Rene has fought to keep our public spaces clear and accessible for all, earning the support of Portland’s disabled community. He has fought to stop enabling the humanitarian crisis on our streets by ending the distribution of tents and drug kits. Rene supported temporary alternative shelter sites when it wasn’t popular, and they are working. As Mayor, Rene will continue fighting to get people off the streets and into shelters and services.

• Homelessness should be a brief, temporary, one-time experience in Portland. Together we can and should work to build a system that catches those who fall through the cracks and offers help and services to those in need.
• The broader health of our city has suffered in recent years, however. The covid pandemic and fentanyl crisis have created serious challenges for our community, putting these efforts at real risk. The community impacts of unsanctioned camping and open drug use must be addressed in a meaningful way that is fair to all Portlanders. Rene believes that unless we course-correct, we risk our broader goals in the long term. Simply put: if we don’t recover as a city, we can’t make progress on ending homelessness.
• This means working to keep public spaces clear and accessible for all by helping people off our streets and into shelter and services. It also means supporting temporary shelter sites and wraparound services, as well as establishing new and broader pathways to housing and treatment services that work.

For too long, housing development has stalled while costs keep going up, saddling all Portlanders with some of the highest living costs in the country. As Mayor, Rene will work with builders to invest in our community in ways that meet affordable housing goals while also adding to overall housing supply. We need to do both urgently, so our families can afford to live here, and our neighbors can be housed.

• To effectively address the housing emergency, we need to increase overall housing supply in Portland. This means emphasizing the need for both affordable and market rate housing to bring down the cost of rent and make it easier for first time homebuyers to enter the market.
• As mayor, Rene will work to create an environment that attracts outside capital and investment by simplifying the permitting process, streamlining design review and reducing system development charges.
• Projects must pencil for builders in order for Portland’s housing production to keep pace with other cities. As mayor, Rene will also work to drive density, create new homeownership incentives and prioritize development in areas of our city that have historically seen a lack of investment.

Rene will work as Mayor to attract investment and fix Portland’s national reputation. We need to think big again! Economic recovery and public safety go hand in hand. Portland should be a place where families, seniors, entrepreneurs and creators want to come live, grow and thrive. Rene wants to set up all Portlanders, including young people and immigrants, for success by leading a real economic recovery.

• As Mayor, Rene will work to create a clean energy industry that leverages the talent, infrastructure, and existing opportunities in our region. By focusing on scientific research and technological innovation, we can put Portland back on the map as a leader on climate and sustainability with a truly global impact.
• We must also create an environment that helps small businesses thrive, driving local consumption and shared economic prosperity at the neighborhood level. The city should be a help—not a hindrance—in realizing the dreams of builders and creators that come here to live and build a life.

Our city should be a welcoming, inclusive city for all. This means supporting our LGBTQ+ community, families, seniors, and entrepreneurs who call Portland home. This means supporting the arts to bring people together and strengthen our social fabric. This means focusing on livability, safe, clean parks and streets, thriving small businesses, great schools that give our kids a brighter future, and quality of life for all. That’s how we live our values in Portland.

• The work of thinking big and restoring our national reputation must be focused on our values, on what makes us special and unique as a city. Rene will focus on making us a safer, more livable, inclusive and economically thriving city for creators, working families, small businesses, and everyone looking to live, work, play and build a life here. People everywhere should see Portland as a welcoming place full of opportunity where anyone can come and live a life of their choosing to the very fullest.
• As Mayor, Rene will work to prioritize investments in arts and culture, entrepreneurship, education resources and civic engagement at the neighborhood level. Our foodie culture and restaurants are second to none, and our music scene is bouncing back with the promise of new investment and renewed vigor, and Rene will work at every step of the way to ensure local musicians and artists have the critical support they need.
• Most importantly, Rene believes we need to focus on what brings us together instead of what drives us apart. When we create the space and the vision to decide together what our future will be, when we provide the resources and support for people to connect and build in lasting ways, great things will happen. I will work tirelessly to see our parks, plazas and streets bursting with not just opportunity, but with joy.

Rene has been a champion for public safety on the City Council, leading the fight for the additional ambulances the city needed and reducing 911 response times. He is working to create an environment where law enforcement is visible, effective, and accountable. As Mayor, Rene will prioritize gun violence as the urgent emergency it is, and work to make Portland the safest city in America by giving first responders the tools they need to protect the vulnerable.

• Protect what we’ve built, that’s what is important.
• Address open drug use – social contract/treatment services
• Mutual aid network/civil unrest
• Healthy and accountable police/recruit and retain the very best.
• Public safety infrastructure
• Adequate pay, funding and support for all first responders.
• Directly address open hard drug use/graffiti & vandalism
• Gun violence