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News
Street Roots • October 20-26, 2017
News
Street Roots • October 20-26, 2017
Page 9
Getting ahead
of gentrification
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lita f f c liT il
Neighbors hope Southwest Portland can preserve affordable housing
and stave o ff displacement when a proposed MAX. line is built
BY A M A N D A WALDROUPE
Bridgeport Village in Tigard. The line’s
route is yet to be determined, but it will
likely run near Southwest Barbur Boulevard
early 100 residents of Southwest
or Interstate 5, connecting the suburbs to
Portland and nearby suburbs, along
with elected officials from every level Portland State University, Portland
Community College’s Sylvania campus and
of Oregon government, gathered at
Oregon Health & Science University.
Markham Elementary School on Saturday,
By 2040, another 70,000 people are
Oct. 14. They were there to discuss how a
predicted to move to the Southwest
TriMet MAX line proposed to open as early
Corridor, according to the regional
as 2025 in Southwest Portland would affect
government Metro, making it an area
their community.
expected to .have
They weren’t
the densest
there to talk about
population
gains
"H o w can we m ake in clu sive
the MAX line’s
out of the entire
route, the line’s
grow th happen across
metropolitan area.
color or the
Chris Ford,
location of stations. the en tire region? Yon
Metro’s project
Instead, they
could alm ost say th a t the
manager for the
discussed how the
Southwest C o rrid o r is a p ilo t Southwest
MAX line would
Corridor, said the
pro je ct lo r th is. 11 we get it
affect affordable
housing strategy
housing in the area
rig h t, we can scale i t u p ."
could become a
and how
CHRiS FORD, blueprint for
displacement and
M E T R O 'S PROJECT M A N A G E R FO R TH E
addressing future
gentrification could
S O U T H W E S T C O R R ID O R
growth.
be prevented.
“How can we
Housing
make inclusive
advocates and
growth happen across the entire region?”
planners are working to create an “equitable
Ford asked during an interview with Street
housing strategy” that will identify policies
Roots. “You could almost say that the
and public dollars to preserve existing
Southwest Corridor is a pilot project for
affordable housing and build more along the
this. If we get it right, we can scale it up.”
proposed line’s route in the Southwest
The housing strategy and the MAX line’s
Corridor, the area hugging Southwest
route
will be determined this winter and
Barbur Boulevard from Southwest Portland
early spring. Portland and Tigard city
to Tigard.
councils are expected to vote on the route
Nearly 11,000 rental units could be
and the housing strategy simultaneously by
affected by the MAX line’s construction,
spring or summer.
either through demolition or rising land
It is known from construction of past
values. The hope is to anticipate those
MAX
lines that with a new line comes
market forces and not repeat failures of the
gentrification: property values increase,
past, such as the gentrification and mass
investors are attracted, and new businesses
displacement the construction of the Yellow
and shops open.
Line caused in North Portland.
“It’s a market signal to developers that
The housing strategy and its success will
the public is committed to this area,” said
be a test of whether public officials are able
Ryan Curren, the project’s manager at the
to truly hold themselves accountable to the
Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.
region’s poorest citizens and respond to the
The Southwest Corridor has a reputation
displacement and gentrification caused by
for well-to-do, white residents. But actually,
the area’s housing crisis.
the area is racially, ethnically and socio
economically diverse. More than 16
The community
languages are spoken there, according to
Census data, and the area is home to many
The Southwest Corridor remains the only
immigrants and refugees.
suburban area that does not have a MAX
According to data compiled by Lisa Bates,
line traveling through it from downtown
an urban studies professor at Portland State
Portland.
University, nearly 79 percent of the
The line will run along a 12-mile stretch
corridor’s residents are white. Another 8 ‘
from downtown Portland south to
STAFF WRITER
N
percent are Hispanic, 6 percent are Asian,
and 2 percent are African-American, a
population that grew by 5 percent in the
past decade.
Most significantly, Southwest Portland is
the heart of Portland’s Muslim community.
The Muslim Educational Trust, a Muslim
advocacy organization, is headquartered in
the area, as is the Islamic Center of
Portland and a half-dozen mosques.
“Our community is embedded here,”
Omar Shaya Omar, 25, said.
Omar has lived in Southwest Portland for
10 years. His family migrated from Somalia
when he was 3 and civil war erupted in their
country. He lives with his parents and
brother, and his nephews and nieces attend
Markham Elementary School.
There are approximately 60,000
households in the area, and the number of
homeowners and renters are split roughly in
half, a figure that debunks the assumption
the area is populated predominantly by
homeowners.
The average rent for a one-bedroom
apartment in 2012 was roughly $1,100. That
number now hovers around $1,500.
Approximately 3,500 renters are severely
cost burdened, meaning they spend more
than 50 percent of their incomes on re n t
More than 4,000 homeowners are similarly
cost-burdened.
Omar said increased housing costs have
affected his family and many of his friends
and neighbors.
“Rent is very high,” he said. “It keeps
going up every six months.”
When his family members moved into
their apartment, they paid $1,200 a month.
Now they pay $1,779, which has forced the
family to budget.
“We’re still trying to figure it out,” he
said.
3 pieces of the housing strategy
The massive transportation investment -
the MAX line’s construction is expected to
cost $2.4 billion - presents an opportunity
to improve the quality of life of the
corridor’s residents. Ideally, mixed-income
communities and housing options will be
created in the Southwest Corridor as a
result of the project
Planners agree that if high-end lofts and
studios are the only housing built along the
Southwest Corridor as a result of the new
MAX line, “that would be a failure,” as Ford
put it.
Curren hopes the housing strategy will
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C e n id ii™
park
m
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I SOUTHWEST CORRIDOR
enable planners to “get ahead of the
negatives, not just (mitigate) them,” and not
relive the consequences of the Yellow Line,
which opened in 2000. A housing strategy
was developed, the backbone of which
included creating an urban renewal district
in North Portland, which produced tax-
increment financing from local property
taxes, meant to pay for housing.
But tax-increment financing money does
not become available for years. While no
properties were condemned and no one was
forced to move from their homes while the
Yellow Line was built, thousands of African-
American families were displaced as a result
of the project and the gentrification that
came with it.
“We made a lot of promises, those of us
in government,” Portland Mayor Ted
Wheeler said during the Oct. 14 gathering.
“Intentions that are good are not enough to
prevent displacement”
The biggest lesson learned, Curren said,
is the necessity of “early money that’s
dedicated for housing, both for units and
services ... and getting ahead of the
speculation and the gentrification.”
Land banking, which is buying land for
future development, will be one of the most
important pieces of the housing strategy. By
buying land early, public bodies - such as
the Portland Housing Bureau, Metro and
TriMet - can later sell the land to
affordable-housing developers for less than
the property’s value at that point.
“If there’s a mission for us, it’s in the
land acquisition and holding,” Metro Council
member Bob Stacey said.
“We know how to buy land,” he said,
comparing Metro’s ability to land-bank for
affordable housing to the regional
government’s purchases of thousands of
acres for parks and nature areas.
Wheeler acknowledged, “We don’t have a
great history in this community of land
banking,” but he implied that it’s an
imperative strategy now. “We want to be
the smart money and not the slow, dumb,
after-the-fact money.”
Curren and others want property to be
purchased before the line’s stations are
announced, a point in a MAX line’s
construction when real estate speculation
increases.
Another piece of the puzzle is identifying
apartment buildings and other properties
that are affordable and buying them, thus
preserving their affordability. Planners and
housing advocates are especially hoping to
preserve a large stock of apartment
buildings.
These buildings are known as “naturally
occurring affordable housing,” a term that
refers to older, larger apartment buildings
that are unsubsidized, are privately owned
and rent lower than market rate. In the
Southwest Corridor, there are 353 such
buildings with 16,261 units, accounting for
93 percent of units in the area.
It’s undeniable that these buildings are
beginning to become subject to market
forces.
In her report, Bates describes the
affordability of these buildings as
“affordable until market speculation starts.”
Her report shows that 199 properties have
been sold in the past decade; a third of
those sales have taken place in the past
three years.
The average regional sales price
increased 78 percent between 2010 and
2017. In the Southwest Corridor, the
average sales price has skyrocketed 274
percent, an increase attributed in part to
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The proposed Southwest Corridor MAX
line would run from downtown Portland
to Tigard’s Bridge Village. The bold
lines on this map show a few different
route options. The squares represent
light rail stations; the dots indicate
“naturally occurring affordable
ji
Uncertainty about TriMet
the sales of luxury housing along the
southwest waterfront. But it shows
increasing demand in the area.
A third piece of the Southwest
Corridor’s housing strategy will be
identifying services for the area’s low-
Unknown is what role TriMet will play in
protecting the Southwest Corridor’s stock of
affordable housing.
“TriMet has an obligation and a
responsibility to make sure that they do not
demolish anything,” said Katrina Holland,
executive director of the tenants-rights
organization Community of Alliance of
Tenants. She said this means preserving
affordable housing.
The federal government will fund half of
the $2.4 billion cost of the new line. The
other half must be raised locally, and TriMet
is expected to pursue a $1.7 billion regional
bond measure on the November 2018 or
2020 ballot.
Whether affordable-housing preservation
or development should be funded with
transportation dollars or tied in some other
way to the MAX line’s construction is
F,
r
housing,” apartments that rent below
market value.
I The illustration highlights various sites
I I that will be connected by the proposed
! route.
income residents that can help them stay in
housing.
“There are some things that can help
people stay in their homes that isn’t a new
unit (of housing),” Curren said.
Some of those services could include
short-term rental assistance, grants, funding
for lead abatement or repairs, assistance for
down payments and tax exemptions.
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already creating controversy.
During the Oct. 14 event, Wheeler did not
mince words when he said TriMet must
actively ensure “affordability is included in
any redevelopment in their properties.”
Wheeler announced for the first time
clear support for setting aside $100 million
in the transportation bond for developing
workforce and low-income housing.
“We are not doing something separate,”
he said that Saturday. “I believe this cannot
be a successful transit corridor if (there is)
not successful housing accessibility.”
Housing and transit, he continued, go
“hand in glove.”
Wheeler’s comments echoed Tigard
Mayor John Cook, who wrote a letter to
TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane on
Oct. 3, expressing concern for “potential
rent increases and displacement of
residents.”
Cook wrote, “Light rail will make the area
more attractive, and many of the city’s most
affordable housing units could be lo s t....
Please consider this letter my formal
request that TriMet commit to land banking
for affordable housing on TriMet-owned land
in the Tigard Town Center that would be
See MAX, page 12
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