Portland: Neighbors Welcome, a grassroots organization advocating for pro-housing and pro-tenant reforms across Oregon, has announced its endorsements for Portland’s mayoral and city council races. The candidates backed by the group all support the Inner Eastside for All plan, which aims to legalize the construction of street-scale apartment buildings on residential lots within the area bounded by 12th to 60th Avenues and Fremont to Powell Streets. The plan also calls for an inclusionary housing program to ensure the inclusion of subsidized units in new mixed-income buildings and backs state-level building code reforms to facilitate the construction of family-sized condos and apartments.
The organization has endorsed Carmen Rubio for Portland Mayor. In District 1, it supports Candace Avalos, Timur Ender, and Steph Routh. District 2 sees the most endorsements with Michelle DePass, Marnie Glickman, Debbie Kitchin, Sameer Kanal, and Nat West receiving the group’s backing. In District 3, Tiffany Koyama Lane and Angelita Morillo were selected. In District 4, Neighbors Welcome has endorsed Lisa Freeman, Mitch Green, and Chad Lykins.
The organization also gave a “green light” to the following candidates: Keith Wilson (candidate for mayor), Jamie Dunphy (District 1), Elana Pirtle-Guiney and Jonathan Tasini (District 2) Rex Burkholder, Chris Flanary and Luke Zak (District 3), and Olivia Clark (District 4).
