PDX Agenda Tracker: Rent is Theft | April 16th, 2025
In Memoriam: Dan Handelman... Rental Price-Fixing Cartel... Workforce Development... Fight for Forest Park... PBOT & ADA Compliance... Rapid Transit on 82nd... Sidewalks for East & SW Portland?
Dear Readers,
The older I get, the less radical liberation politics seem, and the more radically perverse capitalism reveals itself to be. To put it bluntly: I hate it here. Most people agree that slavery is wrong, yet many still fail to see the injustice of paying poverty wages while extracting every last dollar for basic needs like housing, healthcare, and food. A better, more just world is possible—but only if we stop accepting exploitation as natural, inevitable, or acceptable. Recent actions by our City Council give me hope that I may live to see the day when housing is recognized and treated as a human right, at least in Portland.
In 1840, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon famously asked, “What is Property?” and declared, “Property is theft.” It was a bold moral claim and a clear-eyed assessment of how capitalism works: ownership, not labor, grants the power to extract. The landlord profits not by building, growing, or creating but by owning what others need to survive.
Two centuries later, the theft Proudhon named hasn’t just persisted—it’s scaled exponentially. In the 2000s, a wave of tech platforms didn’t invent housing speculation, but they transformed its scale, speed, and reach. Zillow turned homes into real-time investment dashboards. Airbnb hollowed out rental markets by monetizing everyday shelter. Algorithmic pricing tools like RealPage’s YieldStar quietly coordinated rent hikes across entire metros.
Meanwhile, Wall Street firms and private equity giants began buying up entire portfolios of single-family homes and multifamily buildings, turning neighborhoods into revenue streams and accelerating the rise of housing costs well beyond the reach of average Americans. These tools and trends didn’t just optimize property as a commodity—they automated collusion, masked exploitation in code, and rewired the market around profit extraction. What began as individual ownership became networked plunder: automated, anonymized, and detached from human need.
The anti-capitalist thinkers and theorists who followed Proudhon didn’t just echo his outrage—they mapped the machinery. From Marx to Federici, Fanon to Bhandar, the critique is consistent: theft is not a glitch—it’s the operating system. Land is seized, enclosed, and turned into leverage. Housing is financialized, stripped of function, and sold back as debt. The state, the law, and the market each play their part in scaling extraction while insulating the system from scrutiny or reform.
This isn’t just theory—it’s the consequence of political choices. In Portland, decades of deregulation, displacement, and deliberate inaction deepened the rent crisis that exploded after the 2008 crash. But in recent years, the city has made some hard-won gains. Renter Relocation Assistance (Relo), Fair Access in Renting (FAIR), and now the ban on algorithmic rent-setting are too rare examples of policymakers choosing tenants over landlords. They aren’t enough, but they show what’s possible when elected leaders stop protecting predation and start defending our communities.
Critique without vision is resignation. The same thinkers who dismantled the system’s logic have also imagined what could replace it: tenant-led housing, land trusts, re-municipalization, revived commons, and decommodified shelter. These aren’t abstractions—they exist. Just last week, Portland took a step in this direction by advancing a resolution to explore public and cooperative housing models as long-term solutions to the crisis. That’s the path forward: housing as a human right, not a revenue stream, and structures based on stewardship, not speculation. The system we have wasn’t inevitable, and it isn’t permanent. If rent is theft, then justice means taking back what was stolen.
Of course, there’s more than housing on the agenda this week, but as it’s the foundation for nearly everything else, it deserves our full attention.
With Love, Hope & Solidarity,
Chloe
P.S. Yes, I know—not all landlords. I know some of you personally. You’re decent people doing your best to provide for yourselves and your families within a broken system. But the point stands: profiting from a basic need and a captive market is still part of the problem. Nearly 50% of renters are cost-burdened—this has far-reaching consequences for their health, stability, families, futures, and for the social fabric as a whole. This isn’t about individual morality. It’s about structural injustice. And that’s what needs to change.
Hello! If you’ve been thinking about becoming a paid subscriber, now’s the time! If money is tight, I encourage you to take advantage of the budget option $3/month or $30/year. If you’re doing alright, I hope you’ll subscribe at the standard rate $6/month or $60/year. And if your finances are out of sight, may I suggest a sustainer-level subscription at $100/year?In Memoriam: Dan Handelman
Scant information exists about the origin story of Portland’s police accountability hero, Dan Handelman. All I can say is that for as long as I’ve been involved in activism—since the late ‘80s—Dan has always been here. I didn’t know him well, but I have appreciated his work for decades. Especially during my time on City Council, I looked to him for information and insight on police issues.
