November 2017
NEWS
The Southwest Portland Post • 3
Metro, Portland hold affordable housing workshop related to future light rail line
SOUTHWEST CORRIDOR PLAN
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
An affordable housing workshop
related to the future southwest
light rail line was held on Oct. 14 at
Markham Elementary School. Over
100 citizens participated.
Sponsored by the Portland Bureau
of Planning and Sustainability, Mayor
Ted Wheeler was also invited to share
the city’s role on the future of housing
in the transportation corridor.
To ensure that the southwest cor-
ridor is not only a place where people
will travel through, but also remain
livable for future generations, both
the cities of Portland and Tigard are
developing housing strategies which
will support public investments with
inclusion, equal access to opportuni-
ties, and diversity in the community.
In December 2016, the Metro Council
unanimously voted to award $575,000
in grants to support equitable housing
in seven communities around greater
Portland.
Metro planners were on hand to
discuss the process. Chris Ford, Metro
project manager, said that by the year
2035, an additional 70,000 residents
will be living in southwest Portland.
“The southwest corridor project
planning began in 2011,” Ford said.
“By summer of 2018, a preferred
route will be decided but we won’t
really know until 2021 if everything
is finalized.
“Then there will be four years of
construction and by summer of 2025,
we’ll be ready to roll.”
Ford explained that the current
housing crisis has impacted 3,500
lower income renters in the southwest
who are paying over 50 percent of
their income on housing.
Ford said that parts of an equitable
housing strategy include committing
early financial resources, preventing
residential and cultural displace-
ment, and increasing choices for new
homes.
“The new MAX line is not just about
transportation,” Mayor Ted Wheeler
said, “It’s about meeting other goals
of inclusion, a sense of community,
prosperity, and creating jobs.
“Rents have increased by 30 percent
since 2012 while household wages
have remained stagnant,” Wheeler
said. “More residents are sliding into
housing insecurity.”
Wheeler said when the North Inter-
state Avenue MAX line was built, the
city made many promises.
“We didn’t follow up with the com-
munity,” Wheeler said. “Many in the
private sector made speculative deci-
sions and displaced residents along
Interstate. We own these mistakes.”
Wheeler promised he would work
together with partners.
“We need to dig deeper into re-
sources investing in land,” Wheeler
said. “We need the private sector to
make mixed-income housing work
with TriMet. Funding would be
included in an upcoming proposed
bond measure.”
Wheeler asked TriMet to include
$100 million for affordable housing
in the $1.7 billion regional transporta-
tion funding measure it is preparing
for the November 2018 ballot.
The potential bond measure ten-
tatively includes $750 million as the
region’s share of the $2.4 billion light
rail line, and $950 million for local
congestion relief and safety projects.
In November 2016, Portland voters
overwhelmingly approved a $258 mil-
lion bond for affordable housing and
unseated City Commissioner Steve
Novick in favor of Chloe Eudaly, a
bookstore owner and renters’ rights
activist who campaigned chiefly on
housing.
More than 100 residents and government officials met on Oct. 14 to provide input into
affordable housing strategies along the future light rail line in Southwest Portland.
(Post photo by Erik Vidstrand)
Following Wheeler’s remarks, Ka-
trina Holland, executive director of
the Community Alliance of Tenants
spoke.
“It’s very clear who is denied af-
fordable housing: people who look
like me!” said Holland, who is Afri-
can-American.
“We’re here to stop that,” she said.
“We need to enact some tenant’s ac-
tions policy to prevent issues. Fair
housing issue is a civil rights issue.
The refugee community needs to be
given more safety and stability. We
need to pump money into the issue.”
Holland said that residents can get
involved by connecting with neigh-
bors, volunteer with local housing
organizations, and share their com-
ments on the transit planning process.
When the vetting and community
input are finalized, a unified, strategic
approach to the corridor housing will
be presented to the cities to take ac-
tion. This will include a way to guide
action and track housing progress,
proposals for financing sources, and
supportive land use policies to meet
the corridor’s housing targets.
(Continued on Page 6)
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