December 6, 2017
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INSIDE
The
Week in Review
M ETRO
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An artists’ rendering of a proposed 240-unit affordable housing complex coming to the heart of the
Lloyd District. The government-backed project won the backing of the Portland City Council last week,
but just days later was showcased by the city as an example of federal financial supports for low
income housing that may be lost due to tax legislation moving through Congress.
Affordability for Now
Investment example of what may be lost in future
D anny p eterson
t he p ortlanD o bserver
A proposed 240 unit, 12-story
mixed-use complex reserved for
lower income tenants, the largest
affordable housing investment
in Portland for decades, is an ex-
ample of creating needed housing
with federal financial supports that
may be unavailable in the future
because of tax legislation moving
through Congress.
The Portland City Council gave
the financial green light to build
the housing last week in the Lloyd
District on a vacant lot known
as Block 45 on Northeast Grand
Avenue. It approved $5.6 million
dollars from the Portland Hous-
by
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
pages 7-11
ing Bureau to support the project
which is led by Home Forward,
the housing authority for Mult-
nomah County.
Scheduled for completion in
2019, the housing will leverage
$56 million in outside public and
private resources, including fed-
eral tax credits and tax exempt
bonds, according to Portland
Housing Bureau Communications
Manager Martha Calhoon.
“It represents a partnership
between the city of Portland and
Home Forward and Multnomah
County. It’s going to, when all
said and done, it’s going to be the
largest affordable housing devel-
opment [in Portland] in at least a
decade...possibly ever,” Calhoon
told the Portland Observer.
But on Tuesday, the Housing
Bureau with local and state lead-
ers, were pointing to the project as
an example of affordable housing
investment incentives that could
be lost in the future because of
changes to the federal tax system
proposed by Republicans in Con-
gress.
Negotiations between compet-
ing House and Senate bills may
lead to Oregon losing hundreds
of millions of dollars in tax cred-
it revenue in the future that will
jeopardize the development of
C ontinueD on p age 4
Oregon Ballet Executive Hired
O PINION
C LASSIFIEDS
C ALENDAR
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Oregon Ballet Theatre has hired
Michel R. Greer as its new execu-
tive director, a former professional
dancer who went on to complete
degrees in economics and educa-
tion to pursue a career in business
management and later become the
executive director of the Portland
Opera in Portland, Maine.
Greer is a native of Missouri
who spent the early part of his life
at some of the world’s most pres-
tigious dance institutions, includ-
ing the Interlochen Arts Acade-
my, Joffrey Ballet School and the
Royal Ballet School of London. Michael R. Greer
He danced professionally for six
seasons with Ballet West in Salt
Lake City. A fluent Mandarin
speaker, he and his family have
enjoyed life in both the USA and
mainland China.
Greer joins the Oregon Ballet
Theater’s Artistic Director Kev-
in Irving, who recently signed a
five year contract renewal to lead
the company as it moves for-
ward with plans to build on its
programmatic success, expand
its school, and further advance
community education outreach
initiatives.