As anyone who knew him would tell you, Dan was a constant. He showed up year after year, meeting after meeting, with unwavering dedication. He listened, documented, testified, and challenged power with clarity and integrity. His work was meticulous, often thankless, but profoundly impactful. Through Portland Copwatch, Peace and Justice Works, and decades of civic engagement, Dan helped shape how this city understands—and confronts—police power. His absence will be deeply felt.
May his memory be a blessing.
Dan Handelman Memorial Rally
Please join friends and community members for a gathering to celebrate Dan Handelman’s life, legacy, and lifelong commitment to justice. The event, which is being organized by Peace and Justice Works, will take place at Pioneer Courthouse Square on Friday, April 18, 2025, at 5:00 PM.
Donations
Memorial donations can be made to the causes Dan championed:
Portland City Council
Wednesday, April 16th | 6pm
Regular Agenda
Portland is set to join cities like San Francisco, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and Berkeley in banning the use of algorithmic rent-setting tools—software that allows landlords to coordinate pricing by analyzing and sharing private data. These systems, developed by companies like RealPage and Yardi, are explicitly designed to remove competition and drive up rents.
The Department of Justice has filed suit against RealPage, calling its platform a price-fixing scheme that enables landlords to “move in unison versus against each other.” Attorneys General in Arizona, D.C., and Oregon have joined similar lawsuits, citing inflated rents and widespread harm to tenants.
When enough landlords in a city use these tools, the coordinated price increases set a new benchmark—driving up rents even in properties managed without the software. The so-called “market rate” becomes whatever the algorithm dictates, not based on quality, demand, or local conditions, but on maximizing profit. That’s not a free market—it’s algorithmic collusion.
We’re constantly told that housing prices reflect “basic economics”—that if we just increase supply, rents will fall. We’re told rent control doesn’t work. That public intervention only distorts the natural workings of the market.
But this ordinance makes something clear: there is nothing natural about this market. Rents are not the product of competition or scarcity alone—they’re being manipulated by software designed to eliminate competition and drive prices higher. These tools allow landlords to coordinate rent increases using private data and predictive algorithms in ways that would be clearly illegal if done face to face.
This isn’t the free market. It’s algorithmic price-fixing—plain and simple.
In Portland, over half of renters already spend more than 30% of their income on housing. These tools are designed to ensure that number continues to climb, shielded from public scrutiny and accountability.
This kind of rent inflation isn’t just a housing issue—it’s a form of systemic wealth extraction. Like stagnant wages, algorithmic price-fixing funnels billions from working people to corporate landlords. That’s money renters could have used to cover other basic needs, invest in their futures, or spend in their local economies. Instead, it’s being siphoned upward—deepening inequality, fueling the housing crisis, and eroding long-term financial stability for millions.
This ordinance prohibits the sale or use of rent-setting software that facilitates coordinated pricing. It doesn’t impact tools used for property management or compliance and exempts income-based rent systems for affordable housing. It’s a targeted policy with wide-reaching implications.
Opposition to this bill should be seen for what it is: a defense of hidden price manipulation and corporate profiteering at renters’ expense. No one should be allowed to outsource illegal behavior to an algorithm. There’s no defending it—and no pretending it’s anything but exploitation. Any Councilor who votes no is siding with corporate landlords, against renters, and cannot claim to care about Portland’s affordable housing crisis.
This is a second reading. Verbal testimony is closed for new registrations.
Further Reading
We Found That Landlords Could Be Using Algorithms to Fix Rent Prices. Now Lawmakers Want to Make the Practice Illegal. (ProPublica)
Portland hears polarizing testimony on policy to ban rent pricing software (OPB)
RealPage goes on the offense in lawsuit against city of Berkeley over AI rent pricing law (Reuters)
14: Authorize revenue bonds in an amount sufficient to provide not more than $80 million to finance curb, ramp and street improvement projects (Ordinance)
This ordinance authorizes the City of Portland to issue up to $80 million in revenue bonds to fund urgently needed curb, ramp, and street improvements—part of the City’s legal obligation under a federal consent decree to bring sidewalks into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The funding will support continued work toward the court-mandated goal of 1,500 accessible curb ramps per year through at least FY 2026–27, addressing decades of neglect and structural exclusion in Portland’s pedestrian infrastructure.
