April 21, 2021 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 3
News
cont’d from pg 1
Northwest to provide
free mediation services
for landlords and ten-
ants locked in disputes
that might traditionally
lead to eviction filings.
The vote comes a few
months before an antic-
ipated flood of evictions
this summer, when the
state’s COVID-19 eviction
moratorium expires.
During its pilot phase,
the landlord-tenant me-
diation program would
provide somewhere be-
tween 70 and 100 media-
tions for Portlanders at
risk of losing their hous-
ing, according to city
documents. Resolutions
Northwest estimates 70%
of these mediations will
be successful, according
to Christina Dirks, the
policy and program co-
ordinator for the Port-
land’s housing bureau.
The program would
also make $70,000 avail-
Housing
able for financial as-
sistance as part of me-
diation. Most of these
payments would likely
be for back rent, but
could be used for any
payments agreed to by
both parties during
mediation,
including
missed utility payments
or property damage.
During a Council meet-
ing Wednesday, Com-
missioner Dan Ryan,
who oversees the city’s
housing bureau, said the
program was “urgently
needed” by both renters
and landlords.
But Commissioner Jo
Ann Hardesty sounded
a note of caution about
the impact the small pilot
could have, calling a hun-
dred mediations “a drop
in the bucket” compared
to the thousands of peo-
ple who would soon be
headed to court when the
moratorium expired.
Wyden Checks on Fire Debris Cleanup
Senator Ron Wyden, FEMA and Jackson County leadership and the DMTF/Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) toured the Totem
Pole Mobile Home Park in Jackson County to reflect on the swift progress being made, learn about a future short-term housing site for
wildfire survivors and to see how debris removal work is supporting the rebuilding of local communities.
cont’d from pg 1
the funding through contracts with
nonprofit and private organizations.
Critics say the system is archaic and
unnecessary gatekeeping.
“To privilege dominant culture pro-
viders with the exception of one cultur-
ally specific provider is unacceptable
tokenism,” Shannon Singleton, Gov.
Kate Brown’s director of equity and ra-
cial justice and her housing policy ad-
visor, said in support of the bill during
a public hearing last month.
For smaller, culturally specific agen-
cies, the current system has led to
missed opportunities in the form of
hundreds of millions of dollars, accord-
ing to Katrina Holland, executive direc-
tor of the nonprofit JOIN.
“We have heard stories where an
agency who’s interested in providing
services in a jurisdiction finds out they
have to go to the community action
agency and either doesn’t even know
who their community action agency is
or just does not have any relationship,”
Holland told The Skanner. “So some
folks are successful, and they’re able to
develop a partnership with the CAAs
and get some funding, and then others
are not.”
Requests for proposals (RFPs) issued
are issued at CAAs’ discretion, and
where available, might only open up ev-
ery five years. Some organizations find
“
It’s a bit circular
when you think
about it
workarounds by subcontracting with
other organizations that have agree-
ments in place with the CAA, Holland
said -- but that means diluted funding.
Under current statute, CAAs are in
no way required to work with diverse
organizations.
In the process of reform, many cul-
turally specific organizations declined
to speak on the record about their
frustrations in trying to partner with
CAAs. Many described the power dif-
ferential at play: Should HB 2100 fail,
these organizations worried they could
jeopardize their funding opportunities
with CAAs by criticizing them.
‘Echo Chamber’ Effect
State statute also bars the Oregon
Housing and Community Services De-
partment (OHCS) from receiving ad-
vice from anybody outside of the Com-
munity Action Partnership of Oregon.
OHCS Executive Director Marga-
ret Salazar took issue with what she
described as the insular structure of
funding and recommendations cur-
rently in place.
“Currently in statute, the Commu-
nity Action Partnership of Oregon is
the only named entity who is able to
provide advice to OHCS,” Salazar said
during a March public hearing on the
bill. It’s a bit circular when you think
about it. It’s a closed system. That one
network has the sole authority to ad-
vise OHCS its funder, and in turn OHCS
is only able to fund that network.”
