PORTLAND, Ore. — Less than two months into his tenure at the city of Portland, City Administrator Raymond Lee has a problem on his hands; if perhaps one of the better problems anyone in his position could possibly have. During an era defined by budget cuts, the city is now inexplicably finding more and more money.
As of Monday, the amount of unspent funds discovered within the Portland Housing Bureau had topped $100 million. Most of that money is earmarked for things like affordable housing, abating homelessness or providing rent assistance, but was previously sitting unbudgeted and underutilized.
That said, there’s nothing particularly nefarious about how the money ended up where it did, Lee told KGW on Monday…