Street Roots • Oct. 7-13, 2016
Page 3
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Street Roots
211 NW Davis S t
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax: 503-227-3117
www.streetroots.org
www.news.streetroots.org
Hours: 7:30 a.m.*3 p.m. Mon.-Fri.( 7:30
a.m.~2 p.m. Sat. and 7:30-11 a,m. Son.
Advertising
Interested in advertising in Street Roots?
Contact Israel Bayer a t israet@streetroots-org
Vote for affordable housing that’s built to last
Staff
Executive D irecto r Israel Bayer
»
e are four weeks away from historic
opportunity to vote for more
affordable housing. It’s taken us "a lot
¿ ; to get to tlp^, historic m om ent.
A little more than two years ago, Street
Roots — along with a small group of partners
COIN, Community ?
Alliance of Tenants,
Oregon On, Rose
B IB IC T O B ^ S
Community I
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him at
israel@streetmots.org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer:
Development) set out
to create a housing ,
By Israel Bayer
and homeless coalition
that would be able to
build enough
momentum to one day
deliver Portland and our region the ability to
create more affordable housing in pur
community.
The Welcome Home Coalition was bom.
We collectively hired a director, Jes Larson,
and began to work toward identifying long- .
term revenue options that would support
building affordable housing in our
community.
The group looked at how different cities
are creating more affordable housing across
North America. What tools were being used?
Could they be used in Portland and in our
region and around the state? We did public
opinion research. We began to build a case.
The coalition also started organizing. We
went from a handful of organizations to a
dozen, then a few dozen. Today, the coalition
includes more than 140 nonprofit
. organizations, small businesses and
neighborhood associations and growing.
We aren’t alone. Other coalitions that
Street Roots is a part of have also emerged-
arid are. working on important legislation,
including inclusionary zoning, tenant
protections, and more resources fo r: -
affordable housing in Salem and throughout
our state.
In the past year, the Welcome Home
•. Coalition has been able to support its .
partners doing important legislative, work •
regionally arid statewide, while also workirig
to secure several revenue tools to help create
more affordable housing. Those tools include
a new construction excise tax, a short-terhi
rental tax, and helping create more revenue
to support more affordable housing in urban
renewal areas. All of these policies will go to ■
support giving thousands of people a safe
place to call home.
In the coming weeks, many Street Roots
readers will have a chance to vote for Yes for
Affordable Homes, a $258 million general
obligation bond that will support getting
3,000 Portlanders into housing in the next
five years. The housing being built today will
be built to last. It will be housing that we
estimate will span generations and give up to
58,000 people a safe and stable home for
decades to come.
H ere are some ways you, can help. Make
sure you are registered to vote. Volunteer for
the campaign. The campaign team and
volunteers are working literally every single
day. Take a day Out of your week to come and
help phone bank or canvassWith us on the
weekends. You can find out more at
yesforaffordablehomes.com. Lastly, vote for
Yes for Affordable Homes Measure 26-179 at
the ballot
The need for more affordable housing in
our community has never been greater.
We’re hoping that together we can all find a
way to collectively rise above the noise and
all move in the same direction — a direction
'th at will help give thousands of Portlanders
the opportunity at a better life and a safe
place to call home.
israel@streetoote.org
M a n a g in g E d it o r Joanne Zuhl
¡oanne@steeetroote.org
Vendor Program Director Cole Merkel
cole@sfreefrQrfrs.org
.
Operations D irecto r Sarah Beecroft
Development D ire cto r Sarah Cloud
P ro gram A ssista n t M eghann Van Pelt,
Jesuit Volunteer
Development A ssista n t Patricia Romero
R epo rte rs Emily Green, Suzanne Zatokar,
Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Jared Paben,
Am anda Waldroupe, Stephen Quirke
P hotographers Diego Diaz, Joe Glode
Editorial A ssista n t Monica Kwasnik
C a n v a sse r Desmond Hardison
Board of Directors
Chairm an Brad Taylor
Vice-Chairm an Rachel Langford
T re a su re r Heather Stadick
S e cre ta ry Marcus Swift
D ire cto rs Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson,
Leo Rhodes, Sandra Hahn, John Brown, Pan
Jo n e s .
Volunteers
Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali
Rathore, Toe Kllngmann, Haven Herrin, Dan
Jones, Dennis Hogan, Tom Wright, Judy Taylor,
Karen Allen, Monica McKune, Susan Wolfe,
Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr., Jeanie
Lunsford, Yasmin Amirsoteymani, Jason Cohen,
Tom Ray, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon
Raymond, Hilary Smith, Diana Richardson,
Cherie Manning, Paul and Madeline Gefroh,
Mary Anne Joyce and Faye Powell.
If you're interested in volunteering with Street
Roots, please submit a volunteer application at
streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can call our
volunteer coordinator for more information at
503-228-5657.