Multnomah County will hold a special election on May 16, 2023, to fill the vacancy created when Commission Jessica Vega Pederson becomes board chair on Jan. 1.
The Multnomah County Commission voted unanimously Thursday to direct $28 million in excess funds toward an array of rental assistance programs, dodging a request from Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office to spend some of those dollars on the city’s mass homeless encampment plan. Due to an unpredicted influx in revenue collected through the regional homeless services tax in the past fiscal year, the county has more than $28 million in one-time funds available to spend on.