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COUNCILOR UPDATES

Dear Neighbor,

It’s an honor to serve as your City Councilor, and I come to City Hall each day thinking of you.

We’ve been busy lately, so I want to share what we’ve accomplished in 2026 so far, as well as some major votes that continued into July.

We started our policy work by asking a simple question: does this decision help Portlanders afford to live here and thrive? This led us to focus on affordable housing, reliable public services, protecting rights and personal data, supporting worker rights, and making sure City government works for everyone.

In this update, you’ll see the policies my office led, the ones I worked on with colleagues, our efforts on implementation and oversight, and proposals still in progress. I want to show not just what passed, but how these decisions affect your daily life.

POLICY UPDATE

HOUSING

Key investments in housing and homelessness

• $5 million for flexible rent help: This provides short-term support to households at risk of eviction before any case is filed.
• $2 million to expand eviction prevention and rapid rehousing: This funds assistance, legal help, and mediation for tenants who are currently facing eviction.
• $2 million to help people leaving homelessness: This supports rent assistance linked to affordable housing openings, with priority for providers who have lost state funding.
• $1.9 million for eviction defense: This covers full legal representation and a pilot program for limited Right to Counsel.
• $8.8 million to stabilize affordable housing: This includes funding to preserve deeply affordable units and make safety upgrades.
• $17.5 million for a revolving loan fund: This supports building new housing, preserving existing homes, and buying properties for social housing and permanent affordability through public ownership.
• $1 million for tenants and homebuyers: $200,000 goes to landlord-tenant education, and $800,000 helps with down payments.

SOCIAL HOUSING

AFFORDABILITY

Making housing production faster—and accountable

• Single-stair reform: I teamed up with the Fire Bureau, lawmakers, and housing advocates to create reforms that help make smaller apartment buildings safer and easier to build.
• Design review reform: I led the implementation of a resolution aimed at cutting delays while keeping important urban design standards in place.
• Permitting and code alignment: I co-sponsored a resolution to bring back the Permitting Improvement Team for the next phase of the Code Alignment Project.
• Development-fee oversight: I reviewed if System Development Charge waivers were leading to more housing, instead of just giving away public resources without clear results.
• Better housing data: I worked with local governments and data experts to improve information on evictions and homelessness, so policy decisions are based on better data.

PERMITTING

PUBLIC SAFETY

MAYOR'S CUTS

In response to the Mayor’s proposed budget cuts, Councilor Morillo introduced an amendment to save:

• Portland Street Response — $659,274 and 4 positions: Restored peer-support capacity seven days a week for appropriate behavioral-health calls.
• Community Health Assess and Treat — $500,000 and 3 positions: Connects medically vulnerable and unsheltered residents to care before health needs become emergencies.
• Ceasefire and the Office of Violence Prevention — $1,143,726: Restored community-based violence interruption, outreach, and prevention.
• Summer Free for All / Lunch + Play — $211,000: Preserved free summer programming for children, young people, and families.

EVIDENCE-BASED PUBLIC SAFETY

PRIVACY

PROTECTING YOU

• Set citywide privacy standards to avoid collecting unnecessary data and to better protect sensitive information.
• Make sure all city departments share clear and consistent responsibility for data governance and cybersecurity.
• Review high-risk technologies by involving the public in decisions about surveillance, artificial intelligence, and how data is used beyond its original purpose.
• Strengthen sanctuary safeguards by limiting how city data can be shared or sold, so it does not end up with federal enforcement agencies.

HUMAN RIGHTS

WORK IN PROGRESS

GOVERNANCE

Public dollars require public accountability

• Open and competitive processes: Spoke out against earmarks and special deals that skip fair funding steps.
• Moderate-Income Revolving Loan Fund: Called for more accountability when Prosper Portland or other quasi-public groups decide how to spend City money.
• Budget reform: Created proposals for the next City budget process to show both Council and the public more clearly who is making spending decisions, what evidence supports them, and how public input influenced the results.

MODA CENTER

PUTTING PORTLANDERS FIRST

What the package would have protected

• Parks and community centers: Jobs connected to natural areas, trails, facility repairs, community centers, and the adaptive Senior Center.
• Unarmed public-safety response: Public Safety Support Specialists who handle property and car crimes.
• Access to City services: 311 customer service jobs, plus key positions and technicians in transportation, water, sewer, planning, and other bureaus.
• Emergency response: Full operating hours for three Portland Fire & Rescue units.

SAVE OUR SERVICES 

WORKERS, SERVICES, AND INFRASTRUCTURE

City Hall works because people do the work—and because residents organize for their communities.

CLIMATE & SAFETY

OUR WORK

• Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub: Pushed for better environmental protections and played a key role in shaping the City’s policy recommendations.
• Zenith Energy: Kept monitoring the fuel terminal and its purchase by a private equity firm.
• Cascadia resilience: Set up the Climate Committee’s first community policy group to discuss how Portland can get ready for a major earthquake.
• PCEF investments: Helped guide talks on using climate funds for housing and transportation, while making sure core climate programs stayed protected.
• Willamette River access: Worked with the City, Metro, and OMSI to improve public access to the river and secure funding for parks.
• Waymo accountability: Required tracking of how self-driving vehicles affect Portland’s streets and infrastructure before allowing wider expansion.
• Clean-energy jobs: Took part in launching Climate Jobs Oregon and kept supporting union-led climate workforce development.

Your City. Your Voice.

Join us to make our city not only affordable but one where we can all thrive:

• Testify at a City Council meeting or submit written testimony online.
• Join a monthly constituent coffee or another District 3 community event.
• Meet Team Morillo during office hours and get connected to City resources.
• Join a neighborhood association, tenant group, labor union, or community organization.
• Sign up for the newsletter and monthly District 3 community guides.
• Contact our office for help navigating City services.

Thank you for being my partner in this work. I could not do any of this without your support.    In Solidarity,  Councilor Angelita Morillo