This isn’t new spending—it’s a financing strategy to close a short-term funding gap, protect the General Fund from deeper cuts, and keep Portland on track with its court-ordered responsibilities. Without it, the City risks defaulting on the settlement and further delaying basic access to the public right-of-way for people with mobility challenges—a failure with daily consequences for people with disabilities.
Further Reading
15: Direct funding for the Workforce Pre-Apprenticeship Program and a SummerWorks Youth Employment Initiative (Resolution) This resolution directs continued investment in two key workforce initiatives: the Community Opportunities and Enhancements Program (COEP) and the SummerWorks Youth Employment Initiative. These programs are designed to expand access to career-track jobs, particularly in construction and infrastructure, for people historically excluded from economic opportunity, including BIPOC, women, and youth. At a time when programs serving these populations are under attack, it’s good to see the City of Portland sticking to its values.
COEP focuses on pre-apprenticeship and workforce development for BIPOC adults and women in the skilled trades, helping to address glaring disparities in public contracting and employment. SummerWorks, operated by Worksystems, Inc., offers paid job placements for youth, building early career exposure and foundational skills.
With more than $15 billion in public infrastructure projects projected across the Portland metro area, a diverse and skilled workforce is urgently needed. This resolution aims to ensure that Portlanders—especially those excluded from past opportunities—are prepared to participate fully in the region’s economic future.
The resolution calls for ongoing funding, clear program objectives, community outreach, and annual reporting. An advisory committee will also be formed to support and guide both programs.
Further Reading
Pre-Apprenticeship Program (Worksystems, Inc.)
Summerworks (Worksystems, Inc.)
Effort to diversify Oregon’s construction workforce shows signs of success (OPB)
This resolution directs PBOT to launch a new Sidewalk Improvement and Paving Program (SIPP), a system-wide effort to address dangerous and inaccessible pedestrian infrastructure—especially in historically underinvested areas of East and Southwest Portland. The program aims to construct and maintain sidewalks, improve pavement conditions, and deliver a range of safety, accessibility, and climate benefits, including ADA-compliant ramps, cooling corridors, and reduced risk of falls and injuries.
SIPP is an ambitious and long-overdue step toward equitable investment in active transportation. It acknowledges the legacy of underinvestment in Portland’s outer districts and explicitly centers community safety, climate resilience, and access for people with disabilities. The resolution also calls for workforce development through apprenticeships and youth job programs like SummerWorks.
What’s less clear is how the City intends to reconcile SIPP’s goals with its longstanding policy that adjacent property owners are responsible for sidewalks—a policy that has allowed decades-old infrastructure gaps to persist in areas like East and Southwest Portland. Much of this land was developed before annexation under county rules that didn’t require sidewalks, and this resolution represents the City’s first concerted effort to address the consequences of that inherited and inequitable infrastructure.
A follow-up resolution will address funding options, including debt financing, federal grants, and potentially the Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF). Until then, SIPP represents a strong policy commitment—albeit unfunded.
Further Reading
Thursday, April 17th | 2pm
Time Certain
The Forest Park Neighborhood Association and the Forest Park Conservancy have appealed the Hearings Officer's decision to approve Portland General Electric's (PGE) Harborton Reliability Project, which involves upgrading and expanding transmission lines through Forest Park. The appeal argues that the project conflicts with Portland's land use policies, particularly the Forest Park Natural Resources Management Plan (FPNRMP).
The City Council, which serves as a quasi-judicial body for land use appeals, must determine whether the project complies with existing land use policies. As this is an "on-the-record" hearing, no new evidence will be considered; the Council will base its decision on the existing record.
While the need for reliable electricity is acknowledged, the appeal raises substantial concerns about environmental impact and adherence to land use policies. The City Council's decision will hinge on whether PGE's proposal sufficiently addresses these issues and aligns with Portland's commitment to preserving its natural resources.
Key Points of the Appeal:
Environmental Concerns: The project would remove approximately 376 trees, some over 150 years old, and permanently fill at least two wetlands. Opponents argue this would cause irreversible harm to the park's ecosystem, affecting species like the northern red-legged frog and Roosevelt elk.
Alternative Routes: Critics contend that PGE has not adequately explored less environmentally damaging alternatives. A 2022 report identified two viable routes outside Forest Park, but there is no clear evidence these were thoroughly vetted.
