(Mayor Ted Wheeler pictured at Portland City Hall. Gordon Friedman/The Oregonian)

BY GORDON R. FRIEDMAN

Nearly half way through his first term as mayor, Ted Wheeler said Monday the job is harder than he imagined given the dizzying array of problems he must deal with.

But he said he has delivered on every campaign promise to combat homelessness and add affordable housing and he believes Portland is “making progress” where it counts.

During a wide-ranging interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive at City Hall, the mayor also vented his frustrations at just how powerless he and the city are to stanch the increasing numbers of homelessness people and the profound lack of affordable housing.

Read more: Excerpts of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler's interview with The Oregonian

Don't Edit

(In this Sept. 20, 2017, file photo, a pedestrian walks past a man sleeping on a public sidewalk in downtown Portland, Ore. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Wheeler touted budgets passed during his tenure that increase spending on homelessness prevention, shelters and programs that transition people from the streets into apartments. He said spending on affordable housing is at record levels and that thousands have been moved from shelters or the streets into housing by city homelessness prevention programs.

Yet the mayor said he has grown resigned that Portland’s homelessness problem is “nearly intractable.” Despite a majority of the public being “lulled” into believing the city can solve it alone, that is not true, he said.

Wheeler lay blame at the feet of the federal government, citing a decades-long decline in housing investments; the ever-worsening American addiction crisis; and inadequate services for the mentally ill.

“We have an obligation at the local level to do everything we can with the resources we have. And we do those things,” Wheeler said. “But we’re never going to solve homelessness – not here in Portland, not here in any major city in America – if we keep assuming that it is purely a local issue.”

He added later: “If people are expecting the mayor of Portland to solve the problem of homelessness they’re going to be sorely disappointed and that’s just the truth.”

Don't Edit

(The Oregonian/OregonLive file)

Wheeler campaigned on making a considerable dent in the problem.

In his "Comprehensive Approach to Addressing Homelessness" laid out during his campaign, Wheeler pledged to establish work programs for the homeless, limit camp sweeps, expand the number of shelter beds, enact a "Tenant's Bill of Rights" that bans no-cause evictions, and other reforms.

Many of those promises remain unfulfilled, although Wheeler did help secure approval for significant tenant protections and a new shelter that will be able to accommodate more than 100 homeless people along Southeast Foster Road. The city does not provide scores of jobs for homeless people who want to work; the population living and sleeping on the streets still numbers in the thousands; and the city’s stock of affordable housing remains far too paltry.

Wheeler’s own take on his anti-homelessness efforts is quite rosy. Ticking off a half-dozen of his campaign pledges, he said, “I’ve delivered on every one of those counts and I’ve delivered in a substantial way.”

It is true that the number of publicly funded homeless shelter beds has doubled to about 1,300 since 2015. But plans for the additional beds were set in motion mostly before Wheeler took office.

Camps still dot neighborhoods citywide, and sweeps are regular. Tenant protections have strengthened, with renters who are evicted without cause or subjected to 10 percent rent hikes entitled to significant relocation payments. But no-cause evictions remain.

Asked about a recently published investigation from The Oregonian/OregonLive showing homeless people accounted for more than half the city arrests in 2017, Wheeler said the statistics weren't convincing but agreed the analysis warrants "further evaluation."

The city Independent Police Review has launched an inquiry.

Don't Edit

(Kristyna Wentz-Graff/The Oregonian)

Defending his progress implementing the $258 million housing bond adopted by Portland voters, Wheeler said nearly half the 1,300 promised units are already “delivered.”

Though hundreds of units are planned, only 313 units financed by the bond are available to rent or near-ready, according to the city's housing bond progress website. When asked what he meant by "delivered," the mayor said "delivered or in the pipeline."

Wheeler said he will deliver the promised units regardless, within pre-set timelines and "probably a lot faster." He said that in 2019 the city will open triple the number of affordable housing units as the year prior to when he took office.

To make even more progress, he implored voters to approve both a housing bond on November ballots, put forth by regional government Metro, and an amendment to the Oregon Constitution that would allow Portland and other cities to spend bond proceeds on affordable housing projects developed or owned by entities other than the city.

Don't Edit

(U.S. Senate candidate for Washington, Joey Gibson, left, who is the leader of Vancouver-based Patriot Prayer, leads a rally in downtown Portland, Ore., Saturday, June 30, 2018. Mark Graves/The Oregonian)

Asked whether he will allow protesters to continue holding rallies that invariably become public brawls spanning blocks of downtown Portland, Wheeler said he will – and that he faces a “no-win” situation.

Referencing the right-wing Patriot Prayer group that holds rallies near City Hall and has sparred verbally and physically with critics, he said, “It’s no secret that I’m no fan of the people from Vancouver who come down here and spout their venom.”

He recalled a decision made last year when he attempted to stop Patriot Prayer from obtaining a protest permit. The decision came days after the fatal stabbings on a MAX train by a man who had attended protest demonstrations.

“Frankly, I was worried about public safety and so was the Police Bureau. They were concerned about mass casualties as one potential outcome,” he said of his efforts to avert the planned rally. “I was uniformly excoriated by the press for that decision.”

Wheeler said his view now is that all should be allowed to exercise their First Amendment rights and police will intervene if necessary.

“We’re in what I think is in the best place we can be as a police force and as a city, which is protect the public,” he said.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Wheeler made it clear he feels the job of mayor is exasperating.

“It’s not a fun job. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that it’s fun. It’s not a fun job. It’s a meaningful job,” he said.

Wheeler said he is constantly forced to address what he called the “crises du jour,” a Sisyphean existence that he said distracts from his policy agenda.

“I get up in the morning and by the time I’ve gone to bed there’s three or four or five new crises that weren’t there when I started the day,” he said. “That’s what being mayor of Portland is about.”

Asked if he will run for a second term – and be the first mayor to do so Vera Katz – Wheeler said he is undecided.

“At the end of the day we have to evaluate if it’s a good fit,” he said. “Is it a good fit for me? Is it a good fit for the public? Am I right guy for them? It’s too early to tell.”

-- Gordon R. Friedman

GFriedman@Oregonian.com

503-221-8209