Click here to view past articles in the News Archive
| Portland, Multnomah County Introduce Homeless Plan Commissioner Sten Announces Five New Housing Projects The City of Portland and Multnomah County unveiled a 10-year plan to end homelessness on Monday at a celebration that featured federal, state and local officials, as well as an array of housing advocates and professionals. The plan, entitled “Home Again,” emphasizes three basic principles: (1) Focus on the most chronically homeless, (2) Streamline access to existing services in order to prevent homelessness, and (3) Concentrate resources on programs that offer measurable results. “Home Again” will use a “housing first” model to address the needs of people who are chronically homeless. With an outstanding track record in cities across the country, the “housing first” model gets people into stable housing as the first step to moving out of the cycle of homelessness. Once people are housed, they are connected with appropriate services to address other contributing factors to their homelessness. “We are serious about ending homelessness. To do so we need to give everyone, including people who are homeless the chance to succeed. That chance begins with a place to call home,” said Portland City Commissioner Erik Sten . “We have great services in this community to help people who are homeless, but we need to work smarter and more effectively. The “Home Again” plan lays out the groundwork for a coordinated, efficient solution.” “Home Again” uses concrete bench marks to measure the plan's effectiveness. Under the plan, 175 chronically homeless people will be moved into housing by 2005, as well as 250 homeless families with children and 20 “hard to reach” homeless youth. The bench marks continue through 2015, at which time Multnomah County will have 1,600 new units of permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless individuals and another 600 units of housing for homeless families. “Home Again” got an immediate boost towards meeting its housing goals with Commissioner Sten's announcement of 171 new units of permanent supportive housing that will be funded by the $11 million the City of Portland earmarked for housing in the 2004-05 budget. The 171 permanent supportive housing units are spread between 5 projects: Rose Quarter Commons, Burnside Commons, Leander Court, Hollingsworth House and Clark Center Housing. Total number of housing units in these 5 projects is 389 units and include a mix of new and rehabilitated units. All will be operated by non-profit organizations. Perhaps the greatest strength of the “Home Again” plan is the coordination between the City and the County, housing providers and service providers, law enforcement and emergency services, and the public sector and private sector. Among the featured speakers were Portland Mayor-elect Tom Potter, Executive Director of the federal Interagency Council on Homelessness Philip Mangano, Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto, Providence Health Systems CEO Russell Danielson, Multnomah County Commissioner Serena Cruz, and County Chair Diane Linn. Affirming the spirit of cooperation, Mayor-elect Tom Potter kicked off the “Home Again” event stating that under his administration, the success of the 10-year plan would be a top priority. With his background as the Chief of Police and with New Avenues for Youth, Potter brings an understanding of the importance of stable housing to the success families and individuals in Portland. To read more about the plan to end homelessness, go to: http://www.portlandonline.com/bhcd/index.cfm?c=35530 To read statement from County Chair Linn, click here. Housing Alliance Calls for More Opportunity for Oregon Families in State Budget In conjunction with the release of the National Low Income Housing Coalition's annual report on the affordable housing crisis for renters across the United States (Out of Reach 2004), members of the Oregon Housing Alliance urged Governor Ted Kulongoski and the State Legislature to do more to help families succeed in Oregon. “Hardworking Oregonians should be able to afford housing and still have enough money for groceries and other basic necessities,” said Angela Martin of the Oregon Food Bank, a member organization of the Housing Alliance. “Right now, we have families choosing between paying rent and eating at the end of the month. There are people with disabilities and seniors being left out in the cold by inflating housing prices. If we want Oregonians to succeed, we need to give them a place to call home.” According to Out of Reach 2004, the wage in Oregon needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment is $12.89, nearly six dollars more than the minimum wage. In places like Portland, Ashland and Bend where rents are even higher, the situation is worse. A single parent would need to work two full time jobs at minimum wage to afford a two-bedroom apartment. For bigger families, needing three and four-bedroom apartments, meeting basic housing costs is even more expensive. (To read Out of Reach 2004, go to: http://www.nlihc.org/oor2004/) “Families need a safe, decent place to live,” said Sam Chase of the Community Development Network. “Children do better in schools if they have stable housing. Seniors and people with disabilities are able to live independently when they have a place to call home. If we want families to thrive in our state, we need to address the gap between Oregon rents and Oregon incomes.” Governor Kulongoski's 2005-2007 Budget principles affirm that Oregon's most vulnerable residents should have their basic health, food and shelter needs met. But the Governor's budget calls for a $900,000 cut to homeless services and prevention programs, as well as millions in cuts to programs that support at-risk families. “Cutting housing programs that work is not going to help Oregon,” said Sarah Buckley of the Community Alliance of Tenants, a member of the Housing Alliance. Housing Alliance Legislative Agenda Focus on Providing Opportunity With a legislative agenda aimed at addressing the needs of Oregon families, people with disabilities and seniors, the newly formed Statewide Alliance