Impact NW Advocacy Update | August 2025
August 1, 2025
Impact NW has been raising our voice for housing justice and fair wages. We’re proud to share these Impact NW’s advocacy highlights for the year.
Meet the Candidates
To further our advocacy, we’ve been building a foundation of connection with existing and newly elected City and County officials:
- City and County leaders participated in our spring and fall Meet the Candidates meetings in 2024.
- In 2025, we continued to work with elected officials and hosted Candace Avalos, City Councilor and Chair of the Homelessness and Housing Committee, Angelita Morillo, City Councilor, and County Commissioner Shannon Singleton at site visits of Impact NW services.
- We are working with the office of Mayor Wilson and County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards to tour the site this fall and will be setting more appointments with other City and County leaders this year.
- We look forward to meeting all the candidates in upcoming elections in 2026, including City Council and County Districts, as well as Metro Chair and the County Chair.
More to come on how to participate in future Meet the Candidate sessions!
Supportive Housing Services (SHS) Measure
In May 2020, voters in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington Counties approved the Metro Supportive Housing Services Measure 26-210 to fund solutions to homelessness. As part of the HereTogether Oregon coalition, Impact NW is supporting policy changes that would:
- Expand SHS revenue to include affordable housing development.
- Extend the measure from 2030 to 2050, with a potential for gradual tax rate and reductions, if needed, to further negotiations with key stakeholders.
- Establish an independent oversight board to ensure transparency and accountability.
More to come on future advocacy opportunities with SHS!
Senate Bill 602
The Oregon Nonprofit Grant & Contract Modernization Act (SB602) sought to enhance and streamline government contracts with nonprofits, provide a framework for nonprofit frontline workers to be paid a housing wage, establish a centralized statewide grant management database and more.
Impact NW teamed with the Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO) and other social service providers to attend SB 602 Lobby Day at the state capital in Salem. We met with more than 30 legislators or their policy advisors to advocate for this important bill.
Although SB 602 didn’t pass the 2025 legislative session, we had great momentum and visibility for the importance of grant modernization. We will continue to work with NAO in hope that the bill is reintroduced in a future legislative session.
Washington State Advocacy Day
Impact NW joined a group of advocates for Housing and Homeless Advocacy Day in March at the state capital in Olympia, WA. One of the key pieces of legislation we were there to support was HB 1217, the rent stabilization bill, which later passed the House and the Senate and was signed into law by Governor Ferguson on May 7th!
Portland Children’s Levy
Impact NW and Ada Dortch were instrumental in helping to restore Portland Children’s Levy funding. Ada shared her experience with the Portland City Council after they voted to cancel this funding in June.
Impact NW and other Portland area nonprofits’ efforts to serve the community would have been significantly and negatively affected with $64 million in previously committed children’s funding suddenly canceled. Our advocacy contributed to the restored funding for our community.
