It seems Portland’s city leaders just can’t resist another taxpayer-funded trip abroad. This week, several Portland city councilors and housing staffers are jetting off to Vienna, Austria, supposedly to study the city’s famed “social housing” system.
Vienna is often hailed as a global model for government-run affordable housing, with roughly 60% of residents living in units owned and managed by the city or nonprofit cooperatives. But critics are asking the obvious question: why on earth do Portland politicians need to fly halfway across the world to learn about it on your dime?
Councilors Candace Avalos, Jamie Duny, and Mitch Green are making the trip, along with their chiefs of staff and members of the Portland Housing Bureau. In total, around 20 people are part of this “study tour.” Avalos insists this isn’t a vacation, but rather a chance to “see in person” how Vienna implements its policies.
That explanation has landed with a thud among Portlanders who’ve been emailing local newsrooms with the same question: can’t we learn about social housing without a European field trip? After all, plenty of academic studies, policy papers, and even video tours are available without racking up international airfare and hotel bills.
Perhaps the most telling part of KGW’s interview with Avalos was when she was asked about the cost. She admitted she didn’t know the price tag, and her office declined to provide an estimate. In other words: trust us, we’ll spend it wisely. That doesn’t sit well with taxpayers watching a city already drowning in crises—homelessness, drug addiction, crime, empty downtown office towers—shell out for European “research.”
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This isn’t the first time Portland officials have used public funds for foreign travel under the banner of “learning.” Not long ago, city leaders flew to Portugal to study drug decriminalization and addiction services. And how’s that working out for Portland? Exactly. The city is in chaos. Addiction and overdose deaths are up. Homeless encampments dominate sidewalks. And yet the same political class thinks another trip abroad will solve the problems they can’t get under control here at home.
Avalos defended the Vienna trip, saying it’s about “opening minds” to new opportunities and bringing back “best practices” for Portland. But let’s be honest: Portland doesn’t have Vienna’s political system, funding model, or decades-long tradition of building publicly owned housing. The idea that the Rose City can simply copy and paste Austrian housing policy is laughable.
The more likely outcome is that politicians enjoy a taxpayer-funded European vacation, take a few photos in front of well-maintained apartments, and return to the same broken policies that Portlanders already know too well.
At a time when Portland is facing a housing crisis, an addiction crisis, and a trust crisis with voters, the optics of this trip couldn’t be worse. Instead of tackling real issues at home, city leaders are jetting across the Atlantic to study a model that Portland has neither the political will nor the financial ability to implement.
Taxpayers are footing the bill, and Portland’s problems remain right where they’ve been: on the streets, not in Vienna.
