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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2016)
Street Roots • Jan. 1-7, 2016 Commentary Page 11 Thanks to ‘the Portland in us,’ 2015 saw progress on housing BY DAN SALTZM AN housing - the largest notice of availability this metro area has ever seen. We have, through the Home for Everyone A week ago, the Portland Business ZA Alliance came into my office with one collaborative with Multnomah County, the city of Gresham and Home Forward, worked X X o f its members. This member had a with private landlords and regional partners building downtown that he would be selling to house 690 homeless veterans. We raised in the coming months, but the business our tax-increment set-aside from 30 percent tenants were gone and the building lay dormant. Could we use it as a temporary to 45 percent, shifting our urban renewal shelter? dollars to provide an additional $66.7 Within a week, we had done all the million for affordable housing. We improved necessary inspections, prioritized funds, an underutilized tax-exemption program to and lined up a nonprofit partner to run provide an estimated 300 units of affordable services. This new site will add 100 beds to housing per year. We required all lodging our shelter capacity this winter and will taxes from short-term rentals be dedicated open less than a month from the offer to exclusively to affordable housing, a move provide space. expected to raise an additional $1.2 million During this holiday season, inundated by annually toward our housing investments. record rainfall and with all of Portland And we provided a safety valve for witnessing the suffering of those without vulnerable renters by tripling the shelter, this small piece of our housing notification time landlords must give for continuum fell into place. This story rent increases and no-cause evictions. reminds me that it is not just new ideas or Oh, and we hired a new housing director, cutting through red tape that have helped Kurt Creager, who hit the ground running provide shelter to those men, women and so fast you Would think he’d been at the job children experiencing homelessness. It is for years instead of months. not even through agreement on how best to address the affordable-housirigicrisisor ' ’ _ „ Meanwhile, the new.shelterppeningin January will provide much-needed capacity. homelessness. Rather, it is doing the work It won’t be open indefinitely, but it still fills to move the city forward through the crisis me with a sense of hope for 2016. Offers despite these differences. such as this one - of a spare building - are In 2015, we worked more closely than not isolated incidents, but I think a real ever before with our public, private and acknowledgment of how our city has rallied nonprofit partners. We have not only behind the housing crisis. listened to advocates but have helped them We don’t all agree on how to solve these deliver their message to Salem. issues. We debate. But we act anyway. It’s I am happy to share with Street Roots the Portland in us. To sit and do nothing for readers just some of the fruit of these those that deserve the dignity of shelter labors. We have released $61.6 million in city, county and federal funds for affordable and a home is not an option. C O N TR IB U T IN G W RITER Dan Saltzman is a Portland city commissioner NATURE, from page 7 Springs is a fabulous example of providing something that is totally artificial but still provides natural functions. The week after it was dedicated, I was driving north and there was a flash across my windshield. I look over and it’s an osprey. It had landed in Tanner Springs and went on to catch a fish. Some person had been releasing koi. It’s a very small space, it’s one city block. But the cool thing about Tanner Springs — and a microcosm of what we’re talking about — is that it is part of a park triptych: Tanner Springs, Jamison Square Park and the Fields. Two blocks to the south of Tanner Springs is Jamison Square Park. There are trees there but, you know, it’s a hardscape. Thousands of people show up there. You don’t see thousands of people in Tanner Springs. Duh. You’re not supposed to. Then there’s the Fields, north of Tanner Springs, which is just a huge open grassy areas with a dog park. They all provide different functions. But you have nature. It’s faux nature, but people love it. It’s people’s access to nature within a block or a few blocks of where they live. That is an example of what we need to do more of. A.W.: It’s interesting that you bring up the Pearl, because it is probably one of the most planned neighborhood in Portland and developed fairly quickly. That seems to be what you’re advocating for: better, more holistic planning. M JL: Exactly. To respond to your density question again, the philosophy of Portland and Metro’s strategy is to develop along transportation coordidors and regional centers. You get a huge bang for your buck if you will. That takes pressure off the rest of the urban landscape. There’s less natural green and more artificial green in those centers. The critical thing is how we are going to implement the Comprehensive Plan. What kinds of zoning and what kinds of codes are we going to have? One of the things the Plan calls for is weaving nature into the city. It’s one thing to talk about that and another to have the zoning and codes line pp. , , , « a i q a a A.W.: Any final thoughts? M.H.: We are in the same conversation we were in when I started 35 years ago — at which time very progressive elected officials and very progressive planners said there’s no room for nature in the city. It’s taken 35 years where they’re saying no, and that doesn’t make any sense. There was that era of building consensus that people needed access to nature. The same progressive elected officials and planners are saying that today we have to be denser and we can’t afford to protect tress and we can’t have all this green stuff. It’s the same damn argument. It’s just as bankrupt a philosophy as it was 35 years ago. PHC Northwest USACU.ORG/HOLIDAYAUTOREFI ■ Ij || ■ ........................ ' Para Training & Jobs " for People with Disabilities Conveniently located on SW 1st & Taylor (95 SW Taylor Street). Stop in, call (503-275-0300), or visit us online at USACU.ORG. dd (ffOeïâg ç # sî § î B0£ î .yr<k oh hsirJUO^ §0ttd oí Ìi5?,moy ghiníohiós