Compliance with Land Use Policies: The appeal asserts that the Hearings Officer misapplied approval criteria, failing to ensure the project aligns with the FPNRMP's goals of protecting native plant and animal communities and maintaining the park's ecological integrity.
Further Reading
PGE can cut into Forest Park following Portland hearing officers' decision (OPB)
Portland Hearings Officer Signs Off on PGE's Forest Park Utility Plan (Portland Mercury)
Fight For Forest Park: A Public Hearing on the Harborton Proposal and our new Informational Resource Page (Forest Park Conservancy)
Multnomah County Board of Commissioners
Thursday, April 17th | 9:30am
Regular Agenda
R.5: Resolution for 82nd Avenue Transit Project, Locally Preferred Alternative. This week, the Board will vote to adopt the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for the 82nd Avenue Transit Project—a proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line that would transform one of the region’s most heavily used but underserved transit corridors.
TriMet’s Line 72, which runs along 82nd Avenue, has the system's highest ridership and worst delays. The proposed BRT upgrade promises faster, more reliable service, safer crossings, and upgraded stops for the nearly 70,000 people who live along the corridor—many of whom rely on transit for work, school, and daily needs.
Metro has prioritized 82nd as a top-tier investment, and Multnomah County’s endorsement aligns with broader regional planning efforts. While funding and construction are still years away, this LPA vote is a key milestone in a project that could meaningfully improve equity and mobility for East Portland and beyond.
Further Reading
R.6: BUDGET MODIFICATION #D3-001-25: Requesting $100,000 of one-time-only funding from the General Fund Contingency in order to Conduct an Economic Development Landscape Analysis and Report of Multnomah County to Inform a Countrywide Economic Development Strategy. This week, Multnomah County will vote on a $100,000 budget modification to fund an “Economic Development Landscape Analysis and Report.” It’s a modest investment but a notable move from a government historically focused on health and human services—not job creation or business development. The study, sponsored by Commissioner Brim-Edwards and supported by Chair Vega Pederson, is framed as a first step toward developing a countywide economic development strategy.
While the City of Portland (via Prosper Portland) has long led local economic development efforts, and Metro shapes regional growth policy, it’s unclear what role the County intends to play—or what values will drive its approach. For now, this is something to watch—not because of the price tag, but because of the potential shift in scope of work for the County.
Further Reading
NEWS RELEASE: Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards and Chair Jessica Vega Pederson announce plan to kick-start economic growth in Multnomah County (Multnomah County)
Metro Council
Thursday, April 17th | 10:30am
Nothing of note for Street Wonk readers this week.Wonk Out!
What Is Property? by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1840) The original declaration that property is theft—an uncompromising takedown of ownership without labor and the moral rot at the heart of capitalist accumulation.
Capital, Volume I by Karl Marx (1867) A foundational critique of capitalist production, laying bare how surplus value, rent, and ownership are built on systemic exploitation.
Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici (2004) Connects land enclosure, unpaid labor, and patriarchal violence as core tools of capitalist development—turning bodies and homes into profit centers.
The Colonial Lives of Property: Law, Land, and Racial Regimes of Ownership by Brenna Bhandar (2018) A groundbreaking analysis of how colonialism and racial capitalism shaped modern property law, turning land and housing into tools of dispossession and control.
The Housing Question by Friedrich Engels (1872) A sharp rebuttal to liberal housing reformers of his day, Engels exposes how housing inequality is inseparable from capitalism itself.
Rentier Capitalism: Who Owns the Economy, and Who Pays for It? by Brett Christophers (2020) Shows how modern capitalism is dominated by those who extract income through ownership—not production—with housing at the center.
The New Enclosure: The Appropriation of Public Land in Neoliberal Britain by Brett Christophers (2018) Reveals how decades of privatization transferred public land into private hands, fueling inequality and the housing crisis.
Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing out of Catastrophe by Antonia Juhasz (2008) Exposes how crises—from war to housing to climate—are systematically exploited by capital, including the forced displacement and privatization of land and homes.
Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State by Samuel Stein (2019)
Explores how planners and politicians serve the real estate industry, fueling gentrification and displacement under the guise of development.The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow (2021) While not about housing specifically, it challenges assumptions about property and inequality, offering pre-capitalist models of land and resource sharing.
💔RIP Dan who helped me win a case against the cops when the ACLU refused to reply. Also I hate what Portland has become, where renters are prey and landlords call themselves "housing providers" rather than asset hoarders..🙊🙉🙈