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February 20, 2019
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photo by Danny Peterson/The Portland Observer
After an initial struggle to fill the Beatrice Morrow, an 80 unit affordable housing building on Northeast
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard that uses the city’s innovative “preference policy” for former displaced
residents of north and northeast Portland, the building is now almost completely leased-up. It opened
in November and is named after a renowned civil rights advocate from early 20th-century Oregon.
Mitigating Displacement
C ontinueD from f ront
that lead to these noted disparate outcomes which
hit-low income and communities of color especially
hard,” PCRI Executive Director Maxine Fitzpatrick
said.
Pathway 1000’s aim is to build 100 new afford-
able housing per year for the next decade, which be-
gan coming to fruition in November with the com-
pletion of the Beatrice Morrow Cannady building at
3340 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Similar to the Beatrice Morrow, the new King +
Parks building will be rental units available by ap-
plication through an innovative city “preference pol-
icy” specifically designed to prioritize the formerly
displaced residents. It gives preference to those who
were pushed out because of an urban renewal ac-
tion from the city. Adopted by Portland City Coun-
cil in 2016, the preference policy was designed in
part with input from Fitzpatrick, who pioneered the
idea with a similar “right to return” initiative within
PCRI, in 2014.
After an initial struggle to get the 80-unit Be-
atrice Morrow building filled—only seven were
either moved in or scheduled to move in on Dec.
7—the building is now leased up 94 percent (75
units moved in or scheduled to move in), according
to documents PCRI provided the Portland Observer.
The temporary difficulty getting the building
filled was resolved after an outside property man-
agement company PCRI contracted with to lease up
the place was let go and PCRI took over the duties
directly, Fitzpatrick told the Portland Observer.
The 70-unit King + Parks building, which is slat-
ed to be completed in May 2020, will contain two
or more bedrooms for families for 70 percent of the
units. One third of the units will be set aside for very
low income tenants, making 30 percent or lower of
the median family income (MFI), and with a focus
on those who are homeless or at risk of homeless-
ness. The majority of the units will be set aside for
those making 50 percent MFI, as well as one market
rate unit, for a building manager.
The housing developments spearheaded by
PCRI come after years of longtime displacement
due to redlining, blight, market forces, discrim-
inatory housing practices, and often in the wake
of city-led urban renewal projects. Most recently
the establishment of the Interstate Corridor Ur-
ban Renewal Area in 2000 impacted many tra-
ditionally black neighborhoods. From 1990 to
2010, 11,450 African American residents were
displaced from their historic black neighborhoods
in north and northeast Portland, according to the
city’s website.
PCRI, the African American-owned firm Colas
Construction, and Merryman Barnes Architects, are
the parities selected by the Portland Housing Bureau
and then-City Commissioner Dan Saltzman to de-
velop the King + Parks building. A longtime city-
owned lot, the property had remained vacant for
many years, before its ownership was transferred to
PCRI through a competitive city request for propos-
als. The city also helped fund the project.
A land acknowledgement ceremony at the
groundbreaking also paid homage to the indigenous
Native Tribes of the land. The dedication also paid
tribute to civil rights activists Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. and Rosa Parks, whose names adorn the in-
tersecting streets of the development.
“Based on what has happened in regard to hous-
ing in Portland, what better way can the community,
PCRI, and the city of Portland advance the recogni-
tion of their efforts?” Fitzpatrick said.