Politics
Portland councilor weighs hearings on conditions at Home Forward properties
Councilor Sameer Kanal said he may seek oversight hearings into the public housing authority after questions about board members’ access to its buildings and the absence of its interim director at a City Council meeting. Three nominees for vacant board seats advanced to the full council.
A Portland City Council committee advanced three nominees for vacant Home Forward board seats Wednesday as Councilor Sameer Kanal raised the possibility of formal hearings into the housing authority’s management and property conditions.
Kanal, who chairs the council’s Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole, said he wanted a wider discussion about accountability at Home Forward, the region’s public housing authority. He said he was inclined to have councilors question agency officials in oversight hearings, similar to a council inquiry in April into millions of dollars in Portland Housing Bureau funds that went unbudgeted and unspent.
The discussion followed Kanal’s question about whether Home Forward board members could inspect common areas in the authority’s buildings. Board Chair Jenny Kim said members did not have automatic access and that agency leaders would need to discuss whether that could change.
Kanal also said he was disappointed that interim executive director Michael Buonocore did not attend the meeting. Kim and board Vice Chair Cathy Keathley were there. Home Forward was consequently back on Kanal’s list of potential oversight topics, he said, adding that he wanted to ensure councilors could have that discussion.
Portland’s charter gives the City Council authority to investigate city boards and departments, including the power to compel sworn testimony and the release of relevant records.
Home Forward has faced mounting scrutiny over reported problems at its properties, including drug dealing, violent crime, flood damage, pest infestations and deteriorating living conditions. The authority has acknowledged problems, while pointing to the difficult economics of affordable housing and Oregon’s underfunded behavioral health system as contributing factors.
One of the three nominees, tax attorney Thomas Kemper, told councilors he was stunned by reports of assaults and unexplained deaths at Hollywood East, Home Forward’s largest apartment complex, in Northeast Portland. He said the complex would be the first he would want to visit if appointed.
Reports have described a case in which Home Forward did not use an expedited 24-hour eviction process after a tenant was accused of violence, instead issuing warnings. The tenant later assaulted a woman and is serving a prison sentence of nearly 17 years. Kemper said the agency’s response concerned him.
The other nominees are Home Forward tenant Brian Harvey and Gresham business owner Uriah Edmunds. The committee voted 11-0 to advance all three candidates, with one councilor absent. The full council’s vote on the appointments has not been scheduled.