Three Portland councilors have embarked on a trip to study Austrian housing policy with their chiefs of staff, but taxpayers remain in the dark on how much it will cost.

The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported last month that Mitch Green, Candace Avalos and Jamie Dunphy planned to join a cohort traveling abroad to learn more about Vienna’s social housing policy, lauded in progressive housing circles as a way to bring middle class residents into affordable flats.

The elected officials planned to pay for their travel with public money, from funds allocated to each city councilor’s office.

The councilors have broad discretion over how to spend their budgets, each about $1.3 million annually. As Portland faced a severe budget crunch this year, council members weighed using the funds to o

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