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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 2018)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian Page 2A Friday, October 26, 2018 Lawmakers hope to increase home ownership for minorities Oregon already has a number of programs in place to help people bor- row for a home, but some observers say that not enough people know about those opportunities. Joseph Portillo, a home loan officer at Umpqua Bank, told lawmakers and other members of the task force that he feels educat- ing Oregonians about what they need to know about credit and other qualifi- ers for home loans, as well as existing assistance pro- grams, could boost home ownership rates among peo- ple of color. “Sometimes I feel like individuals come and apply for a mortgage, they are about to play basketball, and they are coming in knowing the rules for play- ing football,” Portillo testi- fied Monday. “It’s a totally different game that they’re trying to play, so they’re not going to be able to win the game or participate in the game because they don’t know the rules.” State Rep. Mark Meek, D-Clackamas, a real estate broker who co-chairs the task force, said financial incentives don’t always align to encourage the real estate industry to help peo- ple of modest means get a By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — Lawmak- ers are trying to figure out what’s keeping Oregonians of color from buying homes when loans and subsidies are available. Overall, about 62 percent of Oregonians own homes, and overall the rate of home ownership in the state is slightly lower than in 2000. But state data show stark differences among ethnic groups. In Oregon, about 65 per- cent of whites and 63 per- cent of Asian Americans own homes as of 2017. Meanwhile, only about 35 percent of black Orego- nians do. The lowest rate of homeownership in the state is among Pacific Islanders, at 26 percent. Earlier this year, state lawmakers created a task force to figure out how to improve homeownership rates. In a meeting Monday, members discussed one possible piece of the puzzle: lending. Some witnesses said buyers aren’t always aware of the extra help they can get to close a home pur- chase — or what they need to be eligible for that help. Oregon Capital Bureau In Oregon, about 65 percent of whites and 63 percent of Asian Americans own homes as of 2017. Meanwhile, only about 35 percent of black Oregonians do. home loan. Real estate agents may make less money per trans- action with the more time they spend on a particular buyer. “I know that if I have to spend six weeks, or even six months helping somebody find a home, my price per square foot is going down, and my dollar per hour is going way down,” Meek said. He said that the hurdles and time it takes a buyer to qualify and the time it can take loan officers or lend- ing institutions to imple- ment and support housing assistance programs is “just another way to discriminate and eliminate and dissuade folks being able to partici- pate in this process.” Rep. Rich Vial, R-Scholls, said a lack of affordable housing may be the real problem while edu- cating buyers is important. “If folks can’t make the payments on something, Forecast for Pendleton Area you don’t want to put them into a house they can’t make the payments on,” Vial said. “These programs that we have are great, but until we get enough sup- ply that would allow those programs to really be used, is there a solution that is around understanding the lending environment better?” State Sen. James Man- ning Jr., D-Eugene, who leads the task force with Meek, said it was too early to pinpoint the impediments. “Inventory is scarce, it is low, but I also would like to say, that we’re in the early portions of this task force, and it’s too early for me, from my perspective, to make any kind of determi- nation whether or not there are disparities in housing,” Manning said. He said he learned about some home ownership pro- grams at Monday’s meeting. Meek said he wants to see what may be impeding access to home loans. “If there’s so many pro- grams available, why aren’t we utilizing them in a more efficient manner?” he said. Meanwhile, other advo- cates say the task force should consider how his- toric discrimination has affected home ownership in Judge orders release of secret legislative proposals TODAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY A shower this afternoon Pleasant with clouds and sun Mostly cloudy with a little rain Partly sunny Partial sunshine By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau 64° 48° 63° 47° 56° 44° A Marion County judge on Wednesday ordered state officials by Friday to disclose legislative proposals they have been trying to keep secret. The records to be released show law changes that state agencies want drafted ahead of the 2019 Legislature. A Portland business attorney has been seeking the documents to alert his clients to changes that could affect them. Marion County Circuit Court Judge Audrey Broyles said after a hearing in Salem on Wednesday that releasing the records would be of “significant public interest.” The records, called legislative concept forms, go to the Legislature’s attorneys to be turned into draft legislation. The drafts then can be filed with the Legislature for consideration. Access to the records could give the public insight into what Gov. Kate Brown and her administration plan to do on sometimes key issues, such as taxation and education reform. Attorneys seeking disclosure suggested Brown’s administration was blocking release to safeguard her in a close election fight with state Rep. Knute Buehler. Broyles ordered all 250 disclosed by 5 p.m. Friday, but state attorneys said they planned to block that through an appeal. PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 60° 43° 57° 42° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 66° 47° 64° 46° 63° 45° 61° 43° OREGON FORECAST 59° 47° ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Seattle