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. ,
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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
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