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T he P ori [.AND O bserver • O ctober 9, 1996
baeruer
County property giveaway supply thins
by
L ee P erlman
I he supply o f cheap housing and
residential land in north and north­
east Portland is becoming scarce,
and the competition for w hat’s left
is becoming keen.
One indicatorofthis is Multnomah
County’s Affordable Housing De­
velopment Program. This offers prop­
erties seized for non-payment o f tax­
es to non-profit corporations with
proposals to provide housing for low-
‘ income people on the sites. One agen­
cy alone, the Northeast Community
Development Corporation, has re­
ceived more than 100 such proper­
ties for rehabilitation or redevelop­
ment under the federal Nehemiah
home ownership program.
NECDC will receive nine more
such properties this year, and two
will go to the Portland Bureau o f
Parks for creation o f a community
garden in the King neighborhood.
Some very small parcels have been
withheld from public bid, according
to program director H.C. Tupper,
because they are so small that they
would be o f little use to anyone ex­
cept an adjacent property owner.
For open bidding by non-profit
agencies, however, there are just eight
parcels this year, the lowest number
since the program was begun in 1988,
and down from 24 last year.
Tupper says that a citizen commit­
tee will review the bids, and make a
recommendation on disposition o f
the properties to the county commis­
sion, by sometime in November.
Gretchen Durtsch o f Housing Our
Families, a bidder on such properties
in this and previous years says it's all
part o f the story o f rising property
values in inner northeast.
“ People used to just walk away
from these properties as having no
value, and they’re not doing •' at
anymore,” she says. “When land is
put up for sale, there are other people
bidding on it.” Aside from the vastly
higher prices charged, she says, “ Land
offered for sale on the open market
here disappears in days, and non­
profits can’t arrange financing that
fast. W e’re being pushed out o f the
market.”
Howard Nolte o f HOST Commu­
nity Development says his agency
hasn’t made as much use as others of
the county program “because we’re
aiming at a higher income market.”
Still, he says, his agency faces the same
basic problem. Given higher land costs,
he says, the cost o f developing homes
in some northeast neighborhoods is
$ 135,000 per unit, “and that’s beyond
the resources of the people we’re try ­
ing to serve,” he says.
For Cynthia Winter o f Habitat for
Humanity, it’s different but the
same. “ We don’t make any profit,
but we do need to recover our costs,
and the price o f land is one o f the
costs,” she says. To continue to serve
the very low income, she says, the
agency must either do much more
fundraising, find some other way to
acquire property or shift their focus
to some other part o f town
Small wonder, then, that the com­
petition for the eight parcels avail­
able is keen. For a double lot at 5404
N.E. 27th Ave. there are five bid­
ders: Metro and Sabin CDCs, Hous­
ing O ur Fam ilies, H abitat and
NECDC. Moreover, in a presenta­
tion to the Concordia Neighborhood
Association, Habitat suggested that
they might be more deserving than
their competition. “Very few people
provide housing exclusively to first­
time home owners, and no one 1
know of does it as cheaply as we do,”
Winter said.
W inter and Diane Meisenhelter of
Sabin CDC are uncomfortable with
the suggestion that the groups are
competing with each other. Winter
says the non-profits usually sit down
together and decide which group
could best use which lot. Meisenhelter
says several groups are working to­
gether on the economic revitaliza-
PSU to assist Albina neighborhood
Businesses, individuals, and fam­
ily service organizations in Portland’s
Albina community will be among
those to benefit from a Community
Outreach Partnersh ip Center grant of
nearly $400,000 awarded recently to
Portland State University by the U.S.
Department o f Housing and Urban
Development for a three-year pro­
gram.
PSU is one o f 15 additional edu­
cational institutions to receive fund­
ing by the Department to assist in
Control
over
pests
In just 90 minutes, home gar­
deners can learn to prevent and
manage insects, weeds and dis­
eases using least-toxic controls
and homemade remedies.
M etro’s Natural G ardening
w orkshops will be continued
throughout the metropolitan re­
gion during October. No regis­
tration is needed for the work­
shops.
Learn how a light touch and
common sense gardening tech­
niques can reduce or eliminate
the overuse o f toxic pesticides,
which pollute the environment
and cause potential health haz­
ards.
Pesticides enter regional wa­
terways through neighborhood
storm drains and waste water run­
off.
And pesticides are among the
most expensive and toxic o f ma­
terials to dispose o f safely and
should never be tossed in the trash.
It will be held in Gresham City
Hall 7 to 8:30 pm Thursday, Oct.
17, 1333 NW Eastman Parkway.
