The Oregon House and Senate Interim Revenue Committee members are holding a hearing on affordable housing on June 1 in Salem to discuss a $100 million funding package proposed by the Housing Alliance that would bring housing  back into the financial reach of many ordinary Oregonians.  The hearing, which will begin following the June Economic and Revenue Forecast at approximately 10:30 am, will focus on specific sources of funding identified by the Housing Alliance and how the potential funds would be used to increase housing opportunity in Oregon.

“The Housing Alliance is very excited to present the 2007 Housing Opportunity Agenda to the interim Revenue Committee,” said Kate Allen, Director of Enterprise Community Partners-Portland Office. “We know what to do to provide housing affordable to working families, retirees and people with disabilities in Oregon—we just need the resources to get the job done.”

The lack of affordable options in Oregon’s housing market has certainly grabbed the attention of state lawmakers. Tomorrow’s June 1 hearing is the second joint hearing on housing affordability in the past month.  On May 17 in Medford, the Committees heard 7 hours of testimony demonstrating that for many working Oregonians and for Oregon seniors and people with disabilities living on fixed incomes, the cost of housing has grown increasingly out of reach. According to housing advocates, it has been at least 15 years since a legislative committee has dedicated a day-long hearing to housing.

“Legislators understand that hardworking families should be able to afford the cost of housing and still have enough for food and other basics,” said Janet Byrd, Executive Director of the Neighborhood Partnership Fund.  “They know that seniors and people with disabilities should have the opportunity to have a safe, stable place to call home. Right now in Oregon, unfortunately, housing costs have soared beyond the reach of these ordinary Oregonians, particularly for those for whom rental housing is the only viable option.”

According to the American Community Survey, low incomes and high housing costs make Oregon the second least affordable state for renters in the nation. One in four Oregon renters pay more than half of their total income in rent each month. 

Members of the Housing Alliance believe that hard-working people should be able to afford housing and still have money left for food and basic necessities. The Housing Alliance brings together advocates, local governments, housing authorities, community development corporations, environmentalists, service providers, business interests and all others dedicated to increasing the resources available to meet our housing needs to support a common statewide legislative and policy agenda. To learn more about the Housing Alliance, go to: http://www.oregonhousingalliance.org/

California Approves $75 Million Allocation to Permanent Supportive Housing

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger approved a proposal to designate $75 million per year of Mental Health Services Act funding for the next 20 years for the creation of supportive housing for people with mental illnesses. Kim Belshe, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Darrell Steinberg jointly announced the initiative on May 11. CSH's California staff will undertake activities to ensure that this new funding tool works for the organizations that create the housing and, most importantly, for the people who will live there.

Over a Hundred Rally For Housing Justice, Call for End of Federal Cuts

Representatives from over 40 organizations and many other community members rallied at Portland City Hall on Thursday, May 25 to call for housing justice and an end to the ongoing cuts to federal housing programs.   Speakers Steve Weiss, JD Spyker and Mary Latourette all articulated the importance of having a stable, safe place to call home, and expressed frustration with Federal plans to cut housing programs that work.

The Bush Administration's proposed Fiscal Year 2007 Budget would cut housing programs for seniors, people with disabilities and working families, as well as proven economic and community development programs. There is a proposed 20% cut to the Community Development Block Grant, which funds a range of local community programs that expand economic opportunities for low income households, including housing for working families with low incomes; homeless programs that assist families, veterans, people with disabilities and seniors; and first time homeownership opportunities for families that would otherwise be priced out of the housing market. Then there's a proposed 26% cut to the Section 202 housing program for the elderly. And finally, there's a cut of 50% to the Section 811 program for people with disabilities.

At the request of housing advocates throughout the state, the entire Oregon delegation signed on to a letter of support to the co-chairs of the Senate and House HUD Appropriations Subcommittees, urging them to restore $30 million in federal funding for the Section 4 Capacity Building and Affordable Housing program to Enterprise and LISC. Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden, and Representatives Earl Blumenauer, David Wu, Darleen Hooley, Greg Walden and Peter DeFazio all expressed their support to maintain this crucial funding that allows Enterprise and LISC to build and strengthen capacity of local community development efforts in communities across the United States.

Section 4 enables Enterprise to attract substantial matching funds from the private sector, providing the seed capital that local nonprofit community developers need to plan and deliver high quality affordable housing, economic development, and community service facilities. Following the lead of Enterprise, Oregon housing advocates contact all of the members of the Oregon delegation to ask them to sign on to a letter requesting the restoration of Section 4 funding in the federal FY 2007 Transportation, Treasury and HUD Appropriations bill.

"As part of the 'Campaign to Save Section 4' Enterprise provided congressional staffers information about the use of Section 4 in Oregon, but it was hearing from advocates how Section 4 grants support their day-to-day work of improving housing and opportunities for low-income residents all across the state that raised the importance of the preserving the funding", said Kate Allen, Director of Enterprise Community Partners-Portland Office.

Though the Section 4 program is not well known, and comprises only a blip on the budget radar with a relatively small $30 million allocation, housing advocates worked with the Oregon delegation to help them understand the positive impact Section 4 has had in Oregon.  The 7 members of the Oregon delegation join 148 of their House and Senate colleagues in support of restoring Section 4.

