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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2018)
March 21, 2018 The Skanner Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 of all renters in the state spend more than half their income on housing, and that half of all rent- ers spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines anyone who spends more than 30 percent of their income on hous- Nearly two-thirds of all low-income renter families spent more than half their income on rent and utilities that year, the report said ing (including utilities) as “cost-burdened.” In 2016, the report says, Or- egon had about 298,000 cost-burdened renter households, more than the total number of households in Portland. About 85 percent of households making less than $25,000 and living in rental properties were cost-burdened in 2016. Nearly two-thirds of all low-income renter fami- lies spent more than half their income on rent and utilities that year, the re- port said. The report also notes the crisis has dispropor- tionately affected Orego- nians of color, who are far more likely to rent and who report lower incomes than non-His- panic White households. One-third (35 percent) of Oregon’s non-Hispanic White households are renters, majorities of all communities of color rent, except for Asian Americans. Seven in 10 households with mem- bers identifying as Black or African American are renters. “Low-income renters stand at the epicenter Meyer OCPP’s analysis of U.S. Census American Com- munity Survey data, 24 percent of Oregon house- holds – about 234,000 households total -- head- ed by homeowners were cost-burdened. About 92,000 (or 9 percent) of homeowning Oregon households were severe- ly cost-burdened. Moderate-income Or- egonians also struggle with housing costs, ac- cording to the report. More than half of Oregon renter households mak- ing between $25,000 and $50,000 per year were cost burdened in 2016. The Center for Pub- lic Policy, a nonprofit progressive think tank, drew on census data and HUD publications for its analysis. In the press release, Hauser praised the Oregon legislature’s recent decision to raise the state’s document re- cording fee, which is ex- pected to generate some $60 million per budget period to invest in af- fordable housing, and said lawmakers need to find additional ways to fund affordable housing. March For Our Lives Town Hall Congresswoman Pramilla Jayapal met March 17 at the Quincy Jones Auditorium, Garfield High School with local student organizers for March For Our Lives, the youth-led national day of action against gun violence scheduled for March 24. The congresswoman and some of the students held a community town hall to discuss the movement to end gun violence after their meeting. Art cont’d from pg 1 racial oppression in its North and Northeast neighborhoods. Running from April to June, the residency will select three artists — one per month – from any dis- cipline to create works around re-establishing a community in the aftermath of gentrification. Participants will be provided with a stipend and have access to a network of resources. Not specific to one location, however, the residency will al- low artists the flexibility to create pieces throughout the city, from inner Northeast Portland to re- gions where gentrification has displaced residents to. “You don’t have to prove to us that you were forced out,” said ‘Art Saved My Life’ organizer Donovan Smith. “’Gentrification’ is a word we use for an experi- ence that’s been continuing in Portland for a long time, so we just want to make sure that Black and Brown folks from our com- munity are first in line for these resources.” Priority will be given to those artists from North and Northeast Portland with ances- tral ties to the neighborhood. During their month-long resi- dency, artists will also have the opportunity to host free, all-ages events to showcase their work, “ beneath the surface that can only be healed through community and fellowship. That’s the lifeline we’re trying to create with ‘Art Saved My Life.’” The artist residency is a part- nership between local organiza- Priority will be given to those artists from North and Northeast Portland with ancestral ties to the neighborhood as well as hold discussions and workshops on how art can help heal a community. “The whole premise of heal- ing is rooted in the fact that our community has a lack of resourc- es and opportunities, and that comes with a lot of trauma,” said Janessa Narciso of Deep Under Ground (DUG), an artistic plat- form and partner organization of the residency. “When we think about ‘healing,’ we want to be able to dig deep into the logis- tical obstacles that stand in an artist’s way, but also the things tions YBG Portland, Deep Under Ground, Friends of Noise and Gentrification is Weird, with funding through a Community Placemaking grant from Oregon Metro. Candidates must be 18 years or older and be of African, African American, Asian, Asian Amer- ican, Black, Chicano, Hispanic, Indian, Latino, or Native Ameri- can descent. Participants will be selected on a rolling basis. For further information, art- ists can contact the organizers at artsavedmylifepdx@gmail.com. cont’d from pg 1 tributor to the neighborhood?” Hallová said. Stamm said the organization has reached out to community partners representing organizations in the neighborhood — including Self En- hancement Inc., Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives and the Urban League – to talk about ways to develop the space so it benefits the neighbor- hood. For example, Stamm said officials floated the idea of having a “convening space” available for community meet- ings, but said the organization won’t do it if it takes business away from other facilities. Stamm also wants the new building to blend with some of the older buildings in the Albina neighborhood, which was initially developed in the 1910s and 1920s but has, in the last five to 10 years, undergone a wave of new construction. He doesn’t want the finished product to be more than three stories tall, and said some of the preliminary drawings even have residential-style gables. “When Doug reached out to me to talk about this, I said, ‘I think this is phenomenal, but make sure that folks understand a few things. You could have gone anywhere. You chose to “ Stamm and others stressed the impor- tance of developing a site that wouldn’t displace anyone from their homes come here. There’s plenty of space in the Pearl and they would have been just as happy to have you continue to stay resident there,’” said Michael Alexan- der, who has served as a volunteer com- munity liaison and advisor for Meyer on the project. “But I believe that the decision that’s made here is because the work that gets done here is important to the foundation -- being able not only to support the work but to become an institutional partner in that work was important.” Hallová said Meyer has also reached out to the National Association of Mi- nority Contractors and Portland’s Met- ropolitan Contractor Improvement Partnership with the intention of en- gaging minority-owned contractors on the project. According to Stamm, Sergeant will remain on the lot until this fall, and construction will run through 20119. Meyer spokesperson Kimberly A.C. Wilson, said the total budget for the project has not been set since the orga- nization has not settled on a design. Stamm said the purchase and reloca- tion is also part of an “equity journey” Meyer embarked on five to seven years ago. The organization’s board of trust- ees, staff and leadership team are now predominantly people of color. Meyer PHOTO BY BERNIE FOSTER “ of Oregon’s housing cri- sis,” said Center analyst Daniel Hauser in a press release accompanying the report, which was published March 15. “Or- egon lawmakers need to devote their attention and resources to helping these families.” The crisis has affected homeowners as well as renters: according to the PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Housing Doug Stamm, Meyer Memorial Trust’s retiring CEO, and communications director Kimberly A.C. Wilson have announced the foundation’s purchase of a property in North Portland. has also selected an African American woman to succeed Stamm--Michelle DePass, who most recently served as the New School’s Milano School of In- ternational Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy in New York City, takes the helm of the organization April 1.
