Fire the bosses. That’s what several dozen union members called for Feb. 24 after shocking allegations about their employer, a Portland nonprofit that serves the homeless.
Sunstone Way, formerly known as All Good Northwest, is funded almost entirely by taxpayers to provide shelter and meals to the homeless. It runs two motel shelters, two “safe rest” villages and an overnight shelter.
But a Feb. 12 whistleblower lawsuit filed by a fired Sunstone finance director alleges dozens of examples of inappropriate spending and willful financial deception.
According to the lawsuit, Sunstone Way under the direction of executives Andy Goebel, Alicia Hovanas, and Scott Takemoto:
- improperly charged Multnomah County hundreds of thousands of dollars for rent, furniture, expensive leadership retreats, and alcohol — labeling them as “shelter operations” to evade limits on reimbursement for administrative expenses.
- abandoned expensive executive offices at Revolution Hall and moved to more expensive office space downtown, wasting up to $226,000 in double rent.
- declined to seek a refund after it was over billed $210,000 by a vendor — Our Streets PDX — that is led by a friend of Goebel’s, and then declined to report that over billing to the Joint Office Homeless Services.
- withheld embarrassing financial information from its board of directors.
And all that was after a 2022 audit by Multnomah County found that Sunstone Way over billed the county by $525,228.
Those and many other details in the lawsuit provoked outrage among front-line Sunstone workers who work directly with the homeless. They’re represented by AFSCME Local 1790, and on Feb. 24 the union rallied on Southwest Naito Parkway across the street from the Sunstone executive offices.
“Sunstone Way as an organization is not likely to last much longer under its current leaders, either due to continued mismanagement of funds or losing contracts because of its now very public track record,” said Sunstone case manager Joy Nicholson at the rally.
Nicholson said the union is calling on Sunstone’s board to remove the three executives named in the lawsuit.
“Unlike these individuals, we’re showing up for the people who need it most,” Nicholson said. “We deserve leaders who will do the same.”
As the rally wrapped up, Multnomah County Commissioner Meghan Moyer arrived.
“I’m here to tell you so as one of the funders, I care deeply about what’s going on,” Moyer told rally goers. “I think the idea that we can be flippant about the use of taxpayer dollars when we are in a humanitarian crisis is a totally unacceptable response.”
Moyer said she spoke to the county’s chief operating officer and asked whether there would be a new audit of Sunstone Way. It has already begun, Moyer told workers.
MORE Read the full list of allegations in the lawsuit here.
