Paperwork for State-Funded, $125 Million Shelter Program to Stay Hidden

The Oregon Department of Justice ruled that the Oregon Community Foundation can withhold applications for the $125 million Project Turnkey housing program from public disclosure, despite the program being funded by taxpayer money through the Oregon Legislature. Willamette Week sought the records to investigate Rockwood Community Development Corporation, a major grantee that purchased a Best Western in Portland for $6.7 million but later lost its Multnomah County contract over billing disputes and had a history of governance issues. The DOJ determined OCF doesn’t qualify as the “functional equivalent” of a public body under Oregon’s public records law, though Deputy Attorney General Benjamin Gutman noted this “does not mean that nondisclosure is good governance.”