Is Hales Using Homelessness To Win Re-Election?

Friday, October 02, 2015

Brendan Murray, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Charlie Hales speaks at a press conference announcing the $30 million for a home for everyone

Portland's political experts agree that Mayor Charlie Hales may attempt to make homelessness the signature issue in his race for re-election. Whether or not Hales' fight against homelessness is sincere or political is up for debate.

On Wednesday, Hales announced a $30 million investment in A Home for Everyone, a homeless shelter run by the City of Portland and Multnomah County.

“You don’t make a move like this unless the political climate is right,” Jim Moore, Director of the Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation at Pacific University, told GoLocal. “The timing is right when you have an election coming up, or you have talked to stakeholders like the homeless community and the Downtown Business Association. If you have both of those things, then the timing is definitely right.”

Hales’ announcement of the $30 million investment comes just two weeks after the Mayor asked the City Council to declare a state of emergency regarding homelessness in Portland.

Proving His Effectiveness

Rebecca Tweed, Political and Communications Director for State Street Solutions, told GoLocal that she believes Hales is making “a smart and hopefully sincere move,” to address homelessness, which she predicts will be one the major issues in the race.

“From talking to people in Portland, I think it’s on top of the list of priorities for voters,” Tweed said of homelessness. “I think Mayor Hales is recognizing how much of an issue it is to citizens. He’s capitalizing on it by taking a strong position and showing that he can be a leader on an important issue to the city.”

Tweed said Hales’ decision to attack homelessness was wise, because he is in a position of power on the issue over his opponent, Ted Wheeler.

“I do think that because Hales is still Mayor, this is something that he can work on over the course of the election, while Wheeler really cannot,” Tweed said. “The Mayor can use his position to make this a platform issue by making sure to do a lot of work on it during the campaign while his opponent can really only talk about it.

Len Bergstein, a political analyst and President of Northwest Strategies, Inc., agreed with Tweed’s take. He told GoLocal that the election would likely turn on key progressive issues such as homelessness.

“As an incumbent, he has a real need to present a progressive agenda that will stack up against Ted Wheeler,” Bergstein said. “Homelessness is an issue that is on the mouths of every progressive in the city, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he would act on it.”

For his part, Wheeler’s spokesman, Jake Weigler, said that “when Ted declared his candidacy, he named homelessness and housing affordability as top priorities. We expect to release multiple proposals on the subject as the campaign continues.” He declined to share details about any of the proposals.

Roads to Become a Non-Issue?

Moore also said that Hales seems to be trying to shift emphasis away from the crumbling state of Portland’s roads. Hales has tried and failed to pass resolutions regarding street fees and repairs during his term, and last week he agreed with Wheeler, saying he would support a gas tax just days after his spokesman told GoLocal he was not in favor of a gas tax.

“He will absolutely try to get people to think about homelessness instead of the roads,” Moore, with Pacific University, said. “The road repairs are essentially going to become a non-issue. By emphasizing homelessness and signing on to a similar solution on the roads as Wheeler, he has really evened the playing field.”

Bergstein agreed. He said that elections in Portland are “almost always about the future,” and so Hales will try to shift focus away from the mistakes earlier in his terms, like his stumbles with street fees.

“Anything that Hales can do as an incumbent to show what his agenda of the future is about, he wants to do,” Bergstein said. “This is a big issue for progressives in the city and it can help quiet critiques of things that went wrong in his first term, like with the streets.”