Keizertimes., March 15, 2019, Page 27, Image 27

PAGE D2, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 15, 2019
mortgage. The city is by no means the worst off
in Oregon, but the situation is unlikely to fi x
itself.
continued from Page D1
Three of the half-dozen Wildwood residents
who spoke with the Keizertimes would fall into
The situation at Wildwood puts Keizer’s on- the rent-burdened category, and two of them
going growth discussions in sharp focus. Keizer will be paying more than 50 percent of their
only has 450 acres of vacant and buildable land. income with the scheduled rent increase in May.
That’s an optimistic estimate because much of it Some have sought out roommates while others
is on large lots owned by individuals who may are contemplating selling their homes.
As a senior community, many
have no interest in maxi-
Wildwood residents are also treading
mizing its development, and
on thin ice. The death of a spouse
Keizer needs that develop-
can cut income by half and lead to
ment if it hopes to absorb
high-duress situations where homes
the projected growth in the
are sold below their actual value.
city for the next 20 years.
“Many people have had to move
In that same time frame,
when that very thing happens,” said
low-income housing will
one resident.
be one of the greatest needs.
When asked whether the rent
At a January meeting of a
controls recently passed statewide
task force examining the
issues, Bob Parker, a project
— Wildwood resident, by the Oregon Legislature were part
director at consulting fi rm
on recent Legislative of the solution, the answer was a re-
ECONorthwest, said the
rent control actions sounding, “No.”
The rent controls will still allow
need for low income, very
7 percent increases per year plus a 3
low income and extremely
low income housing in Keizer will account for percent cost of living increase. At a place like
Wildwood, that would push the rent north of
nearly half the overall need.
“If buying power continues to erode, it will $800 a month, which can be twice as much as
exacerbate the need on the lower end of the residents are paying on their actual mortgage.
“[The rent controls] are so favorable to the
spectrum,” he said.
Parker said the free market alone is not likely landlord that there’s nothing there for anyone
to meet current or future housing needs, and renting anything,” said a Wildwood resident.
Despite Monte’s assertion that there are no
Keizer is already dealing with a crisis when it
comes to affordability. The state recent tagged plans to close the park, residents say the all indi-
the city as “rent burdened.” It’s assessment tools cations are to the contrary.
“We own our house and, if we have to walk
determined 54 percent of renters in Keizer are
paying more than a third of their monthly in- away from it, we take a huge loss,” one said. “If
come on rent, and 25 percent of homeowners they can get us out, they have all the infrastruc-
are in the same situation when it comes to their ture to make this place into something else.”
ZERO,
“There’s
nothing there
for anyone
renting
anything.”
OWNER,
continued from Page D1
parks to be reclassifi ed as sub-
division. The changes were
intended to allow park own-
ers to sell off individual spaces
for stick-built homes, but Fit-
terer and other park owners
began employing the law in
attempts to oust park resi-
dents and convert the parks
into stick-built subdivisions.
Fitterer eventually relented
in his efforts to convert Iris
Village, but numerous other
parks in Keizer and through-
out the state fell victim to the
predatory owners before ad-
ditional protection could be
put in place.
tracked $100,000 in dona-
tions to run attack ads against
former state Rep. Shemia Fa-
gan, a Democratic opponent
of Sen. Rod Monroe (D-East
Portland).
The ads singled out Fagan’s
reversal on issues of involving
a rent-control ban. Fagan won
the primary and co-sponsored
Senate Bill 608, the recent-
ly-passed rent control legis-
lation limiting rent increases
and barring no-cause evic-
tions after a tenant’s fi rst year
in a building. Governor Kate
Brown has promised to sign it
into law.
Keizertimes requested to
speak with Fitterer as a part of
these stories, but the president
of IPG spoke in his stead.
Since then, Fitterer has
made headlines throughout
the country.
He launched a swimming
apparel line dubbed Kandy
Wrapper Swimwear. Then, in
2013, he purchased a 1,800
square foot condo in New
York’s West Village displacing
the great-granddaughter of
Pablo Picasso. She had rent-
ed the space for $25,000 a
month, but fl ed when Super-
storm Sandy hit the North-
east.
According to reporting
by Willamette Week, Fitterer
made the largest independent
expenditure in Oregon’s pri-
mary elections in May 2018.
Through addresses associ-
ated with Fitterer, reporters
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