New Mexico advocacy groups are calling on New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to cancel next week's special session where lawmakers are scheduled to debate public safety legislation. The coalition, which includes progressive-leaning groups that support the governor on many issues, wants community experts consulted before laws are passed.

Marshall Martinez, Equality New Mexico's executive director, said the proposals on next week's agenda are rushed - and would present complicated policy changes to behavioral healthcare, addiction treatment and homelessness.

"We're talking about the ability of the state to force someone into an inpatient treatment center without their consent, and we're talking about things like criminalizing panhandling," Martinez said.

In addition to Equality New Mexico, the coalition that sent a letter to the governor on Tuesday includes the ACLU of New Mexico, the Center for Civic Policy, Common Cause New Mexico and the New Mexico Conference of Churches. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Governor said calling off the special session is not an option.

Martinez believes advice from community experts who provide mental health and other public safety-related services should have been sought by the governor's office prior to the session being scheduled to ensure legislation provides lasting solutions.

"You have to come to the table with community-based organizations, like those of us who've been working on these issues for years, and engage us in a conversation about what will work," he continued. "Good policy isn't made in a vacuum on the 4th floor of the State Capitol building."

He also noted an obvious lack of consensus between Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the legislative proposals, and said the short session does not include opportunities for community feedback.

Advocates for homeownership in Oregon are celebrating a new bill which sets targets to boost the state's homeownership rate, currently at 64%, just below the national average but among the lowest in the country.

The bill sets a goal of 65% by 2030, with incremental increases every five years until 2045.

Shannon Vilhauer, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Oregon, said while the state also needs more rental housing, homeownership brings many long-term benefits, including better education outcomes for children.

"We just don't want to lose sight of this important wealth building, stabilizing opportunity for all of our communities," Vilhauer explained. "As we prioritize production together, let's keep homeownership in the mix."

On the heels of the victory, Vilhauer was shocked to hear the current state budget nearly zeros out funding for homeownership assistance programs, which does not set the state up well to begin meeting the new goal. She stressed Habitat will do everything it can to restore the funding.

Vilhauer added for most people living in Oregon and the United States today, homeownership is affordable housing.

"If you were fortunate enough to buy your home in Oregon 20 years ago, your mortgage payment today is less than half of market rate rent for a two-bedroom apartment," Vilhauer pointed out.

Brock Nation, policy director for Oregon Realtors, said results from a survey last year found about three quarters of non-homeowners consider homeownership to be one of their highest life priorities.

"Those numbers were even higher for communities of color, where we know there's about a 15.3% racial homeownership gap in the state of Oregon right now," Nation outlined.

For communities of color, he reported about 96% of people put homeownership at the top of their priority list.

Gov. Bob Ferguson has signed Washington's first rent stabilization law and renters and advocates who fought for the bill are breathing sighs of relief, after years of effort.

The new law caps the amount landlords can raise yearly rents at 7% plus inflation or 10%, whichever is less. For manufactured homes, increases are limited to 5%.

Caroline Hardy, secretary of the Leisure Manor Tenants Association and a retiree in Aberdeen whose manufactured home community faced up to 50% yearly increases under new corporate ownership. She said her community is mostly seniors living on fixed incomes and the increases had become untenable.

"It was getting to the point where people were skipping meals and they were not able to afford prescriptions," Hardy recounted. "I couldn't afford my diabetic medicine. It was getting scary and we were getting mad."

Landlords associations and real estate agencies fought hard against the bill, saying it would impede development. Proponents countered under the law, new construction is protected from the cap for the first 12 years.

Hardy spent three years knocking on doors, making phone calls and testifying in support of the new law. She said she was deeply relieved to hear it passed and is grateful to Sen. Emily Alvarado, D-Seattle, and Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, D-Tacoma, who sponsored the bill.

"We were so thankful that they listened to us, and they helped us," Hardy added. "It was a great accomplishment. We're really proud of ourselves."

Nine Washington counties had record-breaking eviction rates in 2024. The state now joins Oregon and California as the only states in the nation to enact a statewide limit on how much landlords can raise the rent.


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With rates of homelessness on the rise, advocates are decrying plans to remove a long-standing camp from the Sandy River Delta, also known as Thousand Acres.

The Department of State Lands is planning to remove the encampment this week, along with its residents, some of whom have been there for decades. In response, residents have filed an injunction.

One outreach worker, who would prefer to stay anonymous fearing backlash, has been working with the 30-some residents of Thousand Acres for the past year. They said the state has failed to connect residents to promised resources and the people living there have nowhere else to go.

"They can offer you a bed in an overcrowded, low-quality shelter, or they can offer you to get on a housing waitlist that will last for years," the worker explained. "It's really not a legitimate option at all."

The state said the camp is making the area unsafe and they need to close it temporarily to restore the land. New data show Oregon saw a 13% increase in people experiencing homelessness in 2024 alone.

Residents of Thousand Acres have created a Cooperative Stewardship Proposal, which they are providing as an alternative to eviction from the site.

Tyrell Graham, a musician, has lived at the park for more than three years.

"People have been peaceful down here, been peaceful for a long time and this is like a sanctuary," Graham emphasized.

Advocates for the unhoused say the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office has been leaving people at Thousand Acres when they have no other options, including after their release from Multnomah County Jail. The outreach worker argued evicting people who have nowhere else to go is inhumane.

"People aren't trash. You can't just pick them up and throw them away," the worker stressed. "They've created a home there and they've lived there for decades, and you can't just disrupt that on a whim."

The number of people experiencing homelessness once again set a record last year, nearing 775,000 nationwide.


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