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  "path": "/news/2026/02/03/48293162/update-portland-housing-bureaus-unspent-funds-reach-106-million",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-06T23:22:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.portlandmercury.com",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "outlined the funding in a memo",
    "previous $21 million",
    "open an investigation",
    "25 percent of the funds",
    "calling for resignations from ICE",
    "first reported by",
    "administrative leave",
    "told her not to disclose"
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  "textContent": "News of the unspent money comes two months after city councilors learned the city's Rental Services Office amassed $21 million in revenue, which went unreported for months. by Jeremiah Hayden\n\n_Updated February 6 at 3:22 pm_\n\nThe Portland Housing Bureau (PHB) is sitting on $106 million in unspent funds, far more than was previously reported. City Administrator Raymond Lee outlined the funding in a memo Friday afternoon.\n\nAt least some of the additional dollars may already be earmarked for other projects, Council President Jamie Dunphy told the _Mercury_ Friday.\n\n\"This moment reflects the City's ongoing shift from bureaus and offices developing budgets independently to the City of Portland managing its finances holistically under our new form of government,\" City Administrator Raymond Lee said in the memo released Friday afternoon. \"I am prepared to support the Council, as the City's legislative body, in making fully informed decisions.\"\n\nThe news comes after the City Council on Wednesday approved a resolution to investigate the initial findings of $21 million through the city's Rental Services Office, including why the money was not disclosed to city councilors prior to a budget discussion in November.\n\nThis is a developing story and will be updated.\n\n_Original story published February 3:_\n\nThe Portland Housing Bureau has found additional unspent dollars in its coffers, adding to the previous $21 million it found through an audit last year.\n\nIt is unclear exactly how much money is in the fund, but Dunphy called councilors over the weekend to tell them they would soon learn of the specifics of what was found in the Housing Investment Fund. He told the  _Mercury_ February 2 that he did not yet know how much total funding was available.\n\n“Truly cannot accurately say,” Dunphy said. “It is in the millions. It is likely not as much as has already been found.”\n\nDunphy followed up with a press release February 3 saying two accounts are sitting on at least $15 million, but a specific number is still unclear.\n\n\"While the timing of this information is difficult, I do not believe these were hidden maliciously, but are instead a relic of the old government system of accounting,\" Dunphy said in the press release.\n\nNews of the unspent money comes just over two months after city councilors learned the city’s Rental Services Office had amassed about $21 million in rental services fees paid by landlords, which went unreported for months. The newly uncovered Housing Bureau revenue is collected through two streams: the city’s transient lodging tax—taxes paid by hotels and booking agents—and short term rental fees from operations like AirBnB.\n\nDunphy said the transient lodging tax carries at least a $5 million balance, and some funds could already be earmarked for other projects. The short term rental fees carry a balance of at least $10 million, and city code only allows the money to be spent on projects to fund affordable housing and homelessness initiatives in the city, according to Dunphy.\n\nDunphy said he expects a memo from Mayor Keith Wilson early Wednesday outlining the specifics, and for City Administrator Raymond Lee to update the Council in its Thursday meeting.\n\nThe funding could impact two pieces of legislation before the City Council this week. On Wednesday, the Council will consider a resolution that would open an investigation into when the city’s administrative branch discovered the initial funds, and why the Council did not learn about the funds until immediately after an annual budget adjustment last November.\n\nSecondly, the newly found funds could help Wilson and all 12 councilors notch a win on a contentious “Slow the Inflow” resolution aimed at homelessness prevention, which has been in process since early December. Some want to allocate the $21 million toward rent assistance, while others want to send more than 25 percent of the funds to Prosper Portland for a cash-strapped, 230-unit housing project.\n\nNow, the money could stretch far enough to cover everything, and councilors will decide Thursday where the money should go.\n\nCouncilor Loretta Smith sent a press release February 2 saying she has been calling for a comprehensive audit of every bureau after learning of the initial funding surplus. She said the additional money raises concerns about the Council’s oversight over the administrative side of the city government.