2 • The Southwest Portland Post
EDITORIAL
April 2015
City must require apartment developers to include affordable housing
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
By Don Snedecor
The Southwest Portland Post
In Erik Vidstrand’s story this month,
“Southwest residents organizing aging-
in-place network for seniors,” we learn
that in the next 15 years, some 395,000
people in the Portland area will be 65
or older.
Hundreds of thousands of Portland
baby boomers, those born between
1946 and 1964, are currently at or near
retirement age. If only a tiny fraction of
those folks require affordable housing,
the city of Portland is in serious trouble.
Home Forward, formerly the
Housing Authority of Portland, serves
all of Multnomah County, including
the cities of Portland and Gresham,
since 1992. According to their web site,
the agency owns 2,600 public housing
and 3,700 affordable housing and
administers 8,200 Section 8 housing
assistance vouchers.
If my math is correct, that totals 14,500
housing units. A drop in the bucket.
The number of affordable housing
units required in Multnomah County
over the next 15 years may be more
like 300,000.
Additionally there are thousands of
homeless people on the streets due to
economic, medical, mental or social
challenges.
We cannot continue to turn a blind eye
to this crisis while allowing developers
to build high-rise condominiums and
apartments for wealthy people to enjoy
the “urban Portland” experience.
Portland’s City Council has a moral,
if not legal obligation to tackle this
problem and not pretend that it doesn’t
exist. Portland rents are at an all-time
high. Housing code must be rewritten
so that rents can be controlled and
affordable housing is a requirement
of developers, not simply a good idea.
First, the Council should lobby the
Oregon Legislative Assembly to repeal
ORS 91.225 which prohibits cities,
counties and local governments from
establishing rent controls.
Secondarily, the City Council should
require affordable housing in any and
all housing that has received local
subsidies.
According to ORS 91.225(c), “This
section does not impair the right of
any state agency, city, county or urban
renewal agency as defined by ORS
457.035 (Urban renewal agencies) to
reserve to itself the right to approve
rent increases, establish base rents or
establish limitations on rents on any
residential property for which it has
entered into a contract under which
certain benefits are applied to the
property for the expressed purpose of
providing reduced rents for low income
tenants.”
“Such benefits include, but are not
limited to, property tax exemptions,
long-term financing, rent subsidies,
code enforcement procedures and
zoning density bonuses.”
What’s my definition of “affordable?”
I’ll go with the federal one which means
for those with a median income, not
more than 30 percent of income goes
towards housing. So, for example, if
a household has income of $3000, not
more than $900 is budgeted for housing.
While it is excellent for baby boomers
to want to age at home, in familiar
surroundings, retired folks on fixed
incomes simply don’t have the same
income and opportunities they did
when they were younger and working
Gray's Landing, a six-story building with 206 apartments, is the only affordable housing
built so far in South Waterfront. (Post file photo by Lee Perlman, March 2013)
full-time.
Perhaps, dear reader, you have been
lucky. During your working years,
while raising kids and paying for
their education, you made the right
decisions, invested wisely, left your nest
egg alone during each financial crisis or
when buying your first home, and you
now have plenty of money to live on
for the next 25 years.
You would be in the minority.
According to a story in USA Today,
David Bach, vice chairman of Edelman
Financial, is quoted as saying, “One in
three Americans right now have less
than $1,000 in savings. The average
Baby Boomer has less than $50,000
in retirement savings. Pensions are
woefully underfunded.”
Meanwhile, property taxes and the
cost of living continue to rise. And if
that mortgage isn’t quite paid off? The
average Social Security check is $1300
per month.
If for a variety reasons you have
to move out of your three-bedroom,
two-bath bungalow, where will you go
without affordable housing? And it’s
not limited to the downtrodden and
elderly folks. With the burden of a huge
education debt in tow, where will our
future college graduates live?
The the city of Portland has to be
proactive in requiring apartment
developers to include a high percentage
of affordable housing. If not, the
homeless problem will simply grow
exponentially.
well
be
…
and well informed
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general email: news@multnomahpost.com
web address: www.swportlandpost.com
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Editor & Publisher .........Don Snedecor
Reporters/Writers ...........Lee Braymen-Cleary,
KC Cowan, Erik Vidstrand
Copy Editor ......................Rich Riegel
Advertising Sales ...........Don Snedecor, Harry Blythe
Graphic Design ..............Leslie Baird Design
Printing ............................Oregon Lithoprint
Circulation .......................Ambling Bear
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