Portland Housing Giant Faces 7 Lawsuits Over Bodies Left Undiscovered For Weeks

Eric Eno was found dead in his room at Portland's Shoreline Building on August 18, 2024, roughly 11 days after he died, his body showing significant postmortem decay by the time a staff member finally opened the door after residents complained repeatedly about the smell. His death is now at the center of the seventh wrongful death lawsuit filed in three years against Central City Concern, the nonprofit that operates the transitional housing facility and describes itself as the largest provider of its kind in the Portland metro area.

The lawsuit, filed by Eno's sister Kristie Eno on August 18, seeks $3 million in damages from Central City Concern and Multnomah County, according to KGW. A building employee had called 911 to request a welfare check on Eno, but by the time staff opened his room after residents kept complaining about a rotten fish smell, his body reportedly no longer had fingerprints. Court filings cited by the station allege occupancy at the Shoreline Building was at a record low when Eno died, and claim Central City Concern had a financial incentive not to discover missing or deceased residents because contract funding could depend on maintaining minimum occupancy levels.

Eno's case is not isolated. The lawsuit alleges at least 34 other people died and were later discovered with significant postmortem decay inside buildings owned, leased, or managed by Central City Concern, which oversees roughly 34 properties and more than 2,281 housing units across the Portland metro area, per the same account.

A Recurring Pattern Across Multiple Buildings

The Shoreline Building, a transitional housing facility for adults exiting custody, was also where 33-year-old Brendan Mackey died. Mackey's body was not discovered for approximately two months, and his lawsuit alleges the same Shoreline Building staff failed to check in on him. Reporting from KATU in May 2024 detailed how a maintenance worker performing a routine smoke detector test discovered Mackey's body only after staff had repeatedly declined his family's requests for a wellness check, telling them the facility does not perform them.

Other cases named in the wave of litigation span several Central City Concern properties. Donald Mahar was found dead at the Blackburn Apartments roughly a week after he died, discovered after reports of a smell and maggots near his doorway; his family filed suit in June 2025. Elliott Johnson was discovered at the same Blackburn Apartments in February 2022, also about a week after his death, while Brandi Satterlee was found there in June 2021 at least two weeks after she died.

At the Richard L. Harris building, which requires daily check-ins, Kane Dixon had stayed less than 30 days before he was found dead, discovered at least three days after he died once a staff member called 911 after he had not been seen for four to five days. His family filed a lawsuit in July 2025. At the Estate Hotel, which also requires daily check-ins, Aaron Rice was discovered dead in January 2024 at least two weeks after his death, found after complaints of a strong odor near his room.

Wellness-Check Policy and an Unresolved $8 Million Claim

The lawsuits allege Central City Concern was required to check on residents when they had not been seen in 24 hours or missed scheduled check-ins or appointments, and that the organization failed to perform those required wellness checks. Multnomah County, which is named as a defendant in some of the suits, has a service provider contract with Central City Concern tied to the county's supportive housing programs.

Attorneys for the seven families filed an eighth lawsuit in January 2026 alleging that Central City Concern's insurance company, the Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance Risk Retention Group, had agreed to pay the families $8 million to settle their claims but then backed out of the deal, with no settlement money ever paid. KGW reported it reached out to the insurance group for comment on that claim. Both Central City Concern and Multnomah County told the station they could not comment on the incidents because of pending litigation.

What Oregon Law Requires — and Allows

Oregon landlord-tenant law adds another layer to the dispute. Under Oregon Revised Statutes § 90.322, residential landlords generally must give tenants 24 hours' advance notice before entering an occupied unit, but they are permitted to enter immediately without notice during emergencies, so long as written notice detailing the date and reason for entry follows within 24 hours. That statute sits at the heart of an open question in these cases: how a housing provider is supposed to balance a tenant's statutory privacy rights against the urgency of a wellness check when a resident has gone silent for days.

A Nonprofit With a Growing Public Footprint

The allegations arrive as Central City Concern's operations and budget have expanded significantly. The nonprofit's annual operating budget grew from $133 million in 2023 to $150.9 million in 2024 and reached $159 million in 2025, backed by more than 1,100 employees serving over 14,000 clients annually, according to the organization's own financial disclosures. It also runs a Federally Qualified Health Center network of 16 clinics that served 11,754 healthcare patients and assisted 1,707 job seekers in 2025 alongside its housing programs.

Much of that funding flows through Multnomah County's Joint Office of Homeless Services, which manages tens of millions of dollars in service provider contracts with Central City Concern, financed largely by the regional Supportive Housing Services tax that Metro voters approved in May 2020. Central City Concern has also expanded beyond its own properties: the organization was selected in 2021 as one of five private property management contractors hired by Home Forward, Portland's public housing authority, to help run portions of its 6,000-unit housing network, according to OPB.

Dr. Andy Mendenhall, an addiction medicine specialist, has led Central City Concern as president and CEO since 2022, when he succeeded Dr. Rachel Solotaroff. Hoodline reported in May that the organization bought an $11 million Old Town headquarters to consolidate its administration, Employment Access Center, Clean Start program, and vehicle fleet under one roof, and it has separately sought federal funds through the Portland Housing Bureau for renovations at Taggart Manor, a Southeast Portland recovery facility it has managed since 2001.

Taken together, the lawsuits paint a picture of a nonprofit whose footprint keeps growing even as families allege basic safety checks were skipped inside its buildings. With an eighth lawsuit now challenging whether an $8 million settlement was ever real, and with Multnomah County's own contract oversight facing scrutiny, the litigation leaves unresolved how the county enforces wellness-check compliance among the providers it funds — and whether the pattern described across seven lawsuits will change how those checks are carried out going forward.