Troubles at Home Forward
October’s article about Home Forward’s proposed development at Northwest Ninth and Johnson [“Broken housing system,” October 2026] revisits several troubling Portland themes.
A Pearl District Neighborhood Association board member wonders why Home Forward keeps building. I think the answer is staring back at us. A housing builder must keep building to justify its staffing and budget. Ironically, the front-page caption, “Far Left: Home Forward …” offers an unintentionally amusing commentary.
Construction costs, vacancies and leasing concessions suggest Home Forward may not be the answer. We constantly hear Oregon has a housing shortage, but rarely discuss what kind of housing is needed. If subsidized apartments require concessions to attract tenants, perhaps Portland already has more of that product than the market wants. Even Home Forward is subject to supply and demand.
According to the article, Home Forward’s own development director, Jonathan Trutt, acknowledges that evicting drug users or problem tenants is extraordinarily difficult, with little support from police or courts. Private landlords know this problem well. Tenant protections are important, but when they protect bad actors from consequences, responsible tenants and neighbors unduly bear the burden. Some residents need support beyond subsidized rent.
Portland must stop confusing construction activity with successful housing policy. Success means safe, occupied, well-maintained communities where misconduct has consequences. It should be measured by outcomes, not dollars spent.
Max Brunke
NW Pettygrove St.
Red Scare treatment
I am shocked and appalled to see that the NW Examiner is conducting a campaign directed at Councilor Mitch Green. Clearly, you do not agree with his statements of the past as a socialist.
Your articles, editorials and choice of opinion letters reek of Red Scare McCarthyism from the 1950s.
It is enough using your journalistic power to endorse a candidate of your liking. That action reduces the Examiner to one of being a political hack, not surprising in this age. To delve into a person’s past, and likely well-meaning idealistic statements, and use that as destructive fodder is nothing more than modern day McCarthyism.
You should be ashamed of your actions, Allan. As a longtime reader and supporter, I am disappointed. Maybe it’s time to retire.
Rich Miller
NW Raleigh St.
Green lacking in judgment
Good judgment is one of the most important characteristics for anyone wanting to be an elected official overseeing our city. Before being elected to City Council, Mitch Green tweeted that “the left should riot more,” that he felt “pure hatred for the Portland police” and that businesses suffering from graffiti should “clean up your own mess” and stop “leaching off the community.” He has more recently stated that those tweets were not a good “look.”
After being elected, he failed to pay his 2025 property taxes until contacted by an Oregonian reporter. Do we want him having oversight on how to spend millions of dollars for the city if he misses paying his own taxes?
This past summer, as wildfires were being fought throughout much of Oregon, he decided to burn brush in his own backyard, violating multiple burn bans. Because of significant lapses in judgment, I sincerely hope Mitch Green is not reelected.
Frederick Wearn
NW 11th Ave.
The reader on NW Raleigh who opined that criticism of Mitch Green was unfair by the Examiner and reeked of “McCarthyism” had me laughing our loud. What world does that reader live in where common sense…makes no sense. You need police regardless whether you like them or not as what is the alternative-“Call a strident progressive next time you’re in trouble.” I love Portland but am embarrassed with many of the politicians, mostly Democrats, who have done such a poor job of delivering common sense solutions for our city and Multnomah County. I happen to be a Democrat and over the last 50 years have voted for some Republicans who I believed to be rational legislators. I can’t even think about that now due to the MAGA movement but I have hope that more Portlanders will elect politicians with common sense who actually get things done.
Allan, you are my trusted news source. You are objective and honest.
Mitch Green's texts alone about our police force were reprehensible and deserve to disqualify him.