Street Roots •
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2017
Editorial
State lawmakers: Step up to the housing plate
rying to understand all of the policy
decisions being made by both the
Trump administration and the Oregon
State Legislature is like waiting for the
impact of a car crash.
It’s that moment when time stands still
and you know you’re about to have a bad
accident, you’re just not sure what the actual
impact is going to be and if everyone will be
OK. It’s sure to be traumatic.
—
The reality is that
the decisions being
made by the current
DIRECTOR'S
administration
and the
DESK
cuts being proposed by
the State Legislature
By Israel Bayer
are going to create
—
j.eaJ pajn £or
to maintain a safe place to call home.
After all, we are talking about the Realtor
organization that not too long ago spent
millions of dollars and went on the offensive
to successfully ban a real-estate transfer tax
from happening in Oregon - a tax that would
have created an enormous amount of revenue
and equity for affordable housing in Oregon.
They wanted their cake - and eat it, too.
They still do. Now they want to offer
Oregonians breadcrumbs for rent assistance
in exchange for not creating tenant laws to
protect renters. Unreal.
There are many elected officials, including
Democrats in Salem, who remain on the
fence regarding housing reform. Legislators
need to stop drinking the Kool-Aid, or at the
very least find another way to fund their
Oregonians. In some
political campaigns and represent the people.
cases, it will potentially result
Nonprofits are forced to adapt
in a complete collapse of the
So should politicians. The
safety net for thousands of
writing is on the wall.
Oregonians and millions of
The harsh reality is that local
Americans.
communities will suffer the
Legislators need to most. It’s trickle down
In his first week in office,
President Donald Trump has
stop drinking the economics at its best and we’re
already signed executive
Kool-Aid, or at the not talking about numbers here,
orders to begin to undermine
friends, we’re talking about
very least find
the Affordable Healthcare Act,
people’s lives.
another
way
to
and made sweeping changes
Both Portland and Multnomah
to hurt first-timéhomebuyers. fund their political County Tiave been front-loading
campaigns and
That’s the tip of the iceberg.
m oney for housing and h om eless
He’s intent on restrictin g
serv ices for years. T h o se
re p r e s e n t th e
wonien’s health worldwide
p e o p le - N o n p ro f it s o n g o in g in v e s t m e n t s a r e n ’t |
guaranteed. The housing bond
átid creatingMuslim l*
a re fo rc e d to
will help, b u t it’s sm all in scale
registries. He’s already
a d a p t. So sh o u ld
to the problems we are facing on
moving forward with the
politicians.
the horizon.
suppression of scientists and
So what do we do?
climate change eduction. The
First and foremost, the City of
list grows longer everyday.
Portland
and Multnomah County ,
Did I mention that the
have to continue to go all in on
president has also signed an
housing in next year’s budget.
executive order to potentially
Finding
ways
to improve the system to
cut funding for aU sanctuary cities, including
maintain and create more affordable housing
Portland? Home Forward, Portland and
is essential.
Multnomah County receive about $45-50
Local leaders should also know that
million in federal funding for homeless
regardless of the consequences, we not only
services alone — about half of the current
want a sanctuary city, but a city that refuses
investments.
to work in any way, shape or form with
To add insult to injury, the state of
Oregon, barring a revenue fix, is more or less federal officials targeting immigrants and •
refugees - period.
in one of the worst positions possible to
The state of Oregon and the business
respond to a federal meltdown. Due to our
community hive to find a compromise and
current tax structure, the state is estimating
work toward creating a revenue package that
a shortfall of $1.8 billion.
will at the very least stop the bleeding. The
There’s no sugarcoating cutting health
business community has to step up to the
insurance for up to 335,000 Oregonians from
plate and put their money where their mouth
the Oregon Health Plan, or making massive
is. If not, all Oregonians will suffer.
cutbacks in services for senior services,
As for all of us readers, I suppose your
housing, mental health and more. That’s
guess is as good as mine. Call your elected
exactly what the State Legislature could be
officials. Raise hell. Commit to direct action
doing barring some kind of revenue fix at the
if necessary. Refuse to be silenced. Be in
state.
solidarity with other social movements and
It is a disaster.
people. Be prepared for anything.
Meanwhile, we have state legislators and
The reality is we are living in
lobbyists who are playing politics and oppose
unprecedented
times, not unlike an Arab
tenant rights and eviction reform - along
Spring, where people flood the streets and
with cutting back subsidies on Oregonians
refuse to leave under any circumstances until
who own more than one home,
government leadership steps aside. It’s not
Some groups around the state believe we
don’t need housing reform. The leadership of all together out of the question.
It’s a historic time, and we support our
the Realtors and landlords are out for blood,
and it’s blood they will get. The blood of poor state and local lawmakers in answering the
call to action.
and middle-class Oregonians who can’t afford
a
Israel B ayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him a t
israel@streetroots.org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
Page 3
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