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On June 20, the political action committee Everyone Deserves Safe Shelter returned over $350,000 in contibutions from donors. including real estate developers Killian Pacific and Schnitzer Properties, among other powerhouses.
Everyone Deserves Safe Shelter is the political action committee formed this spring to support a ballot initiative proposed by People for Portland, the advocacy group that sought to reroute most of a Metro tax measure meant for supportive housing instead to emergency shelter.
Upwards of $367,000 was refunded to donors—the PAC raised a total of $454,000 and spent a total of $86,000. Those refunds became public on an online database Wednesday afternoon but appear to have been filed June 20.
The returns come after People for Portland failed to produce a ballot initiative that would be up to legal snuff for the November ballot. The group attempted to file a ballot initiative that would reroute 75% of supportive housing dollars produced from a regional tax to emergency shelter as frustrations over homelessness have boiled over.
People for Portland has appealed to the frustrations of Portlanders over trash and homelessness for more than a year now. Its campaign has successfully drummed up support from some of the city’s biggest and most powerful real estate developers. But twice the group’s proposed ballot language was shot down by Metro attorneys.
The PAC returned $40,000 to five different companies.
It appears the PAC has only $514 left in its coffers.
The group attempted to appeal the decision in Multnomah County Circuit Court, but a judge upheld Metro’s ruling in May.
The return of donations signals that People for Portland has likely abandoned hope of getting any initiative to the November ballot.
While the group hasn’t gone totally dormant, there’s been little talk of what it might do next when it still had over $350,000 in their pockets. Now, nearly all of that money has been returned to donors.
People for Portland did not immediately return requests for comment.