March 7, 2018
Page 5
A Pathway to Return
her opening address at the cere-
mony.
“Today we start the process of
addressing those wrongs and im-
plementing a process of justice.
Today we celebrate,” she said.
In 2015, PCRI worked with
Portland’s Housing Bureau to try
and atone for the city’s gentrifica-
tion sins by adopting a “right to
return” policy to give preference
for affordable housing and home
loans in the historically black
areas to those who’ve been dis-
placed from there—the first pol-
icy of its kind in the nation. The
initiative provides city loans of up
to $100,000 for a down payment.
Five households have been able
to purchase homes under the ex-
perimental policy, called N/NE
Neighborhood Housing Strategy.
Fitzpatrick said she and PCRI
C ontinued on p age 15
photo by
d anny p eterson /t he p ortland o bserver
A ground breaking ceremony on North Williams Avenue celebrates the future site of four new townhouses
reserved for low and moderate income families displaced from north and northeast Portland.
Pictured (from left) are Travis Phillips and Maxine Fitzpatrick of Portland Community Reinvestment
Initiatives, Inc. (PCRI), Albina Construction Co-owner Dennis Harris, and Architect Brett Schultz.
Housing
reserved
for displaced
residents
by d anny p eterson
t he p ortland o bserver
Portland Community Reinvest-
ment Initiatives, Inc. (PCRI) has
broken ground on the future site
of four new townhomes at North
Williams Avenue and Emerson
Street that will be first homes for
purchase by first-time homebuy-
ers as part of the non-profit’s Path-
way 1000 initiative, a 10-year plan
to construct 1,000 new affordable
homes and rentals.
The housing will be priori-
tized to low and moderate income
families who were involuntari-
ly displaced by urban renewal,
redlining and gentrification from
north and northeast Portland, the
historic heart of Portland’s Afri-
can American community. PCRI,
an African-American led organi-
zation, has provided affordable
housing and home-owner services
to low-income families since
1992.
It’s estimated that over 10,000
African Americans were priced
out and displaced from their his-
toric neighborhoods from 2000 to
today, the most recent chapter in a
decades-long history of displace-
ment in the area, PCRI President
Maxine Fitzpatrick recounted in
Web:
www.sunlanlighting.com
E-mail:
kay@lightlady.com
3901 N. Mississippi Ave.
Portland, OR 97227
503.281.0453
Fax 503.281.3408