Meet Chad Lykins, candidate for Portland City Council District 4

Editor’s note: Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Stay informed with OPB on the presidential race, key congressional battles and other local contests and ballot measures in Oregon and Southwest Washington at opb.org/elections.

Portland is facing a historic election involving a new voting system and an unusually high number of candidates. Journalists at The Oregonian/OregonLive and Oregon Public Broadcasting share a goal of ensuring that Portland voters have the information they need to make informed choices, and we also know candidates’ time is valuable and limited.

That’s why the two news organizations teamed up this cycle to solicit Portland City Council candidates’ perspectives on the big issues in this election. Here’s what they had to say.

Name: Chad Lykins

Age: 43

Pronouns: He/him

Neighborhood: Hayhurst

Are you a renter or homeowner? Homeowner

Education: Ph.D. Leadership & Policy, Vanderbilt University; BA College of Charleston Occupation: Small business owner, Rose City Chess, former assistant professor, University of Hong Kong and policy researcher

How long you’ve lived in the city of Portland: 11 years

For each of the following questions, we asked candidates to limit their answers to 150 words.

Name two existing city policies or budget items you’d make it a priority to change. Why did you select those and how do you plan to line up at least 7 votes on the council to make them happen? Please avoid broad, sweeping statements and instead provide details.

The City Council needs to notch a couple of easy wins while we learn to work together. Here are two areas around which there is crossover appeal between more progressive and less progressive candidates:

Zoning reform: Upzoning large parts of the city for mixed-use and greater density is an important first step to achieving housing affordability. Portland: Neighbors Welcome Inner Eastside for All is a good model with broad crossover support.

Permitting and siting high-quality shelters: There are prominent right-leaning candidates who want to force houseless folks into mass encampments, but they are increasingly on the fringes. I think we can get at least 7 votes to approve siting and permitting twenty new Safe Rest Villages and motel shelters with wraparound services. We can also have an RFP out to every motel owner asking them to list their selling price.

What previous accomplishments show that you are the best pick in your district? Please be specific.

There are two things that set me apart from the other great candidates in District 4:

1. I have an unmatched connection to the families in District 4. My small business, Rose City Chess, runs after-school programs in several public schools in District 4. I’m very proud to have the endorsement of the Portland Association of Teachers. People in District 4 know how hard I work to serve them, they know my values, and they know how hard I will fight for them in city hall.
2. I have deep leadership and policy experience. In addition to earning a PhD in Leadership and Policy from Vanderbilt and being a former board member of a housing nonprofit, I was Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong, where I led research on education and inequality. I understand the impact evidence-based leadership can have and how to work with people from a wide variety of backgrounds.

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Portland is on track to permit the fewest number of multifamily units in 15 years and remains thousands of units below what’s needed to meet demand. What steps would you take to dramatically and quickly increase the availability of housing?

We can improve housing affordability by building upon the success of our most vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods. I support increasing zoned capacity for housing, especially in transit and resource rich areas, amending height restrictions for affordable housing, and changing zoning to create neighborhoods that are mixed-use, mixed age, and mixed ability.

We can reduce barriers to affordable housing production by expediting permits and reducing system development charges, reducing barriers for converting ADUs and spare rooms into long-term rentals, allowing variances for projects that exceed requirements for affordable housing, and waiving fees for multi-family housing, and exploring a plan to create social housing and other forms of non-market housing.

We should build on the work currently headed by Commissioner Carmen Rubio to centralize permitting within the new Portland Permitting and Development Bureau.

The next City Council is going to have to make some very difficult decisions regarding what to fund and how. What essential services must the city provide and how should the city sustainably fund them?

We need to prioritize investments that pay the highest rates of return. Providing shelter and resourcing permitting staff are high on that list. Good shelters save us from overspending on things like sanitation and court costs, while speedy permits lead to higher home production and property tax revenue.

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Portlanders have approved many tax measures in the past decade – supporting affordable housing, free preschool programs and green energy initiatives. Are there specific taxes or levies you want eliminated or would choose to not renew? Are there specific taxes or levies you would support creating? Why?

I support the proposed changes to the Metro Supportive Housing Services tax to allow SHS funds to be used for the construction of permanent supportive housing.

TIF districts have been a critical tool to fund affordable housing in Portland. I support the new Central City TIF districts proposed by Prosper Portland.

PBOT’s budget crisis is caused by dependence on gas taxes and downtown parking fees. As revenues derived from fossil fuel consumption dry up, PBOT will likely pivot to either a transportation utility fee or utility rate increases. I will advocate that any changes do not place an undue burden on low-income residents.

Our local tax burden is high, which is one reason I remain skeptical of so-called “sanctioned campsites” that fail to comply with HUD requirements for federal shelter funds. I’d hate to lose federal and state dollars.

The Arts Tax is due for a deep rethink.

Do you have any concerns with the changes coming to city elections and city governance? If so, what would you like to see change?

Concerning the election:

I’m concerned the city hasn’t dedicated enough resources to voter education. There needs to be a stronger effort. City council reduced the public match, which gives even greater weight to independent expenditures. Candidates need clearer guidelines about collaboration between campaigns so that everyone can play by the same set of rules.

Concerning governance:

I’m concerned the mayor may abuse their power. City council cannot remove from office anyone other than the police chief and city administrator. The mayor could leave either role vacant and appoint their campaign manager (or some other loyalist) as assistant city administrator, a role that does not need council approval. They could then conduct a lengthy search for the city administrator role and only suggest people they know would be rejected. In this way, they effectively make it impossible for council to remove the assistant administrator, who is actually running all the bureaus.

Related: Listen to 'OPB Politics Now'

For the five remaining questions, we asked candidates to answer in 50 words or fewer:

Do you favor arresting and jailing people who camp on public property in Portland who refuse repeated offers of shelter, such as the option to sleep in a city-designated tiny home cluster?

Time, place, and manner restrictions are reasonable. Trying to arrest our way out of homelessness is delusional. We need a better system of sheltering people that features some fundamental requirements, the simplest of which is to give each person wraparound services and a private room with a door that locks.

Would you vote yes on a proposal to fund hundreds more police officers than the City Council has already authorized? Why or why not? How would the city pay for it?

I support hiring more patrol officers and empowering them to keep people and property safe. I also support focusing our police on police work by fully funding CHAT, PSR, and expanding the number of Police Support Specialists.

The city could begin funding them by not wasting money on misguided appeals.

Do you support putting the Clean Energy Fund measure back on the ballot? What, if any changes, would you support?

No, and in general it should not be used to fund bureaus. The only exception is in cases in which a program is only realistically funded by the government and not a community organization (for instance, certain transportation projects).

Which would you prioritize: Creation of more protected bike lanes and priority bus lanes or improved surfacing of existing degraded driving lanes?

My priority is safety and cost-effectiveness. Making it safer for cyclists and transit-users leads to fewer automobiles on the road, which leads to less deterioration of driving lanes, which leads to happier people all around.

Have the problems impacting downtown Portland received too much or too little attention from current city leaders? Why?

Too much attention has been paid to performative gestures like sweeps and too little attention has been paid to rapidly siting and permitting places for sheltering, sobering, detoxing, and receiving treatment.