Olympia 60/43 60/43 66/35 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 65/50 Lewiston 63/44 67/44 Astoria 60/43 Pullman Yakima 65/36 60/40 63/49 Portland Hermiston 64/49 The Dalles 66/47 Salem Corvallis 63/46 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 59/44 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 63/48 62/43 63/48 Ontario 67/45 Caldwell Burns 63° 46° 61° 37° 80° (1959) 20° (2002) 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Albany 61/48 0.00" 1.14" 0.51" 6.29" 7.80" 7.07" WINDS (in mph) 69/45 68/37 0.00" 1.39" 0.83" 7.91" 13.70" 9.77" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 60/43 63/48 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date HERMISTON Enterprise 64/48 64/45 63° 42° 60° 37° 86° (1924) 25° (1919) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 61/37 Aberdeen 60/40 63/39 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 61/45 Today Boardman Pendleton Medford 71/48 Sat. SW 7-14 SSW 6-12 NE 4-8 ENE 4-8 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 70/38 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today Last 7:26 a.m. 5:51 p.m. 7:33 p.m. 9:27 a.m. New First BRIEFLY Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 93° in Thermal, Calif. Low 8° in Bodie State Park, Calif. Oct 31 Nov 7 Nov 15 Nov 22 NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -0s 0s showers t-storms 10s rain 20s flurries 30s snow 40s ice 50s 60s cold front — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays www.eastoregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to www.eastoregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Copyright © 2018, EO Media Group Greg Chaimov, a former legislative lawyer who is now with the Portland law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, habitually requests the forms and provides them to business clients. One of his clients is Pri- ority Oregon, a political action commit- tee funding negative ads against Brown, said John DiLorenzo, Chaimov’s attorney. Chaimov said he has routinely obtained the forms in past years. Chaimov sought the internal records last July, but the state Department of Adminis- trative Services turned him down, saying disclosure would breach attorney-client privilege. Sarah Weston, attorney for the state, argued on Wednesday that the agency views attorneys in the Legislative Coun- sel’s office as their attorneys when it comes to drafting legislation. That would mean communications sent to those attorneys were protected by client privilege. But DiLorenzo argued that attorneys in the Legislative Counsel office, by law, can only provide legal advice to legislators. The judge agreed. “I cannot find that the Department of Administrative Services could have expected to form an attorney-client rela- tionship,” Broyles said. “I find the state has failed to meet its burden to establish either that there is a public records exemption that exists or that there is existence of an attorney-client relationship.” Full NATIONAL EXTREMES -10s the state. Oregon’s exclusion law banned blacks from settling in the state, and until 1943 the state prohibited Asian Americans from owning real estate, according to the Fair Housing Council. Dis- crimination against people of color manifested in other ways, including through exclusionary zoning and the practice of “redlining,” or denying loans to people who lived in lower-income neighborhoods. That history has com- pounded the significant dis- advantages for people of color, who were largely unable to build wealth through property ownership over the course of genera- tions in the way that many white people could, some task force members said. “I would strongly cau- tion too much focus on the consumer education piece and focus on the systemic pieces of how we got here,” said Se-Ah-Dom Edmo, a member of the task force and the sovereignty pro- gram director at the West- ern States Center, a Portland group that organizes nation- ally for progressive causes. The group will continue its discussion of mortgage loans and barriers at its next meeting Nov. 28. 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front 110s high low Agents investigated for ‘lack of candor’ in standoff case Oregon governor bans offshore drilling PORTLAND (AP) — A new court fil- ing says FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita and several colleagues on the bureau’s elite Hostage Rescue Team are under inves- tigation for alleged “lack of candor” in their statements after the shooting of ref- uge occupation leader Robert “LaVoy” Finicum. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the agents are the subject of an ongoing administrative investigation and review by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General. Astarita was among FBI agents and state police trying to arrest leaders of the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as they drove to a com- munity meeting in January 2016. While Justice Department officials have said the agents would be investi- gated for alleged misconduct, the legal brief that prosecutors wrote mentions for the first time that the inquiry regards alleged “lack of candor.” SALEM (AP) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has issued an executive order block- ing offshore oil drilling. Thursday’s order directs state agencies to protect Oregon’s coastal economy by pre- venting activities associated with offshore oil and gas drilling. It comes as the Trump administration seeks to expand offshore drill- ing and scrapped an Obama-era policy to protect oceans and the Great Lakes, replacing it with one emphasizing economic growth. Brown, a Democrat, sought an exemption for Oregon from the administration but has not received one. Florida’s Republican gov- ernor did receive an exemption. Brown said her executive order will make it clear to oil and gas speculators that Oregon is not for sale. States control 3 miles of ocean closest to shore. 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