Beaverton Community Center
7:15 to 8:45, Tuesday, Oct. 29,
12350 SW Fifth St.
Plants offer
fall color
If you want to add some fall color
to your home landscape, take a look
around at trees and shrubs that are
showing brilliant color now. Then,
identifv plants vou like and add them
to your landscape for a fall show of
color next year.
One fall favorite is Oxydendrum
arboreum.said Ray McNeilan, home
horticulturist with the Oregon State
University Extension Service. This
tree gives a bright display o f dark,
red leaves in the fall. Along with the
leaves, the trees puts out branching
clusters o f greenish seed capsules
that extend outward and downward.
Also known as the sour wood or
sorrel tree, Oxydendrum arboreum
grows slowly to about 25 feet in
height and will eventually grow up to
about 50 feet.
com m unity revitalization efforts
across the country .
Under HUD’s COPC program,
$7.2 million is being made available
to help the schools provide applied
research and technical assistance to
neighborhood organizations.
This is the third year the program
has been funded, bringing to 55 the
total number o f participating institu­
tions.
“Colleges and universities, be­
cause o f their great economic and
human resources, must be integral
actors in their cities’ revitalization
activities,” said Secretary Henry G.
Cisneros, in announcing the grants.
“Thesegrants will increase the num­
ber o f schools involved with their
neighborhoods and greatly increase
their involvement in these activi-
ties.”
The Center will be headquartered
in Cascade Plaza in northeast Port­
land.
Its activities will include business
development outreach, community
development training, human servic­
es outreach, and research and evalu­
ation o f Center projects.
“This grant will allow PSU to bet­
ter serve our community," says Rog­
er Ahlbrandt, dean o f the School of
Business Administration and the
grant’s principal overseer.
“ With the assistance of an adviso­
ry board from the Albina neighbor­
hood, guidance from the community
will help us tailor our program to
better meet the needs o f individuals,
businesses and service organizations
in the area,” he added.
HUD funding will allow PSU to
assist the community in building skills
relative to community and economic
development, commercial revitaliza­
tion and job creation, and the deliv­
ery o f family services.
“The Community Outreach Part­
nership Centers Program represents
an important opportunity for Port­
land State to work in creative ways in
creative ways with our community.
We define the very core o f our urban
mission in terms o f our extensive
university-community interactions,”
says PSU President Judith Ramaley.
“Our proposal for the center is based
on our existing and successful part­
nerships with the Albina neighbor­
hood and on the involvement o f our
faculty and students in partnerships
throughout the metropolitan area.”
Mild fall weather good for planting evergreens
Spring is preferred for planting,
but the fall is also a good time to plant
many types o f landscape shrubs, par­
ticularly evergreens.
“fall planting works for some
landscape plants and shrubs because
fall weather is wet and mild enough
to allow the plants to get a good start
before cold winter weather sets in,”
said Ray McNeilan, home horticul­
turist with the Oregon State Univer­
sity Extension Service.
Mild fall weather helps prevent
transplant shock.
When shrubs are transplanted from
the nursery to the home landscape,
they may suffer from root loss (for
field grown plants), or the change in
care practices (for container grown
plants).
“The shock is mostly caused by
the demand o f the plant tops for
water and the limited ability o f the
root system to supply it," McNeilan
said. “The p la n t’s dem and for
water is less in cool and rainy fall
weather, and the plant has a better
chance o f quick recovery."
Fall planting also gives the new
plant time to establish the necessary
root growth required to anchor it in
the soil, and time to build up nutrient
reserves needed for healthy growth
next spring.
Locally grown nursery stock is
available in most nursery and garden
stores.
For best results buy nursery plants
grown in Oregon and adapted to lo­
cal climates and soils.
If you want to add some fall color
to your home landscape, take a look
around at trees and shrubs that are
showing brilliant color now. Then,
identify plants you like and add them
to your landscape for a fall show of
color next year.
One fall favorite is Oxydendrum
arboreum, said Ray McNeilan, home
horticulturist with the Oregon State
University Extension Service. This
tree gives a bright display o f dark,
red leaves in the fall. Along with the
leaves, the tree puts out branching
clu ste rs o f greenish seed c a p ­
sules that extend outward and down­
ward.
Also known as the sour wood or
sorrel tree, Oxydendrum arboreum
grows slowly to about 25 feet in
height and will eventually grow up to
about 50 feet.
Viburnum opulus is another plant
with bright foliage that is ideal for
fall color, McNeilan said. Being a
large shrub, Viburnum opulus needs
a yard that offers plenty o f growing
room. It will reach 20 feet in height
if allowed to grow naturally.
E uonym us alatus, com m only
c a lle d “ b u rn in g b u s h ,” o ffe rs
bright red colors in its fall foliage.
