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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 2014)
street roots 2 Aug. 1,2014 Let’s focus on solutions to tackle housing challenges e Oregonian recently reported that ■ apartment rentals in Portland shot up 6.1 percent last year according to Axiometrics, a rental industry data firm. The average rent for an apartment in Portland is $1,160. Yoh know what? They’re going to increase even more B y Israel Bayer this year. The report shows that an estimated 4,000 rental units will be built in Portland m the next two years alone. It won’t be long until the average rent in Portland is $1,300, possibly even $1,500 in the next decade. I don’t know about you, but the majority of people I know aren’t going to be able to keep up. That’s not even accounting for low-income individuals and families that may not even bring that kind of money home to begin with. You know what else? Portland doesn’t have a plan to deal with the demand for affordable housing. Street Roots and others have been harping at the city for more than a decade to develop more critical tools to deal with Portland’s boom. Then the recession came and nothing was done. We did ^everything we could just to maintain thé status quo. It’s time for Portland to get red. In the next two years Portland is going to be asked to increase our collective support for parks, transportation and schools. All great tilings, you say. I think so too. Unfortunately, affordable housing seems to be just an afterthought in how we plan the greatest city west of the Mississippi, an urban playground of sorts for the affluent and educated. The question becomes, why should poor people buv into supporting these ongoing efforts if what we are doing in reality is pricing ourselves out of the community we JL Peace sets stage for positive dialogue around the streets ortland’s streets are always busy in the summer, and seem to get busier every year. Each season brings more travelers to the area. More festivals, celebrations and events, large and small. More market stands and food carts carving out their com er of pavem ent Summer means a little more of everything in Portland. And there are more Street Roots vendors with every week as well. And more people simply “being” on the streets. It can get crowded out there some days, and tem pers are always closer to flaring with the heat, especially among those with little to go around. But to date, this summer has been As long as our comparably calm. No sidewalks and streets doubt it’s a combination continue to become of factor^, from the more crowded, with more visitors and more improvement in the economy in some activity, the peace Is circles, to outreach always going to be efforts for those left fragile. behind. There has also been a concerted effort by police to get out of their cars and walk the downtown corridors to get to know who people are and engage everyone to keep the peace. It’s not all wine and roses, of course, but for the most part, the peace is holding its own. We know our vendors are a valuable part of that peace. We know that many businesses and police agree on the stabilizing force of a regular vendor on a busy street comer. Still, every year, the specter of the summer boogieman DIRECTOR'S DESK E Israel Bayer is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach him. at israel@streetroots.org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. — embodied by bands of travelers and street youths t<^.our city —'hijacks the discussion of what to do about. . homelessness and its related issues. It is a tail-chasing paper tiger that saps all energy from discussions around progress and solutions. Sadly this year, the paper tiger has resurfaced in east Portland where police are conducting an end-run around civic policy by slapping charges of interfering with a police officer against homeless people for camping. Talk about regressive. We have recovering local budgets, and a City Council that seems eager to move money around and secure new funding streams — still, homelessness has yet to draw those carrots. Perhaps because it’s not the squeaky wheel this year. As long as our sidewalks and streets continue to become more crowded, with more visitors and more activity, the peace is always going to be fragile. We have good systems and services that are filling only a fraction of the need when it comes to homelessness and affordable housing. This year, we have the breathing room and the potential to plan for greater access and support for economically diverse housing options, for improved access to mental health and addiction services and for employment opportunities for all. Let’s keep the momentum building for the positive. lig n a Street Roots creates income opportunities tor people experiencing homelessness and poverty by producing a newspaper and other media that are catalysts for individual and social change. Street Roots publishes every tw o weeks, launching on Fridays, a id is available exclusively through our street vendors or by subscription, W e are proud members of the International Network of Street Papers. J - 8 |1 Street Roots 211 NW Davis St Portland, OR 97209 503-223-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 streetroots.org news.streetroots.org ■ Exist, Free, D ance By Jonathan Bartley I’ve seen in the stars What it truly means to be alive Each shining star is a survivor A star is not a constant in every sense, Not in a person’s sense of i t What changes? Our perspectives change them And if we are vigilant, Our selves do, As our cells do Constant only in our change. So goes our journeys of self, of soul, of life. I’ve seen in the pines what it truly means to grow. Despite the wind, they do not fall, but find in it freedom to sway to its rhythms. Survive in change. — — — S ta ff Our mission b love? It’s a question that needs to be answered. Instead of piling on to our past woes, how about talking about some solutions? Here are a few: ■ Support fees from short-term rental units to go toward affordable housing. ■ Embrace organizations like Right 2 Dream Too and have j e s t areas for people experiencing homelessness. ■ Build small homes for people experiencing homelessness and poverty. ■ Embrace a range of developments for affordable housing across a broad spectrum of developers. ■ Build higher. Yep. I said it. To the sky. And in doing so create a mechanism so that with each square foot built on the open market above a certain height, developers have to pay a fee and provide mixed-income housing. ■ A local document recording fee on documents and permits related to building market-rate housing. ■ A mandatory requirement for mixed- income housing along all new transportation projects over a certain price, such as the new MAX and Streetcar lines ■ I would say a housing levy, but I fear that by prioritizing all of the other great Portland things like libraries, parks, schools, and transportation. Housing doesn’t stand a chance. That’s too bad. These are just a few examples of how local officials could get to work. They shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. These efforts or efforts like these are being done in many American cities. It’s actually pretty common. Why we aren’t doing this in Portland I haven’t the faintest clue. Well, that’s not exactly true, but I’m not here to tear anyone down. I’m simply writing to ask those in both the public and privatesector fo'get'to work to FfiffiBH» "ATiflyTO1 works for all of us. israel@streetfoots.org Editor Joanne Zuhl joanne@streetroots.org Vendor Coordinator Cole Merkel cole@streetroots.org Operations Director Sarah Beecroft Program Assistant Grace Badik, Jesuit Volunteer, grace@streetroots.org Development Director Sarah Cloud Office Assistant Am ber Bielman Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Nathan Gilles, Sue Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Gaillot Photographers Kristina Wright, Christopher Onstott, Adrienne Burkett ■ |j j Board of Directors If- v f y ’Z • Bruce Anderson (Chairman), Michael Anderson (Vice- chairman), Heather Stadick (Treas.), Eddy Barbosa (Sec.), Rich Rodgers, Brad Taylor, Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon, Darren Alexander, Amber Bielman Volunteers ■" ..... Street Roots vendors buy the newspapers for 25 cents each and sell them fo r $1, keeping the 75 cents in profit for themselves. In order to keep the cost low to our vendors, we receive additional support from donations and in-kind contributions. Jan Bayer, Elizabeth Tierney, Rob Shryock, Ann- Derrick Gaillot, Stacey Heath, Vinnie Kinsella, Michelle Breslau, Paula Cracas, John Barker, Mary Locke, Lucas Manfieid, Jessie Carver, Cherie Vedal, Sam Bouman, Isaac Hastings Hauss, Emily Green, Tom Ray' Sarah Hansell, Alana Kansaku-Sarmiento, Kyle Craven, Audrey Benison, Crystal Elinksi Street Boots Rose City Resource Street Roots publishes the Rose City Resource, a 75c " ' goes directly to the vendor w ho sold you the paper ' 2SC goes toward printing costs comprehensive booklet of services for people experiencing homelessness and poverty. To inquire about getting guides, call 503-228-5657. Resources are online at www.rosecityresource.org. Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday, W ednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office'.