Sabin CDC Wins NNEBA Excellence in Business Award for Effective Government

Sabin Community Development Corporation received the North Northwest Business Association 2006 “Excellence in Business” Award in the category of Effective Government 2006 on Friday May 12th 2006 at the Neil Kelly Scholarship Awards Luncheon. Nominated by the Rotary Club of Albina, Sabin CDC was recognized along with NyanneCo (Small Business Award), Broadway Toyota (Large Business Award), The Rebuilding Center (Community Service Award), Henry V (ECHO_Green Building Sustainability Award) and Wild Oats Market-NE 15^th and Freemont (Neil Kelly Distinguished Service Award).

 TriMet today announced that REACH Community Development will lead a team that will plan and execute redevelopment of property in the 5200 block of North Interstate Avenue. This site is currently home to the Crown Motel. 

“REACH shares TriMet’s commitment to creating new housing in the Killingsworth MAX station area that will be an asset to the neighborhood and provide housing options for households affected by rising housing prices in North and Northeast Portland. We want all the exciting things happening around light rail to be accessible to everyone in our community,” said TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen.

Since 1982, REACH has developed more than 1,000 units of affordable housing.  Most recently, REACH completed Station Place Tower in the Pearl District, a 14-story building providing 176 units of mixed-income housing for elderly people. 

“We are excited to have this opportunity to be part of the renaissance on Interstate Avenue,” said Dee Walsh, REACH Executive Director. “The potential is enormous, so it’s critical to do the first projects well and set a high standard.”

The redevelopment site is south of Patton Square Park and the Killingsworth MAX station. The Crown Motel currently occupies half the site. The remainder of the site is vacant. TriMet purchased the site with federal funds designated to stimulate station area development. The funds were made available when the Interstate MAX light rail project was completed under budget and ahead of schedule in May 2004.

SERA Architects and Walsh Construction Company will be part of the team led by REACH. SERA designed 8 NW 8^th Ave, a 14-story building on the North Park Blocks completed in 2004. It also designed the Civic Redevelopment project, which is under construction on West Burnside at SW 19^th Avenue. Walsh Construction Company completed $220 million in project volume in 2005.

The REACH team was selected based on qualifications, experience and proposed approach to the project. The project program and design—number of units, unit sizes, commercial components, height and style—will be developed in consultation with the surrounding community and in response to available resources.

The team hopes to complete the project by September 2008.

Following last week’s primaries, elections observers are calling Oregon's first publicly funded "Voter-Owned" elections a success. They say the public financing reduced special interest influence and allowed candidates in Portland to focus on the issues, allowing voters to make decisions based on the record of candidates rather than their ability to raise money.

"There was a more level playing field, less campaign spending, reduced influence of special interest and new options for genuine participation in politics by typical residents in nearly all of city neighborhoods,” said Janice Thompson, of the Money in Politics Research Action Project. 

The new Portland system requires candidates to obtain a 1000 of $5 donations from many contributors to qualify for the campaign. Then to receive a fixed amount of public-funded campaign cash, they have to agree to limit spending. Voter-Owned Election candidate Eric Sten was re-elected to his city council seat, and Dan Saltzman, who had private funding, but capped his campaign contributions and limited spending, was also re-elected.

Jo Ann Bowman, with the community group Oregon Action, says they're looking forward to seeing the reform system expand and the diversity that comes with it.

"As candidates become more aware that that option is there, I think we will see a significant increase in people of color and low-income people and women actually running and getting elected to those positions," said Bowman.

To find out more about the Money in Politics Research Action Project, contact Janice Thompson at 503-283-1922 or via email.

Growing Gardens Offers Range of Workshops to Cultivate Green Thumbs

Want to learn how to garden and produce healthy fresh food for you and your family? Growing Gardens is offering a wide variety of gardening classes ranging from beginner workshops to workshops on worm compost bins, planting for winter harvests and food preservation. Founded in 1996, Growing Gardens’ mission is to promote food gardening for improved nutrition, health, and self-reliance while enhancing the quality of life of individuals and communities.

To download a full schedule of upcoming Growing Gardens workshops, click here.

Growing Gardens began as the Portland Home Garden Project in 1996. The organization's original focus was installing home gardens for low income households in Portland. The organization expanded its mission to build gardens in partnership with other organizations with the involvement of hundreds of community volunteers. To reflect this change, the organization was renamed Growing Gardens in 1998. In 1999, Growing Gardens began offering workshops on topics such as basic gardening, composting, cooking and food preservation. An education and service-learning program for youth, called YouthGrow, began in 2000.

Eat Pizza Schmizza June 2 and Support the Community Alliance of Tenants!

All day on Friday, June 2nd (11am to 9pm), the Pizza Schmizza at 1422 NE Broadway will be donating a portion of its proceeds to CAT. Click here to download the coupon to get credit for CAT. Whole pizzas will bring in the most funds.

So- bring your friends and family, come hungry, and eat your way to safe, stable and affordable rental homes in Oregon!

TechSoup: Everything You Need to Know About Web 2.0

Your guide to blogs, RSS, online video, and other social networking and collaboration tools that are helping nonprofits operate more efficiently, generate more funding, and affect more lives. Want to read more? Go to http://ga0.org/ct/Ad16yKS10mQk/