Although best suited to the drier cli­
mate o f central Oregon, Euonymus
alatus will deliver a bright splash o f
color to western Oregon landscapes
every fall.
While thinking about additions to
the fall landscape, look at the bark
textures on various deciduous shade
trees and shrubs, McNeilan said.
Many plants have as much beauty in
their branching structure, bark tex-
ture.andtw igcolorastheydo in their
foliage and flowers.
Dad’s
PftRn.ANT)
COMMISSION
COMMISSION MEETING
Date: October 16,1996
Place: PDC
1120 SW 5th Ave., Suite 1100
Commission Conf Room
Portland, Oregon
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Commission meetings are open to
the public. A complete agenda is
available at PDC or by calling
823-3200. Citizens with disabilities
may call 823-3232 or TDD 823-6868
for assistance at least 48 hours in
advance.
PDC is the City of Portland's urban
renewal, housing and economic
development agency.
Service
Speedy Service
Friendly
Call For Quote
FederaK-assisted
apartments study
The cost of operating federally
subsidized apartment buildings held
relatively steady in 1995, according
to a new research study from the
Institute o f Real Estate Management
(IREM). However, assisted multi­
family properties were still more cost­
ly to operate, maintain, and provide
with utility service than their conven­
tionally financed counterparts.
The annual study analyzes the
previous year’s operating data for
over 1,850 high-rise, low-rise and
garden properties nationwide that
receive federal assistance
For properties receiving some
type o f HUD subsidy, median total
operating expenses for high-rise and
low-rise buildings remained fairly
stable in 1995, at $5.88 and $4.67
per square foot, respectively.
Utilities costs—a major property
expense category-decreased across
the board for all three buildings
types, the study reports.
The biggest drop (5 percent) was
at low-rise properties. Median util­
ity costs ranged from a low o f $0.59
per square foot for garden proper­
ties to a high o f $1.22 per square
foot for elevator buildings.
High-rise buildings were also the
most expensive type o f assisted
housing to m aintain—especially
those receiving Section 202 subsi­
dies, where median maintenance
costs reached $ 1. 15 per square foot.
For all HUD programs combined,
median maintenance costs ranged
from $0.89 per square foot for high-
rises to $0.70 for garden apartments.
The IREM study also found that
1995 operating ratios-the percent­
age o f total actual income used to
cover total expenses-w ere relative­
ly healthy for most types o f subsi­
dized properties, with no more than
57 percent o f income being eaten up
by costs.
But federally assisted apartments
were still more costly to operate
than conventionally financed mul­
ti family properties, where less than
half o f a typical building’s annual
collections was used to cover oper­
ating expenses.
Conventional apartments also en­
joyed lower median utilities and
maintenance costs compared to sub­
sidized properties.
Call 503-288-0033 To Advertise In
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Avenue and Alberta Street; and for the
old Texas Lounge on Northeast Alber­
ta S treet recently a cq u ired by
Franciscan Enterprise. This last group
is also developing some owner-occu­
pied housing for the first time, while
McCoy Village is NECDC’s first ex­
periment in rental housing. NECDC is
also pursuing development outside the
Nehemiah target area o f the Boise,
King, Humboldt and Vernon neigh­
borhoods.
Walker says her agency is also
prepared to act as a developer for
other CDCs that may not have had as
much experience asNECDC and may
not have as much in-house skill to
deal with the hurdles involved in
building houses. “They should ask
themselves what are their priorities,
to see the housing get built, or to do
it all themselves?” Walker says.
Told o f this, W inter says, "That
w ouldn’t work for us because we
don’t use developers. We use volun­
teers.”
I T ’S T H E
D IF F E R E N C E
BETW EEN
W A N T IN G
A HOME AND
O W N IN G
A HOME.
roc
DEVELOI’MENT
tion o f Northeast Alberta Street. “ If
w e're competing against anyone,
it’s the speculators,” she says.
Others do n ’t find the idea so
hard to swallow. Jaki W alker o f
NECDC says, “Competition is part
o f the process, just as it is in the
private sector.”
Durtsch says, “On one hand, it
means that the county is assured o f
getting a good proposal, and doesn’t
have to settle for whatever comes
along. On the other hand, it means
that five o f us have to go to the
trouble of putting together a devel­
opment proposal, and for four o f us it
will be wasted time and energy.”
For the future, the non-profits are
seeking new directions. Ground floor
retail isplanned for Housing Our Fam­
ilies’ new Betty Campbell building on
North Shaver Street at Mississippi
Avenue; for NECDC’s McCoy Vil­
lage on Northeast Martin Luther King
Jr. Boulevard at Prescott Street; for
SabinCDC’sproject at Northeast 15th
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