OREGON
A8 — THE OBSERVER
THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2022
Drazan: Declare state of emergency for homeless crisis
GOP gubernatorial
candidate unveils
campaign issue
roadmap
with a debate over the best
way to reduce homelessness.
Some business groups have
called for more encampment
sweeps and stricter enforce-
ment of anti-camping ordi-
nances, while others want
more investment in social
services and aff ordable
housing.
“We have to provide fl ex-
ibility in shelter space, we
have to provide the right
kinds of shelter space based
on the populations we have
out there,” Drazan said. “We
can’t give up on anybody
and we cannot allow this to
continue.”
Homelessness and
housing are also top issues
for the two other candidates
in Oregon’s gubernatorial
race.
By CLAIRE RUSH
The Associated Press/Report
for America
PORTLAND — The
Republican candidate for
governor, Christine Drazan,
on Monday, Aug. 8, called
for declaring a state of
emergency on homeless-
ness in Oregon as she seeks
to distinguish herself in a
three-way race.
Drazan’s unveiling of her
state of emer-
gency proposal
was included
in a campaign
issue roadmap.
Much of the
plan released
Aug. 8 con-
Drazan
tains points
the former
Oregon state
representa-
tive and House
minority
leader has dis-
cussed before,
Kotek
like repealing
Measure 110,
the 2020 ballot
measure that
decriminal-
ized posses-
sion of small
amounts of
Johnson
hard drugs
including methamphetamine
and heroin.
Drazan named homeless-
ness as a top priority in her
campaign and said declaring
a state of emergency would
allow for bureaucratic “bar-
riers to be broken down
so that people can begin
to work together more
eff ectively.”
“We have the opportunity
right now with a lot of dif-
ferent stakeholders who are
throwing a lot of money at
this problem,” Drazan told
The Associated Press. “But
The Observer, File
The Republican candidate for governor, Christine Drazan, on
Monday, Aug. 8, 2022, called for declaring a state of emergency
on homelessness in Oregon as she seeks to distinguish herself in a
three-way race.
what we’re missing is really
a central point of focus and
leadership that can coalesce
all those eff orts.”
Drazan’s campaign said
the emergency declaration
would “accelerate the rollout
of addiction and behavioral
health supports and pro-
vide additional funding as
needed.”
Drazan’s release makes
no mention of abortion. The
issue has become a poten-
tial liability for GOP candi-
dates following the Supreme
Court’s decision to remove
constitutional abortion pro-
tections by overturning
Roe v. Wade. A majority of
Oregon voters favor abortion
rights and Drazan is pro-life.
Drazan is among three
gubernatorial candidates on
Oregon’s November ballot.
She is running against the
Democrat Tina Kotek, a
former state House speaker,
and the unaffi liated candi-
date Betsy Johnson. Johnson
served as a Democratic law-
maker in the state house
and senate from 2000 to
2021 before resigning and
leaving the party to run as an
independent.
Wrestling with
homelessness
Grappling with inter-
secting housing and home-
lessness crises, Oregon law-
makers earlier this year
approved a budget that
includes $400 million to
address both issues amidst
a growing number of people
without housing across the
state.
Portland declared a state
of emergency on home-
lessness in 2015 and has
extended it fi ve times since
then. The measure, now set
to expire in 2025, reduces
the bureaucratic red tape
surrounding the creation of
homeless shelters.
Despite the city’s years-
long emergency measure, the
estimated number of people
experiencing homeless-
ness spiked 25% in the Port-
land area between 2020 and
2022, according to point-in-
time counts reported to The
Department of Housing and
Urban Development. Further
south on the California state
line, largely rural Jackson
County reported an increase
of 72% during the same
period.
Oregon’s homelessness
crisis has been fueled by a
housing shortage, the coro-
navirus pandemic and the
highest drug addiction rate
of any state in the nation.
Federal data from the latest
National Survey on Drug
Use and Health found that
9% of teens and adults in
Oregon had illicit drug use
disorders in 2020.
The state has wrestled
Candidates’ stance
Kotek, the Democratic
candidate, has said she
would form a special emer-
gency management team to
work on the issues, in addi-
tion to issuing an execu-
tive order on her fi rst day
in offi ce to create a 10-year
plan to build more homes in
urban, suburban and rural
areas.
In 2020, while serving
as speaker in the Oregon
House, Kotek also called
for a statewide emergency
declaration for homeless-
ness. Drazan was the House
Republican minority leader
at the time during a short
session that was adjourned
early and marred by political
tensions after Republicans in
the House and Senate staged
a walkout to protest a climate
change measure.
Kotek’s campaign
described Drazan’s state of
emergency proposal as a
“stunning reversal.”
“Instead of helping fi nd
solutions to the housing
and homelessness crisis,
she pushed her caucus to
fl ee the state and kill nearly
every bill that was intro-
duced, including bills on
homelessness,” said Katie
Wertheimer, communica-
tions director for Kotek’s
campaign.
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Johnson, the indepen-
dent candidate, has called
for creating more designated
camping areas and emer-
gency shelters. Like Drazan,
Johnson supports repealing
Measure 110, which decrim-
inalized possession of small
amounts of hard drugs.
“I will end the tent cities,”
Johnson said in an email in
response to Drazan’s pro-
posals. “We don’t need more
plans. We need action from a
new governor who’s going to
get stuff done.”
Oregon is a blue state
largely known for the lib-
eral city of Portland. But
vast swaths of it are rural
and conservative, and regis-
tered unaffi liated voters out-
number both Democratic and
Republican voters, according
to the latest data from the
Oregon Secretary of State.
Drazan is hoping to
become Oregon’s fi rst
Republican governor since
1987, as the GOP seeks to
capitalize on soaring infl a-
tion and dissatisfaction with
the party in power.
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