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Multnomah County has two key races on the ballot that will determine new faces on the Board of Commissioners. Both races are runoff elections because candidates did not achieve more than 50% of the vote in May.
OPB asked candidates for these races the same questions. Candidates were instructed to limit responses to 150 words. Anything beyond that word count was eliminated, even mid-sentence. Responses are otherwise untouched and presented as received. Read Sam Adams’ responses here.
To start, please give us your name and basic biographical details, including your current position or job, any elected offices you have held and any key facts you would like voters to know about you.
My name is Shannon Singleton. I currently work as an equity consultant, focused on community engagement and advocacy. I have not held elected office, but I have been appointed to a variety of community leadership positions, including serving as Co-Chair of the Portland Housing Advisory Commission, the A Home for Everyone Coordinating Committee, and Metro’s Affordable Housing Bond Oversight Committee.
Shannon Singleton is a candidate for Multnomah County Commission in 2024.
Andie Petkus Photography
I was raised in a working class family in the Philadelphia area, studied social work at Temple University and later completed my Masters of Social Work at Portland State University where I also served as an adjunct instructor. For almost 30 years I’ve devoted myself personally and professionally to addressing the major challenges facing our communities, including homelessness, domestic and sexual violence, supporting youth in a foster care setting, behavioral healthcare, and criminal justice reform.
What makes you the best candidate to serve on the county commission during this time?
I offer a combination of service delivery, leadership, policy and program development, and lived experience that goes to the heart of Multnomah County’s work on behalf of the community. I have practiced social work for almost 30 years, serving people experiencing trauma, homelessness, and behavioral health disorders, writing and implementing policy and budgets, and advocating for people’s basic rights. While Director of Equity and Racial Justice for Governor Brown, I worked with the Racial Justice Council and state agencies to develop policy and budget recommendations for health care, housing and homelessness, criminal justice reform, and economic justice. At Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, I led programs for people experiencing homelessness and severe mental illnesses. As Executive Director of JOIN, I oversaw programs that helped hundreds of families every year return to permanent housing. This unique combination of experiences will allow me to lead the long-overdue transformation of critical services at Multnomah County.
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Portland and Multnomah County have a sometimes challenging relationship. Why is that and what would you do as a commissioner to foster a better working relationship?
Our two local governments have been struggling to work together because they haven’t settled on a shared set of goals for their work in homelessness. I have hope that the new Multnomah County Commission and the new Portland City Council will be able to bridge that gap. I have strong relationships with many of the candidates running for city council and I have a track record of working across partisan and ideological divides to get things done. I’m running because I’m tired of watching the politicians bicker about who’s right. It is time to turn the page on the politics of chaos and finger pointing and move forward with a leader who has the proven track record of bringing people together to move forward solutions to serve our community.
Do you favor allowing supportive housing services dollars to be spent on building more affordable housing? Why or why not?
I support using some of the SHS money for new housing for the households with the lowest incomes and want to be sure that we are not only looking at new development opportunities but also acquisition and land banking opportunities. We are collecting unexpected amounts in revenue and I believe we can both build new housing and continue to expand services to meet the County’s goals for the homeless services measure.
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Public statements in recent weeks from the Joint Office indicate it believes it has turned a corner in successfully spending supportive housing services dollars in an efficacious manner. Do you agree or disagree?
It appears that the Joint Office is doing a better job of ensuring that supportive housing services funds are reaching people experiencing homelessness in our community. That said, I am committed to community accountability. That means holding institutions, including the Joint Office, accountable for the effectiveness of their policies and investments. While the Joint Office has made progress on spending, there is more work they need to do to effectively address homelessness. For example, the County needs to do a better job of keeping people who move into housing from falling back into homelessness. Multnomah County needs to invest in a housing retention system that responds to the needs of the person housed and supports them in rebuilding a community of support, while also providing support to landlords and property managers. A robust housing retention system is a critical component to any effective response to homelessness.
Beyond housing and homelessness, what do you see as the biggest challenges facing the county and what specific policies do you suggest to address it?
Our economy is not working for too many families in our community. For a lot of people, that means losing their housing. For many others it means living on the edge – they have just enough as long as nothing breaks. That’s an impossible place for people to be, and we need to work collectively to improve job opportunities and workforce development opportunities in the trades and other good paying jobs to help people improve their lives and thrive. We also need to improve access to healthcare countywide and strengthen our public safety system, including addressing serious safety concerns in our jails. Finally, we have to close the gaps in County systems, people shouldn’t be exiting jail or future sobering beds only to sleep on the streets again. We must capitalize on opportunities where people needing county services can access those regardless of which county department they interact with first.
How do you envision working in your role with the newly expanded City Council, if at all?
I am really excited about the new city council. For starters, it will be great to have city councilors with direct relationships with constituents in District 2. I think it will allow us to focus on how to solve problems that are more specific or prevalent in our district. A lot of people are ready for us to turn the page on the last decade of noisy, bitter politics and build a more hopeful future for our community. I’m ready to start that work with our new city council and have been working with a number of city council candidates in all four districts as we are out on the campaign trail because we are all looking forward to working together to put egos aside and work on solutions for our community.
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What’s one thing Multnomah County could learn from Clackamas County?
I think Clackamas County has done a really good job of implementing the SHS program in a way that works for their community. They spent the time to build the system they needed. I know the folks who are doing that work and respect what they’ve built in a short period of time. I would love to see more collaboration between Clackamas, Washington, and Multnomah County on this work as the people we serve cross our jurisdictional boundaries every day and we need to continue taking a regional approach to this work. We can all learn from each other. And when we do, it means the people we serve are getting higher quality of care.