7
Street roots
March 18, 2011
BUILDING from page 1
N.F.: It has been a challenging two years.
Advocates talked about the need for change
for over a decádé. In my first year on
Council, the Mayor and I acted to bring all
the city* s housing programs and resources
under one roof.
I am very proud of the work of Director
Margaret Van Vliet and her dedicated team
at PHB. They have worked hard to
restructure the city’s housing delivery
system and to weather this economic storm.
Looking forward, with a stronger
foundation, we need to address the
challenges on the horizon: developing a new
sustainable funding source, addressing
equity, fighting for our fair share of federal
and state dollars, and strengthening our
partnerships.
I.B.: While the city has put together several
major projects for affordable housing in the
past two years, it’s also facing a major revenue
decline through tax-increment financing (a
major source of affordable housing funding) of
up to $16 million. How-does the city meet the
challenges in the years to come?
N.F.: We need to continue toinvest in
long term, cost effective strategies to meet
the needs of all Portlanders. But the TIF
cliff — the decline in available TIF resources
— is real. In the future, we must develop
sustainable and flexible resources beyond
our federal entitlements and TIF. Our trip
to Seattle was a first step in our plan to lead
on this issue.
I.B.: Your thoughts on the legislative session
in Salem related to homelessness and housing?
N.F..\We don’t have a clear sense of the
magnitude of cuts, and how they will affect
our partners. The city is less dependent on
state revenue, but because the city and the
county are so closely aligned on human
services — when the county takes a hit, the
city feels the pressure to step up and help
backfill some oHhose cuts. There’s no 2
question the outcomes may leave big holes
in our safety net.
I was down in Salem a couple of weeks
ago testifying to renew our tax investment
program, and make sure that we continué to
have this tool at our disposal for housing.
There’s also a team of people from the city
pushing the housing agenda is Salem.
Seattle’s approach has much to offer Portland leaders
BY ISRAEL BAYER
term programs.
Dobson told the group that the only
nowing Portland can’t reinvent the , real rules here are being nice to one
wheel concerning resource
another, as we walked through the
development forliomeless and
building where an older gentlemen sat
housing dollars, Commissioner Nick Fish
ánd drank a Busch Light in the day space.
led a team of housing experts and
“If you can do that, you’ll be fine,” says
business
Dobson.
««■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ h representatives to
The idea of offering a facility where
Seattle on a two-
people can openly drink is not new in the
day trip to look at
harm reduction world, hut it is the first of
was financed by
models
its kind in the United States,
Enterprise
surrounding harm
Dobson was peppered with questions
Community
reduction and a
from the group ranging from service
Partners
housing levy.
delivery approaches and funding
(Northwest), a
On March 3 the
mechanisms to how DESC built the
national nonprofit
group visited the
political will to créate such a facility in
lender and
Downtown
Seattle. Dobson’s response was building
Emergency
consulting firm for
non-traditional allies with law
Service Center, or
community
enforcement, the business community,
DESC, an
and advocates. “If you have these different
development and
organization with
groups bought into the idea, the entire
affordable housing,
a long track record community will take pause, and listen.”
and the City of
of working with
The group also toured the Morrison
Portland. Street
people with
Building in the heart of Seattle’s
Roots and the
mental health and
downtown, where DESC operates a 190-
Portland Business
addictive illness.
nnit housing center on top of a shelter
Alliance paid their
The group spent
that houses more than 200 women and
own expenses.
several hours with
men. The facility also offers additional
DESC Executive . ' beds meant for individuals specifically
being discharged from the hospital, or in
Hobson talking
extreme distress. The shelter is open
about the organization’s approach at
24-hours a day, seven days a week. In
working with individuals with chronic
many ways the Morrison Building is like
alcohol and drug addictions through a
the Resource Access Center that will
harm reduction model.
open in June in downtown Portland,
The group toured the controversial, yet
except older and bigger.
successful 1811 Eastlake Building —
The afternoon was spent in two
where DESC houses 75 homeless men
separate in-depth meetings with the
and women with chronic alcohol and
Medina Foundation Executive Director
addiction issues who are the heaviest
Adrienne Quinn, and former Deputy
users of publicly funded crisis services,
Mayor and Philanthropy NW CEO Tom
such as emergency rooms, jails and long-
Byers, who talked to the group about
STAFF W R ITER
■
th e h o u sin g ta x a b a te m e n t doesn’t have a
big impact on the state revenues, but does
allow cities and counties to help create an v
incentive for housing.
I.B.: What about the federal cuts we’ve been
hearing about?
N.F.: Honestly, this concerns me the
most. We are looking at potential cuts to the
Community Development Block Grant
I.B.: What does the tax investment program
program. It’s an important piece of the
look like?
■
.
funding puzzle for housing. The dollars are
reasonably flexible, and can be used for
N.F.: It allows us to give a developer a
many different projects. Unfortunately, the
10-year property tax break if they meet
President h a s .
certain policy goals
proposed a cut to the
that include building
program and the
housing units that
Republicans have
are affordable. It
come along and said
comes with a wrinkle “What's been humbling for
let’s double those
7* wé ask that the law
cuts. We’re at wits
me
Is
that
yon
can't
take
for
be clarified to allow
granted that we've made onr ends trying to figure
us to extend the
out what’s real, and
abatement tp the
case around homelessness
what’s not., it’s been
commercialportion
and housing with the public, keeping me awake at
of thè building if it
and that the public is always night trying to figure
meets a clear public
it o u t Think the
bènefit. Both County going to be with yon."
