County Chair candidate · Multnomah County · November 3, 2026
Shannon Singleton
County commissioner; social worker, former JOIN executive director and housing-policy director.
Reach the campaign
- shannonsingleton.org (opens in a new tab)
- info@shannonsingleton.org
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As published in their pamphlet statement and campaign site.
Campaign finance: sources, amounts and timing ↓
In their words
Said: I’ve spent my career taking on the toughest fights: supporting sexual assault survivors, foster youth, and people experiencing homelessness.
Pamphlet p. 32
Candidate statement · November 2026 edition; extracted September 21, 2026
Multnomah County voters’ pamphlet · PDF page 32 ↗Verbatim opening of the candidate's own statement; publication by the county does not verify the claims.
The verbatim opening of their voters’ pamphlet statement, the same rule for every candidate. We chose nothing.
What they say they would do
Our summary of their platform, in our wordsEmphasizes practical experience with homelessness and bringing service users and providers into decisions.
- Build more effective homelessness-service systems.
- Support affordable housing and well-paid union jobs.
- Work with providers, businesses, neighbors and people who disagree.
Our reading
Our interpretation, not their wordsShe would redesign services with providers, business owners and neighbors at the table, backed by a record she describes as realigning funds to core services; her statement names no deadlines or costs.
Where they stand
Homelessness and housing
Rebuild homeless services- What
Find real, lasting solutions to the homelessness crisis by building better systems with the people closest to the problem: service providers, small business owners, neighbors and people who disagree with her.
- How
- Said: Realign county funds to core services that end homelessness (shelter, outreach and housing) and reduce service duplication with tighter oversight of the Homeless Services Department, as she says she pushed for.
- Measured by
- Said: Fewer people cycling between shelters, jail, deflection and the street a year in, with homeless-services tax money kept in permanent supportive housing, shelter, treatment and employment programs, as she says her first budget did.
Crisis care, jail and deflection
Reform Deflection Center- What
Reform the Deflection Center (the police alternative to arrest for drug use) so it connects addiction, housing and behavioral-health services, saves money and drives outcomes; she also cites strengthening safety-net protections in response to ICE actions.
- How
- Said: Attach shelter beds to deflection so people who ask for treatment sleep inside and start it right away, instead of leaving with a referral list; she helped pass a resolution making that a priority.
- Measured by
- Said: A year in, judge her on deflection reforms with shelter attached and on bringing services into pretrial release, so fewer people sit in jail for lack of an address or cycle back to the street.
Taxes and the budget gap
Effective use of dollars- What
Push for more effective use of taxpayers’ dollars; she cites coauthoring the county’s first lobbyist disclosure rules and Deflection Center reforms meant to save money.
- How
- Said: Stop funding ongoing programs such as shelter with one-time money, and build the budget with a racial justice council of the people most affected by services before the chair proposes it.
- Measured by
- Not found in the reviewed sources
Roads, bridges and air
Rose Quarter compromise- What
She cites facilitating the compromise on the Rose Quarter Improvement Project, putting it in line for federal infrastructure investment, and leading the community-benefits process for the Interstate Bridge Replacement.
- How
- Not found in the reviewed sources
- Measured by
- Not found in the reviewed sources
The choices this office faces
Every candidate in this race is asked the same 15 questions. Shannon Singleton is on record on 13, with 2 still open. A question without an answer is a research gap, not a position.
No answer we could findDrop the two-paramedic ambulance rule for good?
Nothing on this exact choice in the sources we reviewed.
Move day-to-day county management from the elected chair to an appointed administrator?
Nothing on this exact choice in the sources we reviewed.
Close shelter beds to keep people in housing as homeless-services money falls?
Said: Voted for the FY 2027 budget and said she is proud that housing stability and placement out of shelter are now part of the county's commitment, while noting District 2's voices did not prevail on every vote.
Rewrite the city-county homelessness agreement so one government runs shelters?
Said: Told OPB she wants an end to both governments running shelters and other programs, saying the plan was written without a budget or clear roles and has too much duplication.
