Housing advocates urge Metro Human Relations Commission to monitor unified housing strategy and join coalition

Housing advocates asked the Metropolitan Human Relations Commission on a recent fall day to hold the city accountable for implementing its Unified Housing Strategy and to join a new coalition called Housing for All of Us. Erwin Bennett, convenor of the coalition, said he and other presenters want the commission's research capacity used to produce a public scorecard and to provide one commission member and one staff member to sit with the coalition.

The request matters, Bennett said, because he and fellow presenters believe Metro's published plans must be tracked and enforced if they are to produce more housing for workers and lower-income residents. "We would like the commission to take on that same responsibility with respect to putting together a scorecard," Bennett told commissioners, referring to the housing and infrastructure study and the Unified Housing Strategy.

Advocates framed the problem as a shortage of land, rising construction costs and waning federal subsidy. Eddie Latimer of Affordable Housing…