Mayor Wheeler Denies HUD Smoking Ban Applies To Portland/Mult. Co

Below are several sources announcing a smoking ban at PUBLIC HOUSING Agencies, one of which is the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County.

Since mayor Wheeler has denied the existence of PUBLIC HOUING in Portland/Multnomah County since he took office, the question arose: Does mayor Wheeler acknowledge that ALL of the units controlled by the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County are, in fact, PUBLIC HOUSING units and subject to the smoking ban?

Wheeler indicated that because he does not recognize that Portland/Multnomah County has PUBLIC HOUSING it follows that you can NOT enforce a smoking ban in PUBLIC HOUSING units that DO NOT EXIST.

Wheeler’s view is meaningful because he has the singular statutory authority to control the board and policies of the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County. Wheeler has always referred to units controlled by the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County as “affordable housing” units despite the fact that as a HUD Public Housing Agency ALL of its units are considered PUBLIC HOUSING units by HUD and subject to the smoking ban.

In addition, most PUBLIC HOUSING is NOT affordable housing, as defined below.

Are the board and staff obliged to enforce HUD’s Smoking Ban on Public Housing this July 31 despite their boss’s insistence that there is NO PUBLIC HOUSING in Portland/Multnomah County? It’s a dilemma.

If they enforce the ban as HUD demands then they give the lie to Wheeler’s denial of PUBLIC HOUSING.

Don’t look to the local media for help here. They all have bought into Wheeler’s language trick. He always uses affordable housing when he refers to PUBLIC HOUSING because nobody is against affordable housing. But tell people you want their money to put PUBLIC HOUSING in their “backyard”, that’s another story.

Don’t forget, Ted Wheeler has zero PUBLIC HOUSING in his neighborhood. My Portsmouth neighborhood has about 40 percent and Wheeler is still adding more.

Very soon The Elllmyer Report will publish real data on how many and where are the PUBLIC HOUSING UNITS located in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties, including the PUBLIC HOUSING consequences should the Metro housing bond pass.

Stay tuned. Be a high information voter.

— Richard Ellmyer

• North Portland political activist for 42 years.
• Author of more stories on the politics, players and policies of Public Housing in Oregon over the last seventeen years than all other journalists and elected officials combined.
• Author of The Ellmyer Report, a newsletter that informs, educates and influences on public policy. Occasionally distributed to more than a quarter of million readers in Oregon and beyond.
• Facebook, Portland Politics Plus.
• Contributor: Patch.com

Resources:

Smoke-free Public Housing and Multifamily Properties

• U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development

HUD to ban smoking in all public housing starting July 31

• KGW News

Smoking in and near public housing will be banned at the end of July

• KPTV News

Smoking ban in all public housing starts July 31

• KATU News

Note

PUBLIC HOUSING is a class of housing defined as, Means Test (<=80%MFI) + Government Subsidy (any government any type) + rental agreement. Every client, i.e. more than 30,000 , of the Public Housing Authority of Multnomah County meets the definition of PUBLIC HOUSING client.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING is a mathematical construct defined as, Rent/Mortgage + Insurance + Taxes + Utilities <=30% Household Income. EVERY house, condo and apartment is AFFORDABLE to someone.