2024 Portland Election Endorsements

 

Our 2024 endorsement process is complete! Check out the results here and follow our email action alerts or become a member for ways you can support our housing champions in the November election.

Endorsement Criteria

Portland: Neighbors Welcome makes strategic endorsements of candidates who are viable and values-aligned.

  • Values alignment: We will evaluate the candidate’s responses to the Oregon Future’s Lab Switchboard questions and our supplemental questions (available below).

  • Viability: We will assess candidates based on Switchboard answers about campaign strategy, fundraising strength, and more.

how to apply

Portland: Neighbors Welcome is participating in Oregon Futures Lab’s Portland Candidate Switchboard. Candidates applying for our endorsement should complete the Switchboard questions and our supplemental questions to be considered.

We recommend candidates make a copy of our supplemental questions (available below), and draft their answers separately before submitting their application through our Portland: Neighbors Welcome Candidate Endorsement Application. If you have any questions, you can contact team@portlandneighborswelcome.org. Please keep each answer under 1800 characters (roughly 300 words).

Portland: Neighbors Welcome endorsement timeline

Please submit your application by 11:59pm on July 31 to be considered for our endorsement. We will review applications in August and plan to issue endorsements in September.

Endorsement process

Our endorsement process is led by Portland: Neighbors Welcome volunteers. Our volunteer group developed our supplemental questions and will review applications and make endorsement decisions. Portland: Neighbors Welcome will take a cue from peer organizations and share the names of volunteers involved in endorsement decisions to provide transparency in our decision-making. Our endorsement process was created by Matt Tuckerbaum, Andrea Pastor, Luke Norman, Heidi Hart, Michael Andersen, Indi Namkoong, Jennifer Schuch, and Aaron Brown.

Portland: Neighbors Welcome Supplemental Questions

  1. Do you believe that we need more housing of all kinds throughout the city, and particularly in amenity-rich areas, to solve Portland’s housing crisis? If so, have you taken action to support more abundant housing options in the past? What actions would you take while in office?

  2. If you are elected, would you support re-legalizing apartments throughout inner Portland and vote to advance our strategic campaign, Inner Eastside for All? (To support the campaign before the election, reach out to our Equitable Zoning lead, Jennifer Schuch via email here.)

  3. There are a range of revenue strategies for funding affordable housing, including passing another local housing bond, expanding the potential uses of Supportive Housing Services (SHS) funds, reforming the Mortgage Interest Deduction, and expanding Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and/or fully-funded inclusionary housing. Which would you support? Are there any you would add?  Are there any you’d oppose? Why?

  4. What city-level actions beyond rezoning would you support to unlock more homes (e.g., streamlining and accelerating permitting, dedicating portions of City-owned land to new housing development, reducing neighborhood-wide historic preservation designations, changing funding mechanisms for new infrastructure, etc.)?

  5. Which new or existing policies or programs would you advance to increase renter housing safety and stability?

  6. How do you believe we should respond to the immediate crisis of people living on our streets and in shelters? Which policies and programs (e.g., sweeps, Portland Street Response, tiny home villages, camping and sleeping bans) would you expand, sustain, or end?

  7. For new housing and land use policies to be successful, we will need to change our approach to transportation policy and planning. Which transportation policies and investments would you support to advance infill housing production, affordability, and livability in Portland? Which would you oppose? What would you prioritize for the City’s lobbying agenda to ensure the 2025 transportation package supports these goals?

  8. Is there anything else you would like us to know about your positions or background as we consider you for an endorsement?

  9. Are you currently a member of Portland: Neighbors Welcome?