-Knapp
The Oregonian published an exit interview with Skyler Brocker-Knapp, the departing director of Portland Solutions, who has run the operational side of the city's shelter expansion under Mayors Wheeler and Wilson since 2021. The paper described the city-county partnership as deeply strained when she joined in 2021; Brocker-Knapp said of the relationship now, "I think we're at a really good place," and said the regional homeless services tax "has provided a lot of really important money to a system that desperately needed it" while adding changes could be made to it, including recognizing the role cities play in the region.
The Oregonian reported Brocker-Knapp's planned departure on August 12.
KGW · on a Straight Talk interview on Metro's housing and homelessness role
In a Straight Talk interview, Metro Council President Juan Carlos Gonzalez said the regional government must move beyond its original growth-management mandate, with housing and workforce development rising to the fore. KGW's promotion of the interview said the Portland area is headed for a housing and homelessness funding cliff that could cause thousands of people to lose their housing.
Metro's supportive housing services tax, which funds homeless services in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties, expires in 2030 unless renewed.
Street Roots · on Homeless Services Department director Nathaniel VerGow's funding outlook
In an hour-long Street Roots interview, new Homeless Services Department director Nathaniel VerGow said $15 million to $20 million in county HUD funding could be at risk, with roughly 40% of HUD-funded programs forced into national competition and Tier 1 renewals capped at 60% versus roughly 90% or higher in prior years. He said Metro's supportive housing services tax now supplies 60% of HSD's budget and has housed more than 10,000 people, and that the county is converting rapid-rehousing programs to transitional housing in response to HUD restrictions.
VerGow told OPB the prior week that the agency must do as much if not more with less against a $67 million budget gap.