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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2015)
Street Roots • Oct. 2-8 2015 Editorial Housing solution needs menu of options ayor Charlie Hales and Multnomah percent from the current 30 days to one year. County Chair Deborah Kafoury Sources tell Street Roots it’s more likely that announced this week a $30 million city the city will change the current 30-day no-cause and county commitment to support new eviction status to 90 days in Portland and affordable housing, shelter beds and eviction advocate state legislatures to take a harder look prevention. at nocause eviction terminations and rent The new investment will go to support “A control. Home For Everyone,” a community partnership Build new affordable housing to end homelessness among the cities of ■ Allocate an additional $10 million to build Portland and Gresham, Multnomah County, units that serve those who are homeless or at Home Forward and Meyer Memorial T rust risk of homelessness. “Finding homes for ■ Put a special emphasis on permanent families, children and anyone else sleeping on our housing for people with severe mental illness who are homeless and accessing the soon-to-be- streets is my top priority,” said Multnomah County opened Unity Center. Chair Deborah Kafoury. The $10 million for new investments in “The turbulent housing affordable housing would come on top of the $5 By Israel Bayer market is making that million already allocated in the current budget harder than it ever has cycle. been, and it is forcing Last week, Hales announced a state of people out of their homes. This new investment emergency on homelessness and housing. shows that our entire community is committed Street Roots argued that the plan wasn’t up to to finding a solution to our housing crisis.” scale and didn’t provide the level of investment Officials say the money will go specifically to needed to address the problem in the short support new affordable housing for Multnomah term. County’s most vulnerable “One of the reasons we are at residents, including people this point to celebrate these new experiencing a mental health dollars and prioritize housing is In order to tru ly crisis, and funding for shelter beds for women and families. tackle the problem we because advocates and the ¡community have come together “I don’t believe we can need strong solve Portland’s homelessness le a d e rs h ip in S a le m to and demanded action,” said Kafoury. , « . or housing problems D lllC T O rS DESK executive d irector o f Street Roots. You can reach h im a t israel@streetroots. org or follow him on Twitter @tsraelbayer. overnight,” said Mayor Charlie Hales. “If we are to make any «eal progress, we must first recognize the true emergency this represents in thousands if not tens of thousands of lives in our community.”' The county is committing $10 million of the new investments, while the city is committing $20 million. New policies and the additional $30 million investment will go to support the following: Increase shelter options for our most vulnerable neighbors Writein create reg ulato ry a c tio n s o n re n t F Hales’ office told Street Roots he is comm itted to funding $20 control, inclnsionary zoning and evictions. It's going to take finding a permanent source oi revenue, and ultimately it's going to take our regional leaders to step up to the plate with the same passion as leaders in Multnomah County ■ Suspend limitations on siting shelters, making life- saving places to sleep available quickly. The city and county say they will be able to fund the ? more than 650 needed shelter beds for women, children and people with disabilities. Invest more in the work we are doing to end homelessness ■ Fully fund the projected $15 million we need to prevent more than 1,000 families from becoming homeless and to house more than 1,300 additional women, children, and people with disabilities currently in shelters or on the streets. Improve protection for tenants ■ Implement a proposal to increase notice for no-cause evictions and rent increases. ■ Create a Tenant Protection Team at legal services to increase enforcement The Community Alliance of Tenants and others are currently calling for a moratorium or suspension of nocause terminations for one year. The organization is also asking to increase the notice period of rent increases over 5 million of the package Of investments through all available mechanisms, including existing resources, new revenue and the upcoming budget process. Asked at the press conference if a short-term rental tax was back on the table to support housing, Commissioner Dan Saltzman responded, “Yes, I now have three votes.” Other sources of new revenue to support housing could potentially come from increased allocations in urban renewal districts and a tax on demolitions. We sure hope so. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. The Welcome Home Coalition, made up of more than 100 community organizations, estimates that it will take a $50 million annual investment, long-term, to help solve the problem. At the end of the day, money isn’t the only solution to the housing crisis in our community. In order to truly tackle the problem we need strong leadership in Salem to create regulatory actions on rent control, inclusionary zoning and evictions. It’s going to take finding a permanent source of revenue, and ultimately it’s going to take our regional leaders to step up to the plate with the same passion as leaders in Multnomah County. Ultimately,, it’s going to take a menu of options. We are at a crossroads and as a community we must not let up on the gas. It s time to push our elected leaders to go above and beyond. It’s timé to go big on housing in our community. . if you would Hke tohave. M Israel B a yer is the Page 3 / / \ ^ x . something that you’ve ^ x . written published \ in our pages; or would like to get involved as a member of our reporting staff, contact Managing Edi tor Joanne Zuhl at 503*228-5657. joanne@streetroots.org. We ask that all submissions inci ude the author’s name and contact information, if available. Street Roots 211 NW Davis St Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 www.streetroots.org www.news.streetroots.org Hours: 7:30 a.ra~3 p M Mon.-Fri, 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Sat and 7:30-11 a.m. Sun. Advertising interested in advertising in Street Roots? H Contact Israel Bayer at israel0streetroots.org Staff Executive D ire c to r Israel Bayer israet@streetroots.org Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl V e n d o r C o o r d in a t o r Cofe M erkel cole@ streetroots.org O p eratio n s D ire c to r Sarah Beecroft Development Director Sarah Cloud Program Assistant Scott Jackson, Jesu it Volunteer Development Assistant Ann-Derrick Galliot Reporters Emily Green, SueZalokar, Ann-Derrick Gailtot, Sarah Hansell, Lenora Ko, Sam Bouman, Jared Paben Photographers Diego Diaz, Joe Giode Canvasser Desmond Hardison Board of Directors Chairman Bruce Anderson Vice-Chairman Brad Taylor Treasurer Heather Stadick Secretary Amber Bielman Directors Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson, Leo Rhodes, Nora Goon, Darren Alexander, Eddie Barbosa, Rachel Langford, Marcus Swift Volunteers Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Brian Ritchie, Anders Frederickson, Stephanie Holum, Anjali Rathore, Sam Bouman, Joanna Chase, Zoe Klingmann, Haven Herrin, f e e Baker, Dan Jones, Rob Sbyrock, Tom Ray, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jessica Pollard, Lee Ko, Diana Richardson, Cherie Manning If you are interested in volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or call our volunteer coordinator for more information at 503-228-5657. / Ê
