In the past, Portland has been described as having a homelessness crisis. Now, Mayor Mark Dion is saying the city can’t support the unhoused population of a county on its own. 

When asked about a potential solution, Dion said, “I would put shelters on a county platform.” The idea would include an equitable county tax to have nearby towns contribute. 

“The communities … may not want to have a shelter in their city or town, but if Portland’s going to have it, they’re going to contribute based on the fact that we may have many of their residents inside our facility,” said Dion. 

While Dion says the idea is currently just a “place to start a conversation,” he notes that other public facilities are run and funded in this way. 

“We do that with the jail. No one wants a jail. Everybody denies that any of their residents are in a jail, but they’ve all agreed, as a matter of equity, they contribute to having a jail function.”

The future funding method of shelters is still to be determined, but Dion said something has to be done about the population of unhoused individuals on the Congress Street corridor. The area has recently seen drug use, vandalism, and loitering.

“It’s got a real negative, adverse consequence for business owners,” said Dion. “Right now, what we’re looking at is to increase police presence” and “a team that’s going to go out and do the cleaning and pick up the litter.”

Long term, the Committee on Public Safety met yesterday to discuss a potential space for unhoused individuals during the day. The area would likely include food and would work as a meeting space for social services. If the new facility were not used by those on Congress Street, Dion believes “there’s an arguable point to say they’ve lost the ability to make a best interest decision for themselves, and we have to consider that.” 

“Court-ordered treatment may be a path we’ll have to more fully develop in order to deal with the fact that they reject every other offer,” said Dion.