Holland told The Skanner that similar
reforms have been attempted before
by previous OHCS directors, but had
gained more traction at a time when
Oregon was forced to reexamine its
deep-seated, often racist, public poli-
cies.
“What we’re trying to say at JOIN and
the Urban League and the Reimagine
Oregon project is the reason (the bill)
is part of the agenda is it shouldn’t be
illegal for smaller organizations, or or-
ganizations period, to contract with the
state for these resources,” Holland said.
“And unfortunately, thanks to the stat-
ute, that is the case. Not only is it illegal,
but under the current statute, nobody
can advise on how to spend those funds
except the Community Action Partner-
ship of Oregon.”
Importance of Lived Expertise
Oregonians who identify as Black,
Indigenous, and people of color (BI-
POC) are disproportionately impacted
by poverty and houselessness. When
culturally specific housing organiza-
tions miss out on support, members of
the BIPOC community often struggle
to work with White-dominant service
providers.
“It’s important for there be programs
that are actually driven by the folks
closest to the population, who can real-
ly provide culturally specific services,
provide the opportunity for folks to get
help in the language that they speak, or
within their traditions,” Marisa Espi-
noza, public policy coordinator of the
See HOUSING on page 11
cont’d from pg 1
“This is a success, but there are so
many more unjust murders that still
need reckoning, that we still need to
address,” said Princess Blanding, a Vir-
ginia gubernatorial candidate whose
brother was killed by Richmond police.
Marcus-David Peters, who was Black,
was fatally shot by a Black police officer
during a mental health crisis after he
ran naked onto an interstate highway
and charged at the officer.
In Columbus, Bryant had been swing-
ing a knife wildly at another girl or
woman pinned against a car when the
officer fired after shouting at the girl to
get down, according to police and body
camera video released within hours of
the shooting. The mayor mourned the
16-year-old’s death but said the officer
had acted to protect someone else.
Kimberly Shepherd, who lives in the
neighborhood where Bryant was killed,
had been celebrating the guilty verdict
in Floyd’s killing when she heard the
news about the teenager.
“We were happy about the verdict.
But you couldn’t even enjoy that,” Shep-
“
This is a success,
but there are so
many more unjust
murders
herd said. “Because as you’re getting
one phone call that he was guilty, I’m
getting the next phone call that this is
happening in my neighborhood.”
In Chauvin’s case, by contrast, cell-
phone video seen around the world
showed the white officer pressing his
knee to the Black man’s neck for more
than nine minutes as Floyd gasped
for air. It sparked protests across the
U.S., and Chauvin’s fellow officers took
the extraordinary step of testifying
against him.
“As we look to future prosecution, the
question is going to be: Is this perhaps
the beginning of a new era, where those
walls of silence are not impenetrable?”
said Miriam Krinsky, a former federal
prosecutor and executive director of
the reform-minded group Fair and Just
Prosecution. Chauvin’s case could also
make future juries more skeptical of
police, she said.
The day after Bryant was fatally shot,
at least two other people were also
killed by police in the United States.
On Wednesday morning, an officer
killed a man while executing a search
warrant in eastern North Carolina.
And in the San Diego suburb of Escon-
dido, police said an officer fatally shot a
man who was apparently striking cars
with a metal pole.
On Thursday, a funeral will be held
for Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black
motorist who was shot during a traffic
stop earlier this month in Brooklyn
AP PHOTO/MORRY GASH
Guilty
PHOTO BY ODOT
Evictions
Frederick King listens to a speaker at a rally
Monday, April 19, 2021, in Minneapolis as the
murder trial against the former Minneapolis police
officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd
advances to jury deliberations.
Center, Minnesota, just a few miles
from the courthouse as the Chauvin
trial unfolded. In Chicago last month,
13-year-old Adam Toledo was fatally
shot less than a second after he tossed
a gun and began raising his hands as an
officer had commanded.
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