Portland committee hears North/Northeast housing strategy report; oversight members urge sustained investment to prevent displacement

Leslie Goodlow, equity and business operations manager at the Portland Housing Bureau and project manager for the North/Northeast Housing Strategy, presented the bureau's 10-year update to the Homelessness and Housing Committee, saying the effort has "invested over a $130,000,000" through tax increment financing (TIF), construction excise tax, short-term rental fees, Metro bond funds and other sources and has targeted displacement prevention, homeownership and rental production. Goodlow told the committee that "this is a city where black families can't afford to live."

The presentation said investments have included more than $12 million for home repair and stabilization (almost 1,300 families assisted), down-payment assistance that has increased from $60,000 to $150,000 within the Interstate urban renewal area, and development of 11 buildings that together will deliver about 877 affordable rental homes (739 units subject to the North/Northeast preference policy). The bureau also reported more than $12 million in land acquisition to preserve long-term development capacity, an ongoing rental waitlist with over 7,000 applicants, and a verified homeownership applicant pool of 850 since the policy launched in February 2015.

Oversight committee members and community leaders framed the update as progress with unfinished work. Dr. Holt, an oversight committee member, said, "This is really a beginning," and urged ongoing investment and accountability. Sheila Alden, a long-time committee member who recounted decades of neighborhood organizing, described the strategy as a response to redlining and displacement and said the work was intended to restore homeownership and retention in historically Black neighborhoods. "We wanted to put together something that could work for us," Alden said.

Jillian Suraj Felton, housing director for Community Partners for Affordable Housing and an oversight committee member, said the preference policy's place-based design is deliberate and legal: "The number 1 way to fight displacement is to prevent it in the first place." She and Goodlow recommended extending a place-based preference approach to newly formed urban renewal areas so those areas can similarly prioritize people with historical ties to a neighborhood without running afoul of fair-housing rules. Goodlow said that some TIF dollars are nearly fully committed in the Interstate URA and that future work will require additional funding streams or replication of the preference approach in other URAs.

Committee members responded with support and questions about scale and legal design. Councilor Dunphy said, "All of the recommendations you made felt exceptionally reasonable, and within grasp," and asked whether the strategy should broaden beyond the historic Albina area to reflect where Black families now live. Councilor Murillo and other committee members promised to press colleagues to engage, noting missed prior council votes (Goodlow referenced a $500,000 request for preservation that did not pass) and urging better council attention to the committee's work.

Public testimony echoed the committee's themes. Arlen Smith warned that "no one can afford to live in Portland" and called for stronger action; Terrence Hayes urged the city to "put the same energy in to restore that" which was used to displace Black residents; and Todd Littlefield asked councilors to champion the committee's work.

The oversight committee submitted a set of recommendations repeated during the meeting: adjust affordability targets to reflect current income realities (including additional 40% and 50% AMI targets), increase participation of Black trades and construction firms, explore use of Housing Choice Vouchers with Home Forward to support homeownership rather than rent only, maintain and resource the place-based North/Northeast preference policy, strengthen home-retention tools and outreach, expand down-payment and homeownership resources citywide, respond to findings in the Portland State University report with concrete accountability steps, and consider extending the prototype strategy to other at-risk communities. Goodlow and committee members said the preference policy is referenced on HUD materials and has been used as a national example.

No formal motions or votes were recorded on those recommendations during the committee meeting. Committee leadership said they will continue engagements with TIF teams and bureau staff to explore applying the preference approach in other urban renewal areas; Goodlow noted a meeting planned with Cully TIF staff to work on housing components of that action plan. The meeting concluded with the committee taking public testimony and then canceling the remainder of the agenda because of quorum limits; the clerk closed the meeting at 1:32 p.m.