Lady Sings
the Blues
Opening Eyes to the
Struggles of Others
Siren Nation
presents tribute
concert
‘City
of
Roses’
Volume XLVI • Number 15
New documentaries
offer something
for everyone
See Metro, page 11
See Opinionated Judge,
page 12
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • April 12, 2017
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Photo by M ark W ashington J r ./t he P ortland o bserver
A single family home on Northeast 14th Place in the Vernon Neighborhood just sold for $590,000, a price that put it out of reach for most black residents and continues a
trend of gentrification in the heart of Portland’s historic African-American community.
Portlanders Can’t
Afford Portland
C hrista M C i ntyre
t he P ortland o bserver
As rental and housing prices continue to
rise and wages remain stagnant, Portland’s
black community is being hit hard in the
struggle to stay housed.
As Denetta Monk, a housing specialist
with the Urban League of Portland ex-
plained to the Portland Observer, “The fear
of being homeless out here is on another
level.”
“When it rains for Americans, it’s pour-
ing for black Americans. It’s affecting ev-
eryone, but it’s a hurricane for us,” Monk
said.
In December, before the Portland City
Council released its annual report on hous-
ing, Commissioner Dan Saltzman, a land-
lord himself, was successful in passing an
inclusionary housing program which re-
serves a certain number of affordable units
in new, higher density buildings.
Developers rushed to file their permits
by
Priced Out
to avoid the requirements before they went
into effect on Feb. 1, and as a result, the
emergency ordinance was blunted in its
immediate impact, delaying the number of
new affordable units that will hit the mar-
ket in the near future.
The overall trend remains unchanged.
Many residents, especially African Amer-
icans and other disadvantaged populations,
are forced to look for affordable housing
at the edge of the city limits far away from
their historic neighborhoods, schools and
work.
When the Portland Housing Bureau re-
leased its report, it was slick and well de-
signed, but the facts and figures it illustrat-
ed starkly showed how hard the crisis has
hit the black community and how wide the
wealth gap had grown.
A single mother working full time at
a minimum wage job, earning less than
$20,000 annually, can’t afford to live in
any neighborhood in Portland. The figures
show it takes an annual income of $70,000
to buy the average home in Portland. That
puts nearly every home out of reach for
black Portlanders, who earn a median in-
come of $30,000. As a result, most Afri-
can-Americans in Portland are renters and
pay between 30 percent to 90 percent of
their take home income on rent.
The housing report also shows most of
the migration of black residents moving
out their historic neighborhoods of north
and northeast Portland have moved east to
communities like Pleasant Valley around
Southeast Foster and beyond 122nd Ave-
nue. These areas have less access to public
transportation, grocery stores and longer
commute times to work and school. The
health impact of the stress of moving, bar-
riers to healthy food, less time spent with
family and the fraying of social fabric and
even has an impact on health.
“Gentrification is such bigger issue than
“oh it’s inconvenient, it’s driving up costs,”
Monk said. “It’s taking time out of your
life literally and people don’t necessarily
think of that.”
A new McArthur Foundation research,
shows that 51 percent of all Americans,
and 65 percent of families of color, have
had to make at least one significant sacri-
fice in their household budget in the past
three years to afford their rent or mortgage
— such as earning more income with a
second job, delaying medical treatment,
avoiding paying other bills, and moving to
another school district or unsafe neighbor-
hood where housing is less expensive.
In addition, there are not many safety
nets for members of the black community
when they find an eviction or foreclosure
notice in the mail. According to Monk,
most African Americans aren’t welcome in
homeless camps, feel more unsafe on the
streets and have little place to turn.
C ontinued on P age 5