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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2016)
PAGE 2 | July 1, 2016 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS Oregon AFL-CIO HQ to become worker housing NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la- bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo- ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore- gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Office location: 4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon Mailing address: P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213 Phone: (503) 288-3311 Web address: http://nwlaborpress.org Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig Associate editor: Don McIntosh Office manager: Cheri Rice Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual subscriptions are $13.75 per year for union members, $20 a year for all others. Send a check for that amount, indicating mailing address and union affilia- tion, to P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213. For 25 or more subscriptions, group rates of $9.60 a year per person are available to trade union organizations. Call 503-288-3311 for de- tails. CORRECTIONS: See an error? Please let us know at editor@nwlaborpress.org or by phone at 503-288-3311. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks are required for a change of address. When or- dering a change, please give your old and new addresses and the name and number of your local union. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS P.O. BOX 13150 PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 IRS PROBLEMS? • Haven’t filed for ... years? • Lost records? • Liens - Garnishments? Call Me to Compare Prices with those you See on TV Nancy D. Anderson Enrolled Agent www.nancydanderson.com 503-244-2577 Paula By Don McIntosh Associate editor When the Oregon AFL-CIO bought its Portland office from the Machinists union in 2011, the 1967-vintage union hall got a facelift. Now it’s about to get a new body. If all goes as planned, the Oregon Labor Center will meet a wrecking ball in mid-2017 to make way for a four-story de- velopment combining union of- fice space with underground parking and up to 120 units of affordable housing. Union pen- sion funds would pay for it, and union workers would build it. And unlike most residential apartments going up in inner Southeast Portland today, these would be priced at rents afford- able to working people. If feasible, the project could even include an indoor-outdoor child care facility and a commu- nity meeting space available to neighborhood residents. Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain conceived the project, and pitched it to his Executive Board June 17. Emily Johnstone, business develop- ment director for the national AFL-CIO’s Housing Investment Trust, joined the meeting on If all goes according to plan, the former Machinists hall will be torn down to make way for affordable apartments for working families. speaker phone. “You will be a model for every other labor organization that owns land,” Johnstone told the board. The AFL-CIO Housing In- vestment Trust is interested in fi- nancing the project’s estimated $28 million in development costs, with help from other sources, including a federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit that the state of Oregon would issue. To oversee con- struction, the Oregon AFL-CIO would choose an experienced local developer that has worked well with unions in the past. The Oregon AFL-CIO Exec- utive Board voted unanimously to move forward with the proj- ect, and approved funds to de- velop a site plan, conduct a fea- sibility study, and create a separate non-profit entity to limit organizational liability. Chamberlain met June 27 with an architect to begin work on a site plan, and will begin in- terviewing prospective develop- ers July 8. The plan is to choose a developer by mid-August, ap- ply for tax credits in January, and break ground in June 2017. Located at 3645 SE 32nd Ave., just south of Powell Boulevard, the 0.78-acre parcel currently consists of a low-slung 4,300 square foot building and a 20,000 square foot parking lot. But as a four or five-story build- ing, the same parcel could house up to 120 units in a mix of stu- dio, one-, two- and three-bed- room apartments. Four-fifths of the units would be offered at rents affordable to low-income households (those below 60 per- cent of area median income). The remaining fifth would be affordable to those making up to 80 percent of area median in- come. Portland is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis. At a June 16 breakfast organized by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, Portland Commis- sioner Dan Saltzman said the city is short 24,000 units of af- fordable housing, even as an es- timated 1,000 people a month are moving to Portland. “Finding developable land for affordable housing is really hard in Portland right now,” John- stone told the Labor Press. “This is an example of labor giving back to the community by using its real estate to create affordable housing and also creating jobs that can support a family.”