Admiral
Building, and
Chair Jeff Cogen, and
the Martiia
I testified about the
Washington Building,
program. An
i
t ’s one of the most
example of a mixed-
crucial tools we have
use development
for preserving affordable housing.
that would qualify in a place like the Lents
The Portland community, and advocates
neighborhood or East Portland is where a
iike ydurself and the city are a part of
developer would also like to include a
national coalitions and other groups that are
grocery store in what we call a food desert
doing everything possible to move the
(whère a grocery store doesn’t exists in the
housing agenda forward. We simply can’t
neighborhood). It’s the goal to extend the
balance our budgets on the backs of the i
abatement to bring people both housing,
poor. We’ll see how that shakes out in
and things like a grocery store to
Washington, and in Salem. I’m extremely
neighborhoods that have been traditionally
proud in Portland that we have wall-to-wall
under served. We’re cautiously optimistic.
support for housing, but we can’t do it
. The reality is we need as many tools in
alone. We have to be on high alert and
the toolbox as possible. We have to be able
active.
to use tax abatement, tax credits, and direct
subsidy along with other tools to fund
affordable housing. At the end of the day,
I.B.: One of the themes we heardrfrom
foundations and advocates this week is that if
the housing agenda locally, a n d around the
country is to move forward, we have, to be
working in collaboration with non-traditional
allies. It’s something Street Roots has taken
very seriously over the past twoyears, and
taken a hard look in the mirror and asked
ourselves, how do we honestly build a
movement what’s four take on this?
N.F.: At One time I worked for
(Massachusetts Congressmen) Barney
Frank — one of the biggest housing
advocates of our time. When I was running
for office he came out and spoke to a group
of supporters on my behalf.
He said, two of his best allies in moving
the affordable housing agenda forward were
the home builders and the real estate
industry.
There were some progressive housing
folks in the room that looked as though they
had just swallowed the cat. At the same
time, the idea that the most powerful
Democrat in Washington was working on
housing issues had identified home builders
and the real estate industry as real allies
was very sobering for others.
The reality is to he successful on the
housing front, locally and at the state level
we need a big coalition. Part of this is about
the confidence and maturity of a movement,
and its willingness to build a big tent.
Bill Hobson (executive director of
Seattle’s Downtown Emergency Service
Center) said it yesterday. His biggest allies
on the most contrbversial form of harm
reduction and housing programs ended up
being the business community, and law
enforcement We’ve heard this week that it
doesn’t matter what people’s motivations
are. For the police, it may be that they-are
stretched thin and don’t have the capacity to
respond to calls surrounding homelessness.
For the business community, maybe they
didn’t feel like it was productive for the
retail community to have people sleeping on
the streets in front of their businesses. I .
honestly don’t care how you get to our >
building the political will and inner
workings of Seattle’s housing levy.
The Seattle Housing Levy passed in
2009 by* more than 60 percent by Seattle
voters. The levy has dedicated nearly
$145 million dollars to capital housing
projects and rent-assistance over a seven-
year period. The cost to Seattle
households is roughly $65 a year, or $5.40
a month.
Much of the conversation about the
housing levy was off the record, but
representatives from the city and county,
and the Portland Business Alliance all had
questions and lively conversations about
the challenges of such a move in Portland.
Dinner was spent at FareStart - an
impressive culinary program/restaurant
that trains people experiencing
individuals. In attendance were
representatives from Housing and Urban
Development, the Gates and Medina
Foundations and Enterprise.
The theme of the night was building a
broader partnership around housing in
the Pacific Northwest, and how Portland
can both learn from Seattle and work with
larger foundations to have a role in
funding homeless and affordable housing
projects in the Portland region.
On March 4 the group met with
housing levy advocates, and city
administrators for a two-hour session
hosted by Key Bank in downtown before
taking a tour of the Seattle Housing
Authority. The meeting about the housing
levy on the second day was off the record.
The conversation entailed an A to Z
presentation on the Seattle Housing levy
along with two hours of questions and
movement I just need you ät the table ‘
helping. We have spent too much time in
the past fighting with potential allies instead
of looking for common ground, and agreeing
to disagree. To drive housing policy locally,
and in Oregon, we have to build a bigger
te n t
LB.: What are we getting right on the
housing front?
N.F.: We have identified long-term cost
effective strategies to end people’s
homelessness. That means not going after
quick fixes and expanding our shelter >
capacity. Politically, that was a difficult fight
at one-time, but it is the right approach. Half
way into our 10-year plan — we know we
have a model that works.
We have strong political support for our
work. We are a collaborative community
working with foundations, non-profits, the
private sector arid government. We can
always do it better though.
The challenges are that we need to be
more organized, and we need develop more
resources. We have to guard against
complacency and frankly, we have to hit the
refresh button and question assumptions.
We always have to be asking how we can do
it better. The economy has thrown us for a
loop, and there’s no question that some of
our non-profit community partners are
fragile, and it’s been brutal on some of our
best providers.
What’s been humbling for me is that you
can’t take for granted that we’ve made our
case around homelessness and housing with
the public, and that the public is always
going to be with you.
We’re halfway through a 10-year plan to
end homelessness, and the 30 percent set
aside for Urban Renewal dollars is up for
reconsideration. Like I said before, we have
to be on high alert, active and able to state
our case. We know we’re all collectively
doing good work. We just have to continue
to build that big tent and move forward.
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