is poised to begin the 2005 Legislative session in Salem. The Housing Alliance wants the Legislature to expand a renters' tax credit that would give relief to hard working Oregonians whose salaries are being outpaced by housing expenses. The Housing Alliance is also supporting legislation to increase Oregon's Housing Trust Fund, expand the affordable housing tax credit to spur needed housing development, and allow local jurisdictions to require developers to include affordable housing as a part of new private development. The Housing Alliance has contracted with lobbyist Mark Nelson, to spearhead its efforts in the State Capital. On February 1, the Housing Alliance will convene housing supporters from around the state to meet with their senators and representatives to stress the importance housing plays in accessing opportunity in Oregon. The Housing Alliance include the Neighborhood Partnership Fund, Community Development Network, the City of Portland, Association of Oregon Housing Authorities, Association of Oregon Community Development Organizations, Community Alliance of Tenants, League of Oregon Cities, the Oregon Food Bank, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Multnomah County, 1000 Friends of Oregon, Oregon Action and several other local governments and nonprofit agencies. The goal of the Housing Alliance is to win adequate funding for affordable housing. “We know that housing gives people an opportunity to build better lives. The goal of the Housing Alliance is to open that opportunity for all Oregonians,” said Janet Byrd, interim director of the Neighborhood Partnership Fund. On October 6th Housing Alliance members convened a Legislative Agenda Caucus to finalize a consensus legislative agenda for the 2005 session. The overall Housing Alliance platform calls for substantially increasing funding for housing development and support programs, with a long-term goal of $50 million per biennium in funding. The specific policy proposals in the Housing Alliance 2005 Legislative agenda are: 1) Increase Grants from the Housing Trust Fund by $5 million - Target Development serving very low income households: Currently, the housing trust fund receives between $5 and $6 million a year from the public from a dedicated source. We should add an additional $5 million for immediate granting for development. Twenty percent of the Trust Fund immediate development grants should target very low income populations. 2) Expand low-income renters' tax credit: Expand Oregon's Elderly Rental Assistance (ERA) Program to include more low-income households. Currently the program is open to taxpayers 58 years of age or older with a household income less than $10,000 and gross rent in excess of 20 percent of their household income. 3) Renew the Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit: The Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit is a program which provides tax credits to lenders in return for rent reductions in new affordable housing units. There is a need to increase the yearly cap on the amount of tax credits from $6 million to $8.2 million. 4) Repeal ORS 197.309, which prohibits local jurisdictions from requiring affordable housing (described as "inclusionary zoning" or "inclusionary housing") as a condition of development approval: This statute removes a "tool" from the affordable housing toolbox that has been successful in other states and cities, but has never been used in Oregon. It prohibits a city, county, or metropolitan jurisdiction from requiring that a certain number or percentage of residential units be affordable as a condition of approving development of any kind. While the statute does provide for a narrow exception, it is not practically available to many jurisdictions. In addition, The Housing Alliance supports the following legislative proposals sponsored by other organizations: 1) Maintain the Oregon Health Plan 2) Renew tax exemption authorizing legislation for single family housing in 'distressed areas' 3) Extend legislative authorization for the New Multiple Unit Housing tax exemption program and the Transit Supportive Residential and Mixed Use tax exemption programs. 4) Resolve insurance availability issues: Prohibit insurance companies from denying insurance coverage to housing because it has government subsidy in its financing, and, require insurance companies to provide objective reasons for dropping, denying or charging higher premiums for housing that is supported under government programs for people with lower income. -- Association of Oregon Community Development Organizations lead sponsor The Housing Alliance is based on the highly successful statewide housing alliance in Washington State, which has increased resources for affordable housing in Washington significantly over the past decade. To find out more about the Housing Alliance, contact Janet Byrd at jbyrd@tnpf.org CDN, Coalition For a Livable Future, Sten Secure Parks SDC Exemption CDN teamed with the Coalition for a Livable Future, Commissioner Erik Sten and other greenspace advocates to win an affordable housing exemption from the City's Parks Systems Development Charge (SDC) at a Portland City Council hearing December 15. The City Council voted to increase the Parks SDC with an exemption for multi-family rental housing serving up to 60% median family income and for homeownership projects serving up to 100% median family income. Non-profit and for-profit housing developers are eligible for the exemption. “Having parks and greenspace is a crucial part of what makes a healthy community,” said CDN Director Sam Chase. “We are pleased to support a plan to will continue to improve Portland neighborhoods.” Housing and greenspace advocates submitted testimony supporting the SDC increase with the affordable housing exemption. There was an amendment on the table that would have created an additional exemption for private developers to develop market rate housing, but the amendment was struck down in part because of the coordinated testimony of housing and greenspace advocates. “The City of Portland has been a leader on good SDC policy, in terms of meeting the needs of the parks as well as the