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As tensions over finding shelter for Portland's homeless people came to a boil in May, Mayor Charlie Hales started texting.
The city faced the closure of the Jerome Sears Center in Southwest Portland. Hales had promised the neighborhood he'd close the temporary shelter after six months and find a new place to put the 165 people living there. On May 20, Multnomah County Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury told The Oregonian that Hales, "at the 11th hour, is worried about his ego more than he's worried about the lives of 165 people in the shelter."
Text messages first obtained by KXL Radio show Hales and his then-chief of staff, Josh Alpert, were considering every possibility—including turning the first floor of Portland City Hall into a homeless shelter. That idea was first raised by Marc Jolin, who manages homelessness for the county. Then the Oregonian story broke, and burned up the big idea.
Ultimately, the 165 people were relocated to the Peace Shelter, a temporary space owned by Barry and Jordan Menashe. The partnership with the county is back on, too: The people sheltered in the Menashe space will soon move to the county-owned Hansen Building on Northeast 122nd Avenue.
Willamette Week