\n\n“I am deeply troubled by the possibility that departments may be withholding vital financial information from the Council,” Smith said. “Our current financial structure has not successfully adapted to our new government model. In addition to calling for resignations from ICE employees, Mayor Wilson should also focus on his own employees and fix the inefficiencies plaguing our finance teams. We need to address the root causes to avoid perpetuating gaps and surpluses.”\n\nCity spokesperson Cody Bowman said after the previous $21 million was uncovered, staff began a broader review of the Bureau's funds. He said staff are finalizing documents and will provide the Council with a full accounting of the funds, their sources, legal constraints, and intended future uses.\n\n\"These resources are now being proposed for inclusion in the budget as contingency, consistent with state budget law and the City’s transparency goals,\" Bowman said.\n\nDiscovery of the additional funds, first reported by the  _Oregonian,_ comes days before the City Council is scheduled to take up a resolution requiring City Administrator Raymond Lee to release public records related to the initial $21 million surplus. If passed, the resolution will also require Dunphy, as Council President, to schedule an oversight hearing, the first under the city government charter.\n\nCouncilor Mitch Green filed the resolution December 16, 2025, urging the Council to use its investigative authority to learn how nearly $21 million in funds went unspent. The investigation would attempt to answer questions about who was aware of the funds and when, and why the Council was not informed of the funds until the day after it concluded a November budget process to address an $18 million shortfall.\n\nThe resolution says the Council should use public records and oversight hearings to understand the dynamics that left Council in the dark about the funds during the budget process, and to what degree the administration’s decision to stay quiet were related to the budget adjustment.\n\nNews of the unspent funds has generated complexity in how the local government runs its business since former Housing Bureau director Helmi Hisserich initiated an audit of the RSO in July 2025.\n\nThe funds, which come from a small registration fee that landlords pay for doing business in the city, accrued between 2021 and 2024. Hisserich joined the Bureau in early 2024.\n\nWilson, then-City Administrator Michael Jordan, and Chief Financial Officer Jonas Biery were made aware of an initial discovery of $12 million in early September, but did not alert the Council. Wilson and Oliveira placed Hisserich on a three-week administrative leave without cause on October 30, the same time the City Council was debating how to fill the funding gap. Hisserich resigned November 20.\n\nIn a December 3, 2025 Council meeting, Jordan said the issue of Hisserich’s removal and the funding questions were not necessarily related.\n\n“It’s very challenging to talk about a personnel issue in public, so I'm not going to do that,” Jordan said. “But I also want to make sure that the public knows that the implied linkage between this money and the personnel issue you're referring to is not a complete picture. So, I just want to make sure the public understands that.”\n\nBy December 4, Hisserich sent a memo to councilors, outlining her perspective on the series of events, seeking to clear her name and adding fuel to the burning question of why the Council was not made aware of the funds earlier. She said she believed she was unfairly blamed for revenue that went unspent prior to her appointment. Hisserich’s account said the administration viewed the funds as “a big PR problem,” adding that Oliveira told her not to disclose the audit’s findings.\n\nOliveira’s office disputed the assertion that he knew of the full $21 million, saying he was only aware of $12 million last August, when Hisserich alerted him. His spokesperson told the _Mercury_ in December that Oliveira learned of an additional $9 million on November 17.\n\nIf passed, the resolution will require Lee, the city administrator, to release the records by February 20, and council operations staff to compile the information by February 27. Council President Dunphy will be required to schedule an initial oversight hearing, including testimony, no later than March 6.\n\nIn recent meetings, councilors have also hotly debated how to prioritize the previously known $21 million after the housing and homelessness committee and, later, the finance committee, passed two competing pieces of legislation, then merged them through amendment proposals. The resolution would urge the mayor to reflect the City Council’s established priorities for those funds in his proposed budget next fiscal year.\n\nThe process to develop that resolution revealed a small rift between councilors who wanted to level the funding toward rent assistance for those on the verge of entering or exiting homelessness, and those who wanted to divert roughly $8.1 million toward projects managed by the city’s economic development corporation, Prosper Portland.\n\nThe Council is scheduled to take a vote on the resolution Thursday with the unveiled funding in play.",
  "title": "Update: Portland Housing Bureau's Unspent Funds Reach $106 Million"
}