(Updated October 2, 2026)

Today's Oregonian reports on a Marion County grand jury's findings that reinforce what I argued this summer in my original article: Oregon needs staffed residential treatment, not a revolving door back to the streets.

____

Bradley Cole stepped out a side door of a Lincoln City hotel on a spring day in 2024 to walk his rescue dog, Callie. He and his wife Debra had driven from Milwaukie to celebrate their 37th wedding anniversary. He never returned.

The man who beat him to death was Roland Evans-Freke, 32, a diagnosed schizophrenic. His father, a retired Wall Street banker, had financed a roaming existence in coastal hotels for months, yet there was no medication management, no clinical supervision, and no accountability. 

This past June, The Oregonian reported that Bradley's widow reached a settlement in the seven figure range with the hotel [1]. It is cold comfort. It will not stop the next Evans-Freke from being placed in a hotel or on the streets by a family that has concluded his care is someone else's problem.

The distinction between addiction and mental illness is also less clear than many Oregonians may realize. Oregon clinicians increasingly warn that heavy methamphetamine use can produce psychosis clinically indistinguishable from schizophrenia [2].  Whether the label is addiction or mental illness, the necessary response is the same: supervision, structure, and medication.

I know what that response looks like when it works. As a New York attorney and former owner of a Manhattan real estate firm, I was awarded a state contract to navigate complex siting mandates, including public hearings and notifications, to implement CitiSearch, a program that secured residential properties for people with developmental disabilities. That work evolved from the Willowbrook State School, the institution Sen. Robert Kennedy called a "snake pit" in 1965 [3]. When it closed, small, staffed residential homes replaced it. The lesson was simple: 24/7 supervision and medication in a small group home. Residents prospered and incidents lessened.

Oregon is further along than most realize. Governor Kotek's administration has added 1,067 new licensed residential treatment beds, part of a planned 1,660. That is real progress, and Kotek deserves credit [4]. But a licensed bed with no one to staff it is a hotel room with no supervision.

Oregon remains stalled by bureaucratic gridlock. State officials themselves have identified key workforce impediments, including lengthy credentialing processes, duplicative reporting requirements, and shortages in clinical supervision [5]. Despite substantial state investments in both facilities and recruitment, the reality remains that a bed without a staff member is merely a room without supervision.

According to Oregon Health Authority (“OHA”) data, patients with a primary diagnosis of mental health or substance use disorder face significantly longer waits and stays than other patients. (OHA's most recent published data covers through September 2024.)  Between October 2023 and September 2024, patients with a primary mental health diagnosis were far more likely to remain hospitalized for seven to thirteen days, while most patients without such a diagnosis were discharged within zero to two days. 

Between July and September 2024, these same patients spent measurably more time in the emergency department before ever reaching an inpatient bed, nearly eight additional hours for youth and about four additional hours for adults [6].

The cost for one person for a year’s stay at Oregon State Hospital in Salem is quoted as being approximately $650,000—a staggering amount [7].  Without the intermediate step of a staffed group home, we are essentially asking our emergency rooms and psychiatric wards to act as expensive, revolving door shelters. When the legal clock runs out on a hospital stay, many patients do not go to recovery; they go back to the sidewalk.

The pressure that produced this progress was real. On June 1, 2026, Judge Adrienne Nelson issued a remedial order that significantly narrowed when aid and assist patients could be admitted to, or remain at, the Oregon State Hospital. The order barred admission of patients facing certain misdemeanors or lower-level felonies punishable by ninety days or less, eliminated thirty-day extensions of hospital stays, and limited extensions for violent felonies to one additional 180-day period. The state had accumulated nearly $4.5 million in contempt fines, which the order directs toward mental health treatment programs. 

By July 2026, Oregon had achieved and sustained compliance with the seven day transport deadline. Court monitor Dr. Debra Pinals remains in place to oversee the changes, and Disability Rights Oregon has cautioned that meeting the seven day metric is a floor, not evidence that the wider system is fixed [8]. The problem remains: where do these people go once they reach the hospital and their treatment window closes?

Bradley Cole went out a side door to walk his dog and did not come back. Oregon did not fail to build a system; it is failing to staff and manage the one it built. That is a solvable problem, and a less expensive one than the alternative. We owe it to all Oregonians to make this solution viable.

Author:  Michele A. Peters is a retired New York attorney and former owner of a Manhattan real estate firm. She served as Site Selector for CitiSearch, a New York State program that placed people with developmental disabilities in staffed group homes. She now lives in Portland, where she serves on the Board and Planning Committee of the Northwest District Association.

SOURCES FOR VERIFICATION (ENDNOTES)

[1] Maxine Bernstein, "Widow of Man Killed on Anniversary Getaway Reaches Seven Figure Settlement," The Oregonian (June 26, 2026).

[2] Rebecca McKetin et al., "The Profile of Psychiatric Symptoms Exacerbated by Methamphetamine Use," 161 Drug & Alcohol Dependence 104 (2016).

[3] Aryeh Neier, "Cleaning Up the Snake Pit," American Civil Liberties Union (Nov. 8, 2019).

[4] Oregon Health Authority, "Building a Healthier Oregon: More Treatment Beds, More Hope for Families" (June 2026).

[5] Oregon Legislative Assembly, House Bill 4083 (2026), Staff Measure Summary, House Committee on Behavioral Health (Feb. 5, 2026) (identifying administrative burden and the need for greater flexibility in credentialing and clinical supervision); Office of Governor Tina Kotek, “Governor’s Bill to Cut Red Tape for Behavioral Health Workers Moves Forward to Senate” (Feb. 17, 2026) (identifying lengthy provider credentialing waits, unnecessary administrative work contributing to burnout, and limited access to clinical supervision); Governor’s Behavioral Health Talent Council, Final Report (2026) (recommending streamlined licensing and credentialing, expanded access to supervision, and reduced administrative burden).

[6] Oregon Health Authority, bulletin on behavioral health hospital and emergency department length of stay data (Apr. 23, 2025).

[7] Bowman et al v. Matteucci et al (Case Number: 3:21- cv-01637-MO) June 4, 2025, Dr. Debra Pinals, court appointed Mink/Bowman monitor, Neutral Expert Eleventh (11th) Report - Supplement, p. 12: "at approximately $650,000 per year, the OSH service should be limited to those who need it."

8] Oregon Advocacy Ctr. v. Mink, No. 3:02-cv-00339 (D. Or.) (remedial order issued June 1, 2026; contempt fines of nearly $4.5 million; compliance achieved July 2026).