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Portland Development Commission’s Leah Greenwood told the Opportunity Gateway Program Advisory Committee last month that her agency and City Council are continuing to work out the details of the new “affordable housing set aside,” whereby a defined portion of each urban renewal district budget will be set aside for affordable housing. In the case of Gateway and four other districts, the designated percentage is 30 percent. Council rejected an idea by the PDC that it be allowed to spend 30 percent of an average of all funds from the five districts for this purpose, offering greater flexibility to pursue other things. Still on the table is an idea by PDC member Sal Kadri that the agency devote most of its resources to home ownership, or one by Chair Mark Rosenbaum that the commission be allowed to support housing geared to people earning 100 percent of median family income if the housing is suitable for families.
Even without Rosenbaum’s idea, the range of allowed affordable housing activities is generous. The housing thus created can be affordable to people making up to 80 percent of area median, which translates into $38,000 for one person or $54,300 for a family of four; such households could afford rent or house payments of $950 or $1,336 a month, respectively. At the other end of the scale — where many housing advocates believe the emphasis should be — people making 30 percent of median earn $14,250 to $20,350 depending on family size, and can afford to spend $356 to $501 on housing.
Developer Dick Cooley commented, “The forces at work here are the City Council, which has its mind made up, at least about the overall plan; advocacy groups that are dedicated to doing good work; and the PDC bureaucracy. (Greenwood) has done a good job of balancing those forces.”
Frieda Christopher, who represents the David Douglas School District, said that area schools are bursting at the seams. “The last thing we need is more families with kids.” If the district is to build more of this kind of housing, she said, it should be owner occupied. Gateway has already built a lot of low-income housing, she said.
PAC member Alesia Reese said, “Focusing on one type of housing could hurt economic development.” She added that very low-income residents need supportive social services. “You can’t just plop them down here.”
Greenwood agreed with this last comment. She said that other districts, even the Pearl, have a surprising amount of low-income housing. “Where we’re lacking is housing for families.” She said that the set-aside funds could be spent in a number of ways, including the upgrading of existing housing.
Developer Ted Gilbert said that so-called workforce housing, which the set-aside funds could be spent on, could be a good opportunity for Gateway. “With Airport MAX, we have access to (an area with) 14,000 jobs, with no housing, and that’s not even counting Ikea.” He asked, “Could some of these funds be spent for a street that could spawn a low-income housing project?”
PAC member Dorene Warner answered, “Any infrastructure would have to be iron-clad related to a housing development.”
Agreeing with Gilbert, Phil Selinger of TriMet said, “We have the best transportation infrastructure in the region and zoning that’s already in place.”
Hazelwood supports trail
The Hazelwood Neighborhood Association last month added its support for the proposed Sullivan’s Gulch Trail. The proposed trail would extend through the gulch, above the Banfield Freeway, railroad and light rail, but below the rim — 4.3 miles from the river to Gateway and perhaps beyond.
Morgan Will, who conceived the idea and has been pursuing it for four years, and Sullivan’s Gulch Steering Committee member Dan Lerch-Walters said the trail would allow for hiking or biking through the center of the east side uninterrupted by traffic or cars. It would have numerous access points and would be an amenity that would enhance any property near it, they said.
They and other backers are seeking $250,000 for an engineering study from Metro: Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) funds. The funds are scarce in relation to the demand for them, and there is intense competition.
Asked whether the trail would be safe, given its isolation, Will said, “When people use it, it will be safe. There was a trail on the east bank (of the Willamette River) before there was an esplanade. It wasn’t particularly safe, but it is now.”
Hazelwood board member Gayland German protested, “If you’re going to build a bike trail, you should license bicycles and use that to build the trail, not take away from gasoline money.”
Will replied, “If you can get people onto bikes and off the road during peak hours, it will help with congestion.”
“I’ve heard that stuff before,” German said. “They said the same thing about the light rail.” The trail would lead to homeless camping, he said.
“There were homeless people in the Springwater Corridor before there was a trail there, and there are fewer there now,” Will responded. He added that the trail would not only be for bicycles.
“It used to be that federal funds were solely for highways, which didn’t help build cities,” he said. “Now there are funds earmarked for other types of transportation, so we’re not stealing it from cars.”
Despite German’s concerns, the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association voted to support their efforts.
A gift of gravel
Mid-county is a place where people make do with a lack of facilities that other communities take for granted. Nothing symbolized that more than a grant application last month by Hazelwood resident Dene Bowen. She asked for, and received from the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association, monetary support to buy gravel and fill in potholes on her portion of Southeast 117th Avenue. The grant request: $216.84. Hazelwood supported the request.
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