PORTLAND, Ore. — Just a few weeks before Multnomah County is set to present the city of Portland with an updated policy around tent and tarp distribution, city commissioner and mayoral candidate Rene Gonzalez — who is part of a new Joint Office of Homeless Services steering committee — is proposing restrictions around how often county service providers can hand out those supplies, which for better or worse have become part of the fabric of Portland.
“I think we owe it to our taxpayers, to our residents to continue to fight to clean up our sidewalks,” said Gonzalez in an interview with KGW on Wednesday.
Multnomah County’s budget includes $230,000 to buy more than 6,000 tents for homeless people. County data shows that last year they gave out more than 24,000 tarps under what’s considered “harm reduction.”…