Why We Support Dr. Sharon Meieran for Multnomah County Chair

Dr. Sharon Meieran is not in politics to be a politician. She’s an ER doctor who volunteers with Street Medicine. Dr. Meieran saw the crises on our streets and determined the County is the de facto public health authority. She decided that’s where she could use her field expertise to help guide the county in the right direction when she first ran for District 1 Commissioner in 2016.

Commissioner Meieran has made some changes, but not as many as she’d like, which is because the County Chair has full executive power over the county budget and heads of agencies,such as the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS). Dr. Meieran has been trying to get detailed information and data about County programs so we can see what’s working and what isn’t. She–like her constituents–wants to know where all of this taxpayer money is going?

All we hear is “we housed 4500 people last year!” But details are lacking; were these people chronically homeless (outside for more than a year) or were they temporarily couch surfing? Have they remained housed? We hear so many stories of people returning to the streets because something fell through the cracks.So, we need real data to ensure the folks we are managing stay housed.

Commissioner Meieran worked with City Commissioner Dan Ryan to get the county to adopt Built for Zero, a proven database system that tracks houseless folks by name, so we have a true count of who is on the streets and what their barriers to housing are (the Point in Time count is not a real count and it is estimated that the real number is at least double what they say). The County will boast that they have adopted it, but they are not truly implementing it (see Vancouver, WA’s Built for Zero dashboard HERE).

Commissioner Meieran also wants to fast-track public-private partnerships like the two tiny villages she helped create in partnership with local churches. We’ve seen repeated news articles and even recent testimony at City Hall that the private sector is on standby to help where needed. Commissioner Meieran also believes the City and County must work in partnership, and that all cities in Multnomah County should have a seat at the table at the JOHS (currently the City of Portland simply disburses significant funding to Multnomah County, which manages how it is spent).

Commissioner Meieran also wants to immediately locate small, sanctioned camping and parking areas throughout the entire county. Mayor Wheeler’s proposal for three large 100-125 person sanctioned sites is commendable, but is at least a year or more from implementation and will barely put a dent in the issue. Commissioner Meieran knows that today there are numerous locations where the houseless could be legally relocated to enable immediate cleanup of our city streets.

Commissioner Meieran will also declare a public health crisis, which will enable more resources to help immediately. On her first day as Multnomah County Chair she would begin fixing our situation in a transparent manner, i.e., giving the public insight into what’s actually going on with our tax dollars.

Please join us November 8th in voting for change that only Multnomah County can provide. The inaction of the Chair the past eight years has put us in the position we see ourselves in today. 

Commissioner Meieran’s opponent would do nothing but continue the ducking from blame and leave us to rely on the inept City to make meaningful progress. Regardless of whatever charter reform measure passes, we won’t have any change until 2024 at the City level, whereas the county can enact impactful changes IMMEDIATELY.

Vote for Dr. Sharon Meieran for Multnomah County Chair!