Street Roots Executive Director Israel Bayer is Leaving the Paper

Israel Bayer, the Portland nonprofit newspaper publisher who has become this city's leading voice on reforming homelessness policy, announced this morning that he'll be stepping down from his position at Street Roots at the end of this year.

Bayer has been working at Street Roots, founded in 1998, for the past 15 years. He plans on spending his first six months off the job writing a book and hopes to "take a breather" before moving forward.

The board of directors is currently working on a transition plan. Executive Editor Joanne Zuhl will remain in her position.

"Ultimately, from a reader perspective, you're not going to see much of a change. The organization will march on through the good times and bad, just like it always has," Bayer wrote this morning in his departure announcement.

Readers can find Street Roots at seemingly every Portland street corner: The paper is vended by homeless people who get to keep part of the dollar revenue for each issue they sell. Under Bayer, the paper increased its publication cycle from monthly to weekly.

Bayer has performed the roles of publisher and circulation director for the paper. But he has also seized the bully pulpit to become one of Portland's leading moral authorities on homelessness, even as the number of people living on the city's streets. That has often meant serving on task forces to develop Portland policies—and just as often meant demanding funding and policy reforms, especially an ending of homeless-camp sweeps.

"Personally, I've always tried to lead the organization in a way that wasn't geared toward doing the popular thing, but the right thing — for both the organization and people on the streets," Bayer stated.

Here is his full statement: