The record · Transcript
Council Session — 2025-06-24
Transcript from the session's official auto-captions (9,495 words), shown in readable case and split into speaker turns. Speakers are not yet identified (colors just separate consecutive turns). Auto-captions can contain errors — check the recording for anything that matters.
Session summaryEditor-reviewed
On June 24, 2025, a Portland City Council committee meeting on the North/Northeast Housing Strategy convened, with roll call and later a note that the remainder of the agenda would be canceled due to quorum. Presenters from the Portland Housing Bureau reviewed a decade of investment tied to the strategy's 2015 origins, describing funding drawn from tax increment financing, construction excise tax, short-term rental fees, and metro bond funds directed toward displacement prevention, home repair, homeownership assistance, and rental housing development, illustrated with maps and building-by-building investment figures. Discussion covered the North/Northeast Preference Policy, its point system for displacement history, waitlist and application numbers, and its potential extension to other urban renewal areas such as Cully. Oversight committee members offered reflections on program history, accountability, affordability challenges, and the American Dream, referencing prior city leadership including Mayor Hales and Mayor Wheeler. Council members present discussed committee attendance, budget allocations, and support for continuing the partnership, while one participant joined remotely from Wisconsin. A public hearing followed with several individuals testifying on displacement, homeownership equity, program boundaries, and a proposal to split the Homelessness and Housing Committee. Recommendations were presented regarding affordability targets, contractor access, housing vouchers, and program expansion. No vote tallies were reported; any votes taken are recorded in the vote ledger.
AI-drafted from the session's auto-captions, reviewed by an editor — describes the discussion only; recorded votes live in the vote ledger. Captions contain errors.
0 Are circumstances that have happened today when we came to this meeting, but to have been at this for the last six months, attempting to have a time to have dialog to interact about this leaves me kind of in a bittersweet, I'm glad we're here. I wish it had been different. Lastly, I will say what you're going to hear today as miss goodloe goes through the details, but you're going to hear about what's been accomplished. You're going to hear about the incredible things that have been done. I will say, now what I will say again, this is really a beginning. While we celebrate what's been accomplished, it is by no means the end of what needs to happen. This is a city where black families can't afford to live, and I think that's something for us to think about. I will speak to more specifics and give an opportunity for my oversight committee members who are here to express. They'll have a few moments to do so. John Washington to my left, achilles to my right. I appreciate their time here. And I don't know if miss sheila has gotten on. And jillian, thank you, jillian, for making it. These people have given themselves to this work because of the high value, and I appreciate their voice and their investment. And so you see the list of the names, and I highlight and appreciate everyone who has been willing to, month after month, week after week, year after year, give themselves to advance this work. So, miss goodloe, if you will begin to walk us through the specifics of the report and then we'll have some comments and I'll bring my thoughts back together with where we are, where I think we should go.
1 Good afternoon, leslie goodloe, equity and business operations for the Portland housing bureau and project manager for north northeast housing strategy. I just want to acknowledge our oversight committee. These community leaders are guiding accountability and ensuring the strategy remains community rooted. They represent a wide cross section of lived experience, professional expertise, and historic ties to the neighborhood. So in 2015, we made clear promises to prevent displacement, restore homeownership, and expand affordable housing in 2025. We're proud to show significant impact and measurable outcomes while also naming the work that remains. First off, so far since the inception, we've invested over $130 million of tiff tax increment financing, city construction, excise tax, short term rental fees, and metro bond funds directly into strategies tied to displacement prevention, homeownership and rental housing with even more leverage through partnerships. Here is a map of the investments that have been made into the north northeast housing strategy. The blue circles are open rental. The square. The blue squares are rental in the pipeline, the yellow or orange or I'm not sure what color it is on your screen. Our open homeownership. And then the square orange is homeownership in the pipeline. Our the first goal of the strategy is preventing displacement. Over $12 million has gone toward home repair and stabilization efforts for longtime residents, critical in keeping people housed and in their communities. Almost 1300 families have been assisted with critical home repairs. Bhb provides both home repair grants and loans, and the loans are forgivable after 15 years. Grants are managed through contracts with our community partners. And this. This is a quote from one person who we recently assisted in November of 2024. Everything died on me. I had just retired and was receiving disability assistance when the furnace stopped working. I had no heat or hot water and was so cold. I started wearing all my clothes to stay warm. My space heater was dying on me and eventually it caused an electrical fire. My doctor helped me get into a hotel and shortly thereafter I developed kidney failure. With the house needing so many repairs, I wasn't sure I would be able to live in my home again. A home my father built in 1968 after being pushed out of albina with eminent domain. The folks at hb and the Portland water bureau were like superman. They came to the rescue. Sorry, connecting me with so many nonprofit agencies. I am so grateful. And this is what we did for her. She got a new kitchen, flooring and wall finished by fb, home repair cabinetry by rebuilding together new flooring. The carpet was from 1970s, a new water heater from community energy project, a new furnace from verdi, new garage floor, new paint throughout the home from rebuilding together, new garage doors from hb home repair, new roof from fb, home repair, new electrical panel and service from fb healthy homes productio, insulation from community energy project and interior doors and knobs from fb home repair. The next strategy is creating new homeowners over 13.8 million in tax increment financing has been invested to support new homeowners, primarily black portlanders with historic ties to north and northeast Portland. These investments have funded down payment assistance and affordable housing development. The down payment assistance amount has increased three times since the launch of the housing strategy. Initially set at $60,000 per household, that was based on housing prices in 2015, the current assistance within the interstate urban renewal area is $150,000, which reflects the impact of rising home prices and interest rates. Down payment assistance loans are structured, structured as no interest, no payment loans, up to 20% of the loan being used for home improvements, and that portion is considered a grant. Loan forgiveness begins in year 15 with 50% forgiven, followed by 3% forgiven each year thereafter until year 30, when any remaining balance is fully forgiven. Through a partnership with prosper Portland, which provides supports for families earning 80 to 120% of ami, we have helped 16 households achieve home ownership. These homeowners are a direct result of the restorative intent of the north northeast preference policy. Each home purchase represents a family reconnecting with the community, reclaiming stability, and creating opportunities for generational wealth. This slide illustrates the funding sources that have supported these preference policy. Home buyers, showcasing the layered investments made possible through tif and other resources. This is a map of the preference policy families and where they have purchased homes, highlighting the geographic spread and community impact of the policy. We, the city and state funds are able to be used citywide and the tif, as you know, is only able to be used within the district. So we were able to assist folks in purchasing outside the ura because we felt that being a homeowner was was the most important thing. And being in the district was the second most important. The next strategy creating rental homes. Rental housing represents the largest area of investment under the north northeast housing strategy, with nearly 95 million allocated and more than 300 million leveraged through public and private partnerships. This investment has supported the development of 11 buildings, delivering a total of 877 affordable rental homes. Of those, 739 units are subject to the preference policy, prioritizing applicants with historic ties to the neighborhood. Units excluded from the policy include permanent supportive housing, project based section eight and on site manager units, which have separate regulatory and leasing requirements. This is a list of all of the buildings and the number of units, and how much was invested in each, how much fb investment was, and then the leverage dollars for each building. Strategy for land acquisition. Land acquisition. We have invested over $12 million, which ensures long term development capacity and preserves future opportunities in areas where market pressures are strongest. We have started construction on the two additional properties, and doctor darryl milner is currently open, so that was the first property that we purchased. The north northeast preference policy is designed to give priority to families with historic ties to north and northeast Portland. Applicants may receive up to three points for their own displacement history, and an additional three points for a parent, grandparent, or legal guardian. Households whose family homes were taken through city action or eminent domain received the highest level of priority in 2020 for more than a thousand individuals applied to join the home ownership waitlist. Of those, 411 successfully verified their preference points, bringing the total number of verified homeownership applicants to 850. Since the policy's inception in 2015, the rental application remains continuously open, with over 7000 individuals having applied for preference points to date. In 2024 alone, 2213 individuals submitted rental applications. Despite significant investment, affordability remains a critical challenge for many families, particularly black families. A two bedroom unit remains financially out of reach. The chart on the left compares the median income of a three person african-american household, with the 60% and 100% area median income benchmarks, so the blue at the top is the 100%, the orange at the bottom is the median income for black black family of three. And then the 60% is the gray. And so black families are falling below a 60% income. The chart on the right illustrates the rent burden faced by african-american families, even when renting a two bedroom unit priced at 60%. Am I demonstrating how deeply unaffordable housing remains for many? Slide 18 drawn from fbs 2024 state of housing in Portland report shows that black families have only one neighborhood in outer southeast, where a two bedroom unit is considered affordable. This underscores the need to align our policies with current income and market realities to ensure equitable housing access. Our newsletter, revived in 2021, reaches over 12,000 people per quarter. It features home buyer stories, partner highlights and development updates. Page b staff also participate in community events and host info sessions year round. The next few slides detail critical shifts in how fb supports families through expanded renter protections. Home repair outside the uras asset preservation and increased esb and workforce participation. Key highlights to emphasize, fb now applies citywide approaches to displacement prevention. The rental services office has supported thousands through eviction prevention and legal assistance ban. The box and the fair ordinance have improved screening, equity and security. Deposit pilot supports renter transitions into preference policy units. Economic and structural supports, land ownership, economic opportunity and tax policies have all been reconsidered in service of equitable access and neighborhood retention. We continue pushing for policy flexibility and systemic change. And now I'll pass it over to john Washington for his comments.
2 Hi. Good afternoon council. You know, that was a surprise, leslie, thank you very much. You woke me up. But the you know, I really do have a real special place in my heart for this committee. You know, the northeast oversight committee plays a critical role to ensure accountability. And I think that for me, that's really important in this process, not just in access to housing, but in the quality of life. Those moving into affordable housing. This committee helps hold builders and property managers to a higher standard, and I think that that's really critical when you can see the momentum and the growth over a period of time. Second, there is nothing more powerful than watching someone who has struggled finally achieve the American dream. And I use the word struggle. In more than it's more than just a roof. It's a life changing milestone that ripples into generational wealth and lasting economic impact. And third, but we must also ask ourselves, is the American dream dead? 50, 50 years ago, we believed in a future where we could own homes, run businesses and pass something on to our children. Today, the dream feels like it's out of reach for far too many. We're not doing enough as stewards of this community to restore homeownership as a priority. We hear excuses about construction costs, material shortages. But the truth is, homeownership is still happening for those who are fully who have full access to resources, it is our responsibility to rebalance the dynamic through courageous legislation and real leadership. So thank you very much.
3 Thank you john. We're attempting to get another committee member on to share while we're doing that. Achilles.
4 Thank you very much. Achilles montas. I'm a 41 year north Portland resident, and I've been so proud to have been part of this committee, continue to protect our neighborhoods. As I see. More of the displacement still happening. So we're trying definitely to try to protect that, especially with these high cost of property rents or housing. So definitely extremely, extremely proud of this committee and being part of it.
5 Thank you sir.
6 Thank you.
7 Appreciate that. And then miss jillian suraj.
8 Hello. My name is jillian suraj felton. I work in affordable housing as a developer. I'm the housing director for an organization called community partners for affordable housing, and I've been on this committee longer than I've had that job or title. I've been doing this work for ten years. I this work is incredibly moving. I think the story that leslie told of someone that was helped by these policies is incredibly moving and urgent and critical, and I just want to express I think doctor holt expressed earlier a level of disappointment and lack of engagement with the new city council, with this committee. This work is important at a time where it couldn't be more important if we are truly a liberal, progressive city than we are progressive for everybody, not just people who look like me. To not show up to any of our committee meetings. So far, since the new city council has been elected to not have full attendance here in this meeting, it is a little heart wrenching. This work may seem like a drop in the bucket to right the wrongs of the past, but those wrongs were based on a system of white supremacy, and we cannot move forward into a future of equality if we do not address the sins of our past. The north and northeast housing strategy has been used as a model in other cities. We are the prototype. We created this model and other cities have used this strategy in order to help black folks in their cities also gain access to affordable housing, affordable homeownership, and to return to neighborhoods that they were pushed out of. All of these policies work because of the system of white supremacy that was in place because of redlining. We have a history of black folks living in a certain neighborhood. And then because of progressive and intentional displacement, we have folks who want to move back there. It is critical work at a critical time, and I cannot encourage enough for more engagement from the city council and from this committee with this work. It is not it is not unimportant. It is transformative. It is progressive. It is the values that we that we profess to have. This committee is doing that work. And it's I think it's time, you know, it's time that we really show up for the people. We say we're going to show up for.
9 Thank you jillian.
10 Thank you. Let me pause you one quick second. Diego.
11 I apologize for the interruption, chair Avalos, as well as to our presenters. I just needed to make a quick note for those that are listening online to the youtube stream, I recommend you're going to see in a moment that we will be ending a duplicate stream because there's two running at once, so I recommend navigating to today's homelessness and housing committee agenda page that is Portland w-w-w-what ed.gov. Slash homelessness, dash and dash housing dash committee. Once the stream is down, you'll be able to refresh the page and you'll be able to click on the link towards the top of the page, and you will be updated to the current youtube stream. Thank you.
12 Thank you diego. Please continue.
13 Oh yeah. Thank you very much. We are trying to get sheila miss sheila holden on linkedin to our meeting. Jillian, you almost took the words out of my mouth as I was going to wrap up my thoughts in regard to before I talk about our recommendations in regard to the noise around this committee, that the work that's been accomplished, not that we're looking for any kind of celebration, but we are looking for the support that then and investment that continues to cause this work to go forward. We have been in a position of being a voice and advocate for those who don't have voices, and those who haven't had advocates to take advantage of opportunities or even know that opportunities exist to help support and create pathways to homeownership or safe places of dwelling. That's not a civil right. That's a human right that everyone should have an opportunity to be safe and taken care of and invested in. And as stated, not to continue to beat the same drum. But as stated, the absence of engagement or interaction with current leadership has been loud and concerning. I will conclude that the history of the work must not have been known, that somehow in transition of communication, there wasn't the continuation of the work that this committee has done. When we initiate. Initially launched, it was under the leadership of mayor charlie hales, and we talked about a variety of investments that are of significant concern for support, that if we're going to create home ownership, if we're going to create rentals, then we also need to do something that creates a pathway for economic improvement and economic development. There has to be an on ramp. The two go hand in hand, and then we must look at our educational system. And we had great dialog about that. But you know, leadership changes. And when leadership changes stories don't always continue. And priorities don't always continue. Which brings us to this current moment. There's a current phraseology that I'm hearing a lot of, and that is when you know better, you do better. And so now that we know better, the expectation is that we can do better. Brings me to my recommendations before miss sheila gets in. You heard that there is one neighborhood where blacks can live. Black families. Our current approach of our ami determinations. We have to look at 30%, 60%, I think 80% ami support. When the majority of families are rent burdened, at 60%, we have no 50% option or 40% options. Sheila is in.
14 Yes, she lives.
15 In a wonderful. Okay, well, I will defer. Miss sheila, we're glad you're here.
16 Thank you. Council members, committee members and general public. My name is sheila holden. I am glad to finally get on board here. One of the things I wanted to talk about is the history. We all know some aspects of the history, but you often hear doctor holt talk about promises made, promises kept, and one of the things that happened in the 80s was we saw what was happening with redlining, with abandoned housing and no ability for people to buy into the area. And then on the heels of that, we had the crime issues and the gangs and what have you, and the community was fed up. It finally decided that we all had to work together, so we were able to get small business, large business, neighborhood association, nonprofit organizations, the city, the county and the state to all come together to help us to develop a northeast strategy. That organization became the northeast economic development alliance. And out of that, we formed a blueprint that included the typical kind of thing, which was land use and transportation, but also family services, education, jobs and job training, housing. All of these were critical in economic development, both for community development and for small business development. And all of these became aspect of a strategy for the area. It was powerful enough for the city to take on actually putting a albina vision in place, and the albina community plan became a part of that. And the blueprint were those things that that alliance of community, business, nonprofit had developed that tended to address all of the issues that are important for a strong and vibrant community that had quality of life and opportunities for personal and family wealth generation. We put together the plan, and then a few years later, we had the opportunity to actually look at where we could get the funding for doing it. It was on the heels of the north south light rail, and they were looking at where do we put the light rail? And we said, if you're looking to put it in through our neighborhoods, we don't want it to happen the way it did before. We don't want the ultimate domain to be an issue, nor do we want to have displacement. So one of the commitments that that were made to us, to the community as a whole, was that there would be assