street roots
Feb. 1, 2013
Portland’s new
affordable housing
Gray's Landing on Portland’s South Waterfront
provides housing, community and access
BY ROBERT BRITT
S TA FF W R IT E R
ortland’s newest affordable housing
building is a convenient home for
resident Dee Shular. The streetcar
stop at her front door provides access to the
city she is still learning and the aerial tram
a few blocks away is her lift to the Portland
VA Medical Center.
Shular is one of the veterans now living at
Gray’s Landing, the six-story building
featuring 209 apartments for low-income
residents in Portland’s newly developed
south waterfront. The building, which
opened in December, is the result of a $50
million partnership between the Portland
Housing Bureau and REACH Community
Development.
A 52-year-old Air Force veteran, Shular
lives in one of the 42 apartments reserved
for veterans.
Beginning in the late 70s, Shular installed
and repaired military communications
systems. But in recent years, she has been
left deafened by a brain tumor that grew so
large it broke her skull. Needing 10 hours of
intensive brain surgery at Portland’s VA
hospital, she has spent the last two years
recovering.
Shular was living in the dormitory-style
single room occupancy facility at the VA
campus in Vancouver, Wash., but says that
was only a temporary solution while
recovering from the immediate effects of
her surgery.
“In the beginning, living there was fine
for me when I wasn’t doing well. But as I
was getting better I wanted a little more
freedom,” she says, adding that it was
difficult for her to get around Vancouver.
That’s when she began talking to her VA
housing case manager and was told about
Gray’s Landing, which was then just a rising
P
SECTIO N 8, from page 3
disabled, minorities and other protected
classes tend to use the vouchers more.
He began working on a task force
dedicated to getting more vouchers accepted
that included Kotek as well as
representatives from landlord groups, Home
Forward and other stakeholders. The task
force set a goal of getting 90 percent of
housing vouchers accepted by landlords.
Fish said that this goal had been exceeded
by the time the task force disbanded in
2009 by working with landlords to better
address their concerns with the program.
“What we learned is that there are many
complex reasons for the program not
working,” said Fish.
Some landlords find the program
excessively bureaucratic, having to submit
to drawn-out inspections of rental units.
Additionally, Housing Choice voucher
holders are sometimes stigmatized by
landlords as being bad tenants who will
damage rentals and then be unable to pay
for repairs.
Steve Rudman, Home Forward executive
director, said that his agency has been active
in trying to work with landlords to make the
program work better for them. He said
Home Forward has sought to make
inspections less onerous for landlords, while
also making payments to them
electronically. Currently, between 2,000 and
3,000 landlords participate in the program
complex of steel and concrete. Construction
on the building had broken ground in
April 2011 but wouldn’t be complete — albeit
ahead of schedule — until November 2012.
After being screened by the VA, REACH
and Portland’s public housing authority
Home Forward, Shular says she had her
confirmation packet in the mail the next
day. By Dec. 1, 2012, Shular was moving
into her new apartment.
“Up in Vancouver, I had a very difficult
time and I would isolate,” Shular says.
“Here, you’re treated with such dignity and
respect, I don’t have to isolate.”
The building’s proximity to the base of
the aerial tram makes it easy for residents
to get to the Portland VA Medical Center
and Oregon Health and Science University
complex, a trip that Shular needs to make
regularly during her recovery.
“I just jump on the streetcar for a couple
of blocks and get on the tram,” Shular says.
“It takes me right up there and I just walk
over to the VA side.”
Shular is still recovering, now with the
assistance and companionship of her service
dog Abigail, a white and black speckled
English Setter. She is getting used to living
with hearing aids and still gets headaches.
And dealing with noisy environments can
leave her exhausted. But she’s also getting
to know her new city.
Born in Vermont and later living in Idaho,
she says she didn’t know Portland at all
before moving into Gray’s Landing. Now her
location along the southern edge of the
Portland Streetcar line makeg it easy for her
to explore. “I don’t feel secluded at all,” she
says.
Gray’s Landing also features several
common spaces, including a computer lab,
community kitchen and exercise room.
Community activities and resources are also
available on-site, and Shular says she’s
Air Force veteran Dee Shular stands with her dog Abigail in
front of Gray’s Landing.
looking forward to the upcoming cooking
classes.
“They just have all the convenience you
could imagine. If you’re really down on your
luck, they even have a food pantry now,”
Shular says. “Even just the simplest thing
like you don’t have to get quarters for the
laundry; it’s all on a card. And that’s just a
little convenience that is way more
convenient than having to have quarters all
the time.”
Shular says she often sits with Abigail on
their fifth-floor balcony and looks across the
city, often laughing at the commuters stuck
in traffic on nearby 1-5.
“This is, by far, the best housing that the
VA has to offer,” Shular says. And as if to
prove her point, she talks of another veteran
who was a neighbor of Dee’s in Vancouver
and is also a Gray’s Landing resident.
“He was miserable up there,” she says.
“You can tell when someone’s very unhappy.
Down here now, he waves and smiles all the
time — he’s a different person. We love this
area.”
Gray’s Landing is REACH’S biggest
project in its 30-year history, according to
spokeswoman Laura Recko. In addition to
low-income residents and veterans, the
fa cility a lso h o u s e s the o ttic e s of R E A C ttU
which moved its headquarters to the south
waterfront from Southeast Portland.
Named in honor of Portland developer
and philanthropist John Gray, a World War II
veteran and Bronze Star recipient who died
last year, Gray’s Landing also has about
5,000 square feet of additional commercial
space available for lease.
The facility’s eco-minded design led to a
LEED-platinum certification and the
30,000-square-foot eco roof is the largest in
Portland-metro area.
through Home Forward, he said.
“What we want to see is people with
vouchers have choice and be able to live
wherever is best for them with jobs, church,
schools etc.,” he said. “On the other hand,
as a housing authority, this is a private
sector program so you need private
landlords to make this work.”
After the task force disbanded, Home
Forward established the Landlord
Guarantee Fund, which is basically
insurance for Section 8 landlords. It
guarantees up to two months of rent for
landlords if a tenant leaves the unit with
over $1,000 in damages beyond normal wear
and tear. According to Marchesi, the fund’s
initial $400,000 has been reduced
substantially each year because landlords
are not making requests for it, which she
said is positive.
To date, Home Forward has had six
requests from landlords to use the fund,
according to Marchesi. Two claims did not
qualify. Three claims have been paid,
totaling $2,399. Another claim is under
review.
In 2012, Home Forward established the
Landlord Incentive Fund, which will pay
landlords $100 for each unit rented to
Housing Choice tenants in what the agency
defines as a “low-poverty area.” The
program was initiated to give voucher
holders wider choice in where they can live,
according to Marchesi.
Although Fish said that initiatives taken
by Home Forward have been successful, he
added that they could be undone by
Portland’s falling rental vacancy rate.
“When you have a 2 percent vacancy rate,
landlords can pick and choose,” said Fish.
Fish said he’ll be lobbying for the bill, as
it’s part of his broader strategy of helping
lower-income renters. He also said its
passage is part of the City of Portland’s
legislative agenda.
Oregon law prohibits landlords from
discriminating against tenants based on
their source of income, with the exception
of Housing Choice vouchers. Kotek’s
legislation, House Bill 2639, would
effectively bar landlords from rejecting a
tenant solely because they have a Housing
Choice voucher, while still allowing them to
deny a prospective renter for other reasons,
such as a bad rental history. If passed,
Oregon would join nine other states and a
smattering of local governments that
prohibit discrimination against Housing
Choice tenants.
The bill also establishes a landlord
guarantee fund, similar to what Home
Forward has in place.
“Having such a fund is an important
concern for landlords, said Ryan Fisher, a
lobbyist for the Oregon Housing Authorities,
an association that represents the state’s 22
housing authorities.
Additionally, the bill also establishes
another fund modeled after a program in
Multnomah County that provides assistance
to households and individuals having a
difficult time paying for housing.
“Kotek has taken a collaborative approach
toward this issue and has had multiple
meetings to address the concerns of
stakeholders, including landlords,” said
Janet Byrd, the chair of Oregon Housing
Alliance, a coalition of organizations pushing
for more affordable housing.
“I feel like the concept, as it’s coming
forward out of that large group process,
really does a great job of balancing those
needs and concerns,” she said.
Cindy Robert, a lobbyist for the Rental
Housing Association of Greater Portland, an
association representing landlords, said that
Kotek has been inclusive in drafting the bill.
Robert said that she will push for some
changes in the bill, which she declined to
specify at this point.
Deborah Imse, Executive Director of the
Metro Multifamily Housing, another group
representing landlords told Street Roots in
an email exchange that she has been
working with Kotek on this issue, but stated
that it would be premature to comment.
Fisher said he isn’t sure what the bill’s
prospects are given that there are 1,200
other bills that have been submitted.
Because Tina is speaker of the House
[the bill] will have its day in court,” Rudman
said. It might not pass, but it will have its
day in court.”
p h o t o c o u tesy of reach