City Councilor Pious Ali has asked the City Council to reconsider its approval of a new licensing program for emergency shelters in Portland – a move that pushes the issue before the incoming council, where its fate is uncertain.

Ali said Tuesday that he hasn’t formed his own position on the program. He said he voted to support it Monday only so he could call on the council to reconsider it at its next meeting, a maneuver that can be made by only a councilor on the prevailing side.

Ali was among three councilors who asked for a workshop on the proposal, in which questions could be asked in an informal environment, but that request was voted down 5-3.

After raising the possibility of reconsideration, Ali formally made the request about 15 minutes after the council meeting ended and about an hour after the council approved the measure in a 7-1 vote, with only Councilor Andrew Zarro opposing.

“Unfortunately it looked at that time (that) there were not enough votes to give them a workshop,” Ali said of the incoming councilors. “I would benefit from a workshop before I finally decide on which direction I will go.”

Monday was the last meeting of the current council, and a new council, with three new councilors, is scheduled to be sworn in Dec. 6, when the reconsideration will likely take place.

Mayor Kate Snyder said she would prefer that councilors allow the licensing program to take effect and then go back and make any necessary changes through amendments, rather than voting down the entire proposal – which was pitched as a compromise between service providers and others asking for more accountability to neighborhoods. She’s worried that a new council may scuttle the licensing program, which was about a year in the making in committee.

“I think there’s value to work that’s been done in the committee in the last year or more,” Snyder said. “I think what will happen is we’ll probably reconsider, vote it down and we won’t have any of this additional language included in the ordinance.”

Councilor Belinda Ray, who worked on the shelter licensing issue over the last year, did not seek re-election and is being replaced by Anna Trevorrow in District 1. At-large City Councilor Nicholas Mavodones also decided against seeking re-election, ending a 30-year career in elected office. He will be replaced by Roberto Rodriguez. And Victoria Pelletier is the incoming councilor in District 2, a seat previously held by Spencer Thibodeau, who resigned in September to take a job in the federal government.

The licensing program would require monthly meetings with neighborhoods, though domestic violence shelters could request waivers from rules to protect their clients. It also would prohibit more than 300 shelter beds from existing within a one-mile radius and require shelters to be spaced at least 1,000 feet apart – measures intended to prevent concentrating shelters in one neighborhood, as has been the case in Bayside. Existing shelters would need to get licensed, but would be exempt from the spacing requirements.

The new program also would establish an annual fee for shelters to cover its administrative costs. Smaller shelters with up to 40 beds would be charged $250 a year, while larger shelters would be charged $500 a year.

It would fall to the council to grant waivers and approve initial licenses. Renewals would be handled administratively, unless flagged by staff or a councilor for further discussion.

Fournier said in a text message that she was not available for an interview Tuesday. But she wrote that some of her unanswered questions about the program center on equity, a word that did not appear in the licensing proposal. She also said that recommendations from the Racial Equity Steering Committee concerning criminal trespass orders were not included. She said she wanted to give service providers more input and questioned whether people experiencing homelessness had been consulted.

In an Instagram video posted shortly after noon, she said that she did not have enough time to ask all of her questions at Monday’s meeting. And she said she wanted to hear more from shelter providers. Two, Milestone Recovery and Through These Doors, voiced opposition to the new program during the meeting.

Rebecca Hobbs, executive director of Through These Doors, was worried that meeting with neighbors and other requirements could compromise the safety and confidentiality of shelter clients. City attorneys pointed out that domestic violence shelters could receive waivers.

Oliver Bradeen, executive director of Milestone Recovery, noted that the committee increased the density cap to 300 beds at his request. But the nonprofit, which operates a 41-bed shelter for men actively using substances, still opposed the measure out of concern that would make it impossible to locate shelters downtown.

Fournier said in her video on Tuesday that she does not support the shelter licensing proposal, even though she voted for it.

“I oppose this measure,” Fournier said. “But I voted yes last night so I may have the opportunity to reconsider our vote at the next council meeting.”

Fournier said that she asked the Health & Human Services and Public Safety Committee in July about holding a workshop on the licensing proposal. She said Chairman Tae Chong said they would relay the request, but that did not occur.

“I have learned another hard lesson – that it’s difficult to trust others to follow through on what they say they’re going to do and it really falls on your own shoulders to make sure the work gets done,” she said in her video.

The shelter licensing was on the council’s agenda for a first reading on Nov. 1. Snyder said Fournier did not express an interest about holding a workshop to her until Monday.

The council has been busy since July. After not meeting in August, it has debated mask mandates, faced a citizen referendum, gotten agreements in place for the new homeless services center in Riverton, discussed an ongoing lawsuit over clean elections, planned a search for a new city manager and allocated more than $14 million in federal coronavirus recovery funding.

Chong said the workshop was likely lost amid other council business. But he said councilors had plenty of time to bring it up before Monday’s meeting. He noted that Fournier and Zarro, who voted against the program, had attended many of the committee meetings when it was being discussed and drafted.

Chong noted that councilors answered the questions raised by providers on Monday night.

“When an ordinance passes 7-1, I don’t see the controversy,” Chong said. “If the need is to have more discussion, we spent as much time asking questions last night as we would have in a workshop. We also didn’t have many speakers last night and those who spoke – their questions were previously answered and then answered again.”

Fournier said in her video that she is looking forward to working with the new council.

“I am really, really excited for inauguration day.”

Copy the Story Link