Portland oversight committee weighs temporary waivers as Albina 1 struggles to lease new affordable units

Leslie Goodlow, Portland Housing Bureau preference-policy manager, told the North Northeast Neighborhood Housing Strategies Oversight Committee that her office has approved 24 temporary waivers since September to help development partners lease units that otherwise sat vacant. "I've wavered 24 units since September," she said, and described a new request from Albina 1 for as many as 25 to 50 units to be temporarily released from the bureau's preference policy to avoid prolonged vacancies.

Goodlow said she has authority to grant temporary releases and that units leased under a waiver would return to the preference policy the next time the unit turned over. "I can, temporary I can approve a temporary release, of the unit from the preference policy so that they can lease it up," she said, explaining the bureau uses temporary…