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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 2017)
Street Roots • Nov. 3-9, 2017 O p in io n Page 3 Now is the time to get housing done n the morning of Jan. 31, dozens of people in places like Woodburn, Wilsonville people lined up at Catholic Charities and Battle Ground, Wash. in Southeast Portland for the Throw in rising rents in Portland and possibility to get a shot at first-come, first mass evictions and it’s a nightmare. No serve affordable housing units at the St. amount of housing units on the private Francis apartments. market can undo an entire generation of Of the 102 units becoming available, only people being thrown into housing instability 10 of those units were for people with from the housing bubble and the 2008 incomes of 30 recession, all the way to the present mess percent or less of we find ourselves in. Portland’s median This, on top of nearly 40 years of family income, which affordable housing disinvestment from the amounts to $14,300 federal government, and a Trump per year for a single administration that threatens to burn the person. More or less, house down. It’s not looking good. We need people experiencing resources and we need them badly. Like homelessness or yesterday. living in shelters. That brings us to today. Street Roots reported that some of those First and foremost, Metro, our regional individuals seeking housing were from government, needs to find a way to outside of Portland. A caseworker from prioritize affordable housing in the region. Wilsonville had traveled to the city to I’m not talking pennies here, I’m talking represent her clients in Beaverton who billions. All the green spaces and were seeking housing. transportation projects in the world aren’t Then the news came that numbers at going to help tens of thousands of people Multnomah family shelters that find themselves housing were skyrocketing. Historically, burdened. family shelters in Multnomah Multnomah County, in my County had a no-turn-away opinion, should be thinking Out of every policy. As it turns out, many outside of the box to continue to residents from outside of crisis comes an create revenue for more Multnomah County are trying opportunity to affordable housing dollars. Everything should be on the to access shelter in Multnomah reflect and table. Tourism dollars. Sales tax. County. change, and do Increasing the short-term rental It’s a surprise to fto one. things better or The lack of affordable tax, etc. housing throughout Oregon is differently. Building more shelters in Portland in today’s environment affecting Oregonians will be a massive policy failure. everywhere. Bend is a disaster. Now I’m not saying we don’t The coast, too. Southern need more shelter. I’m saying Oregon is off the grid, literally without creating more revenue for actual and figuratively speaking. The state of affordable housing units and maintaining Oregon continues to treat the housing crisis our rent assistance strategy it will all fall in with kid gloves, pretending that things like on itself. homelessness and affordable housing are an Politicians may be tired of dealing with it, urban problem. but you know what? They are going to have Local communities around the Metro to deal with it. This problem isn’t going region and the state (with the exception of away. Eugene) invest almost no money or ongoing More so, statewide housing advocates revenue into the production of affordable must find a way to rise to the occasion. housing units or homeless services. It’s a Doing what we’ve been doing isn’t getting nightmare scenario for Oregonians, and us there. We need massive investment and unfortunately, Multnomah County. strategic vision. We need to be more This year, Street Roots joined in sophisticated. We must build a foundation to partnership with Meyer Memorial Trust to move policy in way we’ve never dreamed of. launch a two-year project on Oregon’s rural If not, the reality is the problem will just housing crisis. Across the state, in our most continue to get worse. rural areas, the ratio between people’s I believe that there’s no better time than income and housing prices are among the the present, and out of every crisis comes highest in the nation. Tourism housing is an opportunity to reflect and change, and consuming affordable housing stock, and do things better or differently. Regardless if even well paid professionals are finding it you’re a tax spending liberal or an angry difficult to stay in rural communities neighbor or business owner, we all want the because there is simply a lack of places to same thing. The public is hungry for live at a reasonable price. It is no wonder something. that we see Oregonians, many from the Poor people don’t care about policy or metro region, are coming to Multnomah procedures or systems or anyone’s next County for housing. election or how advocates get it done. They Multnomah County social services aren’t care about having a safe place to call home innocent either. It’s not uncommon that and protecting their family. Let’s find a way social service providers working to house to get it done. The alternative - well, there people have to find units on the private is no alternative. There’s only more market further and further out. I’ve had homelessness. social workers tell me they’ve housed O Israel Bayer is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach him at israel@streetroots. org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. author’s name and Street Roots 211 NW Davis St. Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 Hours; 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. MorvFri .,7:30 a.m.~2 p.m. S at and 7:30-1 p.m. Sun. Advertising Interested in advertising in Street Roots? Contact Israel Bayer at israeltoeetroots.org Staff E xecu tive D ir e c to r Israel Bayer israeltoeetroots.org E x ecu tive E d ito r Joanne Zuhl joanne@streetroots.org V e n d o r P ro g ra m D ir e c to r Cole cole@streetroots.org O p e ra tio n s D ir e c to r Sarah Beecr P ro g ra m A s s is ta n t Caelin M iltko, Volunteer V e n d o r A s s is ta n t Scott Jackson, A Gillow-Wiles D e v e lo p m e n t A s s is ta n t Rosemary Editorial Producer M o n ica K w asn gg S j e n io r S ta ff W r ite r Emily Green R e p o rte rs Sarah Hansell, Leonora Prado, Jared Paben, Amanda Waldo Stephen Quirke, Helen Hill P h o to g ra p h e rs Diego Diaz, Arkady Brown C a n v a s s e r Desmond Hardison ' ' t B i l l : < || i t ft Board of Directors C h a irm a n Brad Taylor V ic e -C h a irm a n Rachel Langford T r e a s u re r Heather Stadick S e c re ta ry Dan Jones D ire c to rs Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson, Sandra Hahn, John Brown, Nels Johnson and Alison Hallett Volunteers Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore, Zoe Klingmann, Dan Jones, Dennis Hogan, Monica McKune, Susan Wolfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr., Jeanie Lunsford, Jason Cohen, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon Raymond, Diana Richardson, Paul and Madeline Gefroh, Mary Anne Joyce, Del Shawn Davidson, Gillian Floren, Mark OIDani, Bianca Butler, Alex Cherin, Jenny Farres, Evan Firsick, Camber Hansen-Karr, Miranda Woods, Henry Brannan, Megan Smith, Luke Scheuermann, Annie Aube, Helen Hill, Mark Brown, Lily Krai, Mary Emerson, Adam Bruns, Brooke Anderson and Megan Pickerel-Winer. If you're interested in volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can call for more information at 503-228-5657.