housing,” said Jill Fuglister, executive director of the Coalition For A Livable Future. “And we are delighted that the Council committed to working toward making its SDCs consistent across all the bureaus. We would love to see jurisdictions and communities around the region adopt similar policy in order to develop consistency throughout the region.” Portland Commissioner Randy Leonard asked that a plan for an increase be applied to commercial development as well residential development by July, 2005. The package was approved by all 5 council members. Community Hearing on Proposed Design for Rental Assistance Jan 4 TAKE ACTION: Stop New Regulatory Attack on CRA The Office of Thrift Supervision has launched a new attack on the Community Reinvestment Act. Please take 10 minutes right now to read this alert and send an e-mail opposing the OTS proposal. Background A series of regulatory proposals could dismantle CRA. You may recall that earlier this year OTS scaled back CRA exams for thrift institutions between $250 million and $1 billion. When the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation proposed to do the same, 1,600 of you responded to our e-Alert by contacting the FDIC in opposition! The FDIC is still sorting through over 12,000 comments from banks and community groups, split about evenly pro and con. The Latest Now the OTS has taken another damaging step: asking whether thrifts should continue to be accountable under CRA for investments and services. If the OTS decides they should not, it could undermine billions of dollars annually of investments in low-income housing, small businesses, economic development, and historic rehabilitation, as well as such consumer services as convenient bank branches and basic banking accounts. It would be easy to overlook OTS's inquiry, since it is raised only in the "preamble" discussion to an ill-advised proposal to give CRA credit to thrifts for rural community development activities that do not benefit low-income people or places. We expect many banks and thrifts to comment that investments and services or should be optional or even excluded entirely from consideration. That would set the stage for action not just by OTS, but also by the FDIC and perhaps the other banking regulators. We urge you to oppose these proposals. The sheer volume of comments is important! What You Can Do: Easy and Fast 1. Send an email to regs.comments@ots.treas.gov commenting on proposed regulations. 2. Enter "2004-53 Community Reinvestment Act" in the subject line of the e-mail. 3. Write a comment. It can be as brief as: "Thrifts should continue to be fully accountable under CRA for making investments and providing services. I oppose the OTS proposal to consider favorably rural community development activities that do not primarily benefit low-income people or communities." The deadline for comments is January 24 but act now so you do not forget. 4. Pass this e-Alert on to colleagues so they can comment too. For More Information:The OTS proposal is available on the OTS website: (http://www.ots.treas.gov/docs/7/77449.html). Additional information is also available from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (http://www.ncrc.org/pressandpubs/featureStory.php) To read an Op-Ed from the New York Times, click here. Fannie Mae Foundation Grants CDN $25,000 The Fannie Mae Foundation has granted the Community Development Network $25,000 to assist in improving and expanding CDN activities that increase the availability of affordable homes for both rental and ownership. The grant will allow CDN to continue to provide technical support to its member organizations and to expand public education efforts on the need for increased resources for affordable housing. “Housing gives people an opportunity to build better lives,” said Peg Malloy, CDN Board Chair. “We appreciate that the Fannie Mae Foundation shares CDN's vision that by providing access to affordable homeownership and stable, safe rental housing, we make Portland a stronger community.” The Community Development Network is an association of nonprofit community development organizations in Multnomah County located in Portland, Oregon. CDN Members create and manage affordable housing, facilitate homeownership, promote neighborhood improvement, produce jobs, and provide opportunities for economic self-sufficiency for residents and communities in the City of Portland and Multnomah County. CDN Members own and manage over nearly 5,000 affordable rentals and have developed 386 affordable homes for ownership. Spike in Housing Concerns Reported to Elders in Action Calls to Elders in Action for help with housing problems are on the rise. More than 110 seniors have called for assistance since September; this represents 39% of all incoming calls, up from 25% of calls just one year ago. The downturn in the economy, coupled with cuts in state services have made housing an issue of growing concern for a large numbers of seniors living on fixed incomes. As a result, our senior neighbors are more likely to be faced with the dilemma of whether to spend limited resources for prescriptions and food or housing Nationally, the median family income of older homeowners is $23,409 while the median family income of older renters is just $12,233. A whopping forty-one percent of older adults spend more than one-fourth of their income on housing costs. (American Housing Survey for the United States in 2001, Current Housing Reports" H150/01.) Locally affordable rent for an individual with a $15,000 annual income is considered to be $375 per month, yet the fair market rent for a one bedroom apartment in the Portland Metro area is $625. That is more than half of a low-income person's income! In downtown Portland alone, the number of affordable-rent buildings has decreased from 77 to 44 in the last ten years according to NW Pilot Project. There are nearly 7,000 seniors who are currently eligible for, but not receiving subsidized housing assistance in Multnomah County. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Help Working Families Boost Their Income By Filing Their Taxes Applicants Wanted for Paid Community Organizing Training |
|||