Commissioner Ryan builds and maintains bridges with his colleagues on Portland City Council, Multnomah County, state & federal delegations, and partners across all sectors to implement a regional approach toward homelessness that will get Portlanders the services they deserve. "Housing first" or "shelter first" is a false binary: Commissioner Ryan believes we need to build permanent supportive housing, invest in shelters, provide wraparound mental and behavioral health services, innovate with alternative outdoor models, and keep the right-of-way safe for everyone in our City.
Commissioner Ryan is the architect and champion of the City's successful Safe Rest Villages initiative, now helping hundreds of Portlanders take their next step at 9 shelters under City Shelter Services. 42% of Safe Rest Village participants exit the Village to Permanent Housing Situations, a remarkable statistic in homeless services. Learn more about Safe Rest Villages.
We can do it all, together.
Safe Rest Villages
When he was elected in 2020, Commissioner Ryan promised Portlanders he would deliver action on homelessness—that's why he launched the City's Safe Rest Villages initiative, securing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to build outdoor shelters with wraparound services. Today, there are 9 shelters in the Safe Rest Village system that help unhoused Portlanders take their next step on their pathway from streets to stability.
Commissioner Ryan knew he would need to break down silos and bend the status quo to accomplish this new shelter model in a shelter-resistant community, and Portland's Safe Rest Villages now serve as the regional model for outdoor shelters in the Pacific Northwest. Plans for Safe Rest Village expansion are underway as of 2024.
The path to Safe Rest Villages hasn't been easy.
In April of 2021, Portland City Council unanimously passed the Shelter to Housing Continuum—this changed the zoning code to expand options to address the needs of our city’s homeless population and are now recognized as legitimate under the land-use code.
In June of 2021, Portland City Council unanimously passed the Streets to Stability ordinance, which set the stage for Safe Rest Villages and allocated federal funds from the American Rescue Plan for Village development.
These regulatory changes and funding streams were necessary to assemble a team of dedicated Portlanders with lived experience to realize Commissioner Ryan's Safe Rest Village vision.
In 2023, Mayor Wheeler built on Commissioner Ryan's Safe Rest Village model to create the City's Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites (TASS) program, which operates larger outdoor shelters serving unhoused Portlanders on the path to stability. Now, the Safe Rest Villages program lives with the Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites in City Shelter Services.
Learn more about City Shelter Services & Safe Rest Villages.
Read the Safe Rest Villages 2022-23 Annual Report.
Joint Office of Homeless Services & Supportive Housing Services
Commissioner Ryan served as the City's liaison to the Joint Office of Homeless Services and worked with the Mayor's office and his colleagues on City Council to improve the City's relationship with Multnomah County regarding shared responsibility of addressing homelessness in the City of Portland. In his roles, he has also worked extensively with Metro and contributed to oversight of the Supportive Housing Services (SHS) funds.
Commissioner Ryan continues to push Multnomah County and the Joint Office of Homeless Services for transparency, accountability, and good governance in addressing the number one crisis facing our region. Commissioner Ryan successfully expanded the SHS SOC to include one behavioral health expert who is not a current provider with the Parties and an SHS taxpayer who is a non-Portland resident. System change work happens when you shake up the existing system of power, and that starts with changing who has a seat at the table.
Read the City's 2024 Audit of the Joint Office of Homeless Services.
Read Commissioner Ryan's full statement on voting against the Multnomah County Joint Office of Homeless Services Intergovernmental Agreement.
Portland Housing Bureau
Commissioner Ryan served as Portland's Housing Commissioner upon taking office in September 2020 through January 2023. Commissioner Ryan's priorities overseeing the Portland Housing Bureau were responding to the housing and COVID-19 crises by stabilizing renters and preventing displacement, facilitating safe and sustainable affordable housing development, and creating new pathways to first-time homeownership in our City. Commissioner Ryan believes that housing is a human right and that the pathway from streets to stability is a continuum—we need to meet people where they are, from Safe Rest Villages to Permanent Supportive Housing to homeownership.
In the time that Commissioner Ryan oversaw the Portland Housing Bureau, the bureau produced 977 units, housing an estimated 2,238 Portlanders—PHB achieved one of its highest housing production years in 2022.
