The head of Portland’s housing department has resigned after abruptly being placed on leave by Mayor Keith Wilson.

“​​Though I am sorry to leave City service, I am grateful to have moved to Portland,” wrote Helmi Hisserich in the resignation letter she sent to Wilson on Thursday morning. “This is an extraordinary community of exceptionally intelligent, hardworking, creative and deeply caring people. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the city.”

Hisserich was hired in early 2024 to lead the Portland Housing Bureau.

Last month, City Administrator Michael Jordan announced that Hisserich was on paid administrative leave, writing that the decision “was informed by the gravity of this moment, with competing housing, homelessness, and budgetary crises.” Wilson oversees Jordan’s office.

Little else has been shared publicly about her departure.

But those close to Hisserich have pointed to a strained relationship with the mayor.

Wilson entered office with a laser-focused goal to end unsheltered homelessness. His plan relies heavily on opening temporary shelters and does little to invest in more permanent housing for people exiting homelessness.

In her resignation letter, Hisserich said Wilson never asked her what her vision was for addressing Portland’s housing crisis.

“Portland’s homelessness crisis is a direct result of an inadequate housing supply and siloed single-focus thinking that pits pro-housing advocates against those focused on tenant rights,” Hisserich wrote. “With the rapidly eroding social safety net, Portland’s homelessness crisis is likely to worsen.”

In her resignation letter, Hisserich said while she is not an expert in shelters, she does “know what it takes to build a world-class housing system.”

Before 2024, Hisserich served as a director at the Global Policy Leadership Academy, an institute that educates policymakers on ways to address social challenges, like housing affordability. Prior to that role, Hisserich oversaw Los Angeles’ housing and homelessness programs for 25 years.

Since joining the city, Hisserich has focused on establishing more affordable housing in the city, and explored new models of building publicly run housing.

In her letter, Hisserich said she’s helped the city roll out more than $100 million in new affordable housing programs and won $20 million in grants for the city’s Housing Bureau, among other things.

“Despite these achievements, I was surprised to be asked to step down without notice that my work was unsatisfactory,” she wrote.

Since Hisserich was placed on leave, several organizations have lobbied for her reinstatement. That includes Housing Oregon, a statewide association of 147 housing nonprofits.

“What Portland needs is stability in leadership,” Brian Hoop, executive director of Housing Oregon, wrote in a Nov. 5 letter to Wilson. “We want to engage productively with the Mayor and other housing leaders on long term strategies to increase housing supply, affordability and stability. The whiplash of a sudden change in leadership undermines that collective, long-term, apolitical effort”

The news also shocked several city councilors who had been working closely with Hisserich on housing policies.

“Helmi was a brilliant policy mind with deep experience that was directly relevant to the work that this city needs for the next decade or two decades,” Councilor Jamie Dunphy told OPB Wednesday.

Dunphy, who is vice chair of the city’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, said Hisserich had visionary plans for the city that shouldn’t have been bogged down by political timelines.

In the past, when city leaders are placed “on leave,” it means they’ve been given the option to either resign or be fired.

By resigning, Hisserich will receive $240,880 in severance pay — the amount of her annual salary.

This is the second bureau leader who has been placed on administrative leave under Wilson’s leadership.

In June, Adena Long, then the director of Portland Parks & Recreation, was put on administrative leave. Less than a month later, the city announced that Long had resigned.

Michael Buonocore is now the city’s interim Housing Bureau director. Buonocore was the interim director before Hisserich was hired and previously was the director of Home Forward, the Portland region’s housing authority.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/11/20/portland-housing-director-helmi-hisserich-resign/