Back extending Metro's homeless-services tax past 2030, with tighter spending rules?
Said: In January 2025 backed Metro's proposal to let the tax buy and build housing, saying it would spare the city and state from finding gap financing; she has not said whether to extend the tax past 2030.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid.
Tighter contract monitoring and outside audits of the Homeless Services Department after Sunstone Way?
Said: Voted no on confirming director Nathaniel VerGow on April 9, 2026, preferring to wait for the chair election, after proposing commissioner-led reviews of the department in 2025; she has not said whether outside audits should follow Sunstone Way.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid.
Keep and tighten the drug deflection center, or halt it?
Said: Issued a November 2025 reform proposal for the deflection program, then co-sponsored the February 2026 resolution adopting stricter completion rules, saying behavioral health and homeless services must break down silos.
Keep the 2027 Recovery Pathways Center on schedule and fund more detox and treatment beds around it?
Said: Voted for the center's construction plan on March 12, 2026, saying she wants every opportunity for warm handoffs rather than referrals so care continues; she has not said whether to fund more detox beds beyond it.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid.
Close the county's structural budget gap by cutting administration before services?
Said: In March 2025 proposed moving $22 million in homeless-services tax dollars out of administrative and other programs outside the Homeless Services Department, plus a review of that department's administrative structure to prioritize service dollars.
Keep delaying the Preschool for All tax increase, now set for 2028?
Said: Moved the ordinance delaying the increase to January 2028 and voted for it on August 27, 2026; she and Commissioner Moyer had proposed the one-year delay in place of the chair's two-year plan.
Keep Preschool for All on track to a seat for every 3- and 4-year-old whose family wants one by 2030?
Said: Says the county must implement the voters’ will of free universal preschool while fixing it: set the true cost of care, provide real inclusion support and give teachers a seat in its advisory structure.
Up to $101.6 million in county money for the Moda Center renovation?
Said: Voted for the August 6, 2026 resolution setting terms for up to $101.6 million, with a clawback, a 20-year Blazers commitment and a payment in lieu of taxes; Commissioner Moyer cast the only no vote.
Keep both jails at their current funded capacity as the General Fund shrinks?
Said: Voted for the FY 2027 budget that keeps both jails at full funded capacity; her budget statement speaks to housing stability and immigrant services, not to the jails.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid.
Keep the county's sanctuary code and refuse ICE detainers under federal pressure?
Said: Co-sponsored the April 9, 2026 ordinance writing sanctuary rules into county code, saying the county will stand up to bullies for immigrant and refugee neighbors and that the rules cover all county facilities.
Require county office staff in person full time, beyond the hybrid rule that takes full effect in July 2027?
Said: Said no, saying the county’s rule ignored workers’ voices, some work needs privacy and mobility, there is not space for everyone, and frontline workers are not responsible for reviving downtown.
A question the evidence leaves open
Which service outcomes would you publish, and what would trigger a contractor or program change?
Sources (5)
- Multnomah County voters’ pamphlet · PDF page 32Candidate statement · November 2026 edition; reviewed September 18, 2026Written by the candidate or campaign. Publication by the county does not verify the claims.
- Singleton · campaign homeCandidate statement · Website reviewed September 21, 2026Campaign position. Claimed results and numerical premises have not automatically been independently verified.
- Singleton · Meet ShannonCandidate statement · Website reviewed September 21, 2026Campaign position. Claimed results and numerical premises have not automatically been independently verified.
- Singleton · record of reformsCandidate statement · Website reviewed September 21, 2026Campaign position. Claimed results and numerical premises have not automatically been independently verified.
- Homeless Solutions Coalition · Multnomah County Chair candidate forum on unsheltered homelessness, October 20, 2026 (answer at 39:45)Candidate statement · October 20, 2026; captions read October 27, 2026The candidate’s own remarks at a public forum, read from the recording’s auto-generated captions; speaker attribution is the Lab’s, from the moderator’s calls and self-references. Claims are not independently verified.