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street roots
J L
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July 8, 2011
John Miller
Oregon Opportunity Network’s
new executive director talks about
the triumphs and challenges to
m aking housing affordable to all
B Y J O A N N E ZUH L
STAFF WRITER
regon’s network of community
development organizations — those
developers, nonprofits and agencies
that have been the backbone of affordable
housing and economic development for low-
income, elderly and disabled Oregonians — has
taken a thrashing in the past few years.
The recession hit community development
corporations, or CDCs, front and back, cutting
resources while increasing demand. Despite
progress in preserving and creating
apartments and homes affordable to people in
poverty, they haven’t kept pace with the
growing ranks of their clientele.
The Oregon Opportunity Network, or
Oregon ON, represents those developers,
housing authorities, investors, service
providers and community leaders that make
affordable housing happen in Oregon.
Combined, they have developed more than
16,000 units of housing, including single-family
homes, and helped counsel and support more
than 10,000 new homebuyers annually,
according to Oregon ON.
In May, John Miller took the helm of
Oregon ON as its new executive director,
having served for nine years as the executive
director of HOST Development, a nonprofit
community development organization that ;
built homes for low- and moderate-income
buyers in Portland.
Although the recession is “technically” over,
the wake of the housing collapse and
economic uncertainty continues to roil the
marketplace and political halls. Street Roots
talked with Miller about the state of affordable
housing, the message from member
developers, and the challenges ahead.
H
J o a n n e Z u h l: The big question: W hat is the
pulse o f affordable housing in Portland?
I think that we have a really
strong set of folks who are doing their best to
deliver affordable housing with the resources
that they have. And that we also have a city
that is committed to delivering a reliable
supply of affordable housing. But I think that,
as always, and this has been the same,
recession or no, that there are not enough
resources to meet the needs. I started in the
affordable-housing industry in 2002, and at
that time real estate was going ujp, and there
were still really not enough affordable shelter
J o h n M iller:
demand.
And the big issue often is we supply housing
but we don’t supply all the services that go
along with the housing, and those service
dollars are still missing. And just like eight
years ago, they’re still not here. Overall, we
have more units, which is great, but we also
have a much higher demand,
sufficient, and not needing the subsidized unit
over and over again. So you get a big bang for
your buck if you provide services. The
Services, economically, might be a fraction of
the cost compared to what it would take to
build a new unit for every single person who
has needs. You definitely lose when you don’t
provide services.
J.Z.: You mention the service components - ¿to
we lose a bang fo r our buck when we don’t have
those wraparound services there?
J.Z.: Speaking about the new demand, and the
recession, does that change Oregon O N ’s message
in 2011 and what yo u ’re calling fo r to get back
ahead o f the game?
J.M . Certainly. I think when you look at the
cost to build a new unit, compared to the cost
of bringing someone in, giving them some
extra services, helping them to where they
become self-sufficient and they can move out.
You retain the unit, but you how use it for two
people. Without those services, they could
have been stuck there and you only have one
turn out of a unit. The only way to fix that is
J.M . I’m not sure the message is
necessarily altered, but I think it needs to be
louder. There are a few things that we have
seen differently. One is that a lot of the folks
that our members are serving are the folks
who were employed six months before, or a
See MILLER, page 5
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