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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 2018)
November 14, 2018 Page 5 The new Beatrice Morrow apartment building at 3368 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. is housing devel- oped by the African-American led non-profit, Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc. (PCRI) and its pathway 1000 initiative, a 10-year plan to construct 1,000 new affordable homes and rentals, in particular for minority residents who have been displaced from inner north and northeast Portland. A single bedroom living room on the fourth floor of The Beatrice Morrow apartment building, which sets aside 80 affordable apartments for families making up to 60 percent area median income. First Preference Housing C ontinueD froM f ront ing has on harnessing people’s po- tential. “At the end of the day, this is about people. We have no idea who will walk these halls. We have no idea who will move into these apartments. We have no idea what doctors, what lawyers, what leaders will come out of this space,” Holt said. The $26.7 building was also constructed under policies to hire minority owned and operated construction firms, including the main contractor Colas Construc- tion, and Carleton Hart Architects, two black firms headquartered in northeast Portland. Approximately 75 percent of the building’s design-phase con- tract services were done through minority- and women-owned firms, PCRI said, as well as one third of the construction partici- pation. Citing the many black-owned companies that were contract- ed to make the building possible as compared to the lack of black construction work on MLK in his childhood, Colas Construction President Andrew Colas called on even more efforts in the future to lift up disadvantaged communities with economic opportunities. “We are a for-profit company, but we have a non-profit mission. And that mission is to not only create housing, but to create jobs and to create economic develop- ment for all communities through- out the United States. And that’s important because it leads to ed- ucation and the future leaders of our country,” Colas said. The building’s 80 apartments will be rented to families making no more than 60 percent of the area’s median income—currently just $49,000 for a family of four. Apartment sizes range from studio to three bedrooms, with the major- ity being more than two bedrooms. There have already been more than 1,500 applications over the course of two weeks for The Be- atrice Morrow and a second af- fordable housing building under construction, an amount that far exceeds the capacities, officials said. The city’s unique right to re- turn policy is intended as a way to make up for the role it has played in displacing many African Amer- icans from inner north and north- east Portland neighborhoods. Funds the city set aside for affordable housing construction geared to the African American community started at $20 million in 2014, and has grown to more than $100 million. The funds’ in- tended use is to provide afford- able housing for people with ties to historical black neighborhoods who became displaced by urban renewal projects and other gentri- fication beginning in the 1960s. Providing Insurance and Financial Services Home Office, Bloomington, Illinois 61710 Ernest J. Hill, Jr. Agent 311 NE Killingsworth St, Portland, OR 97211 503 286 1103 Fax 503 286 1146 ernie.hill.h5mb@statefarm.com 24 Hour Good Neighbor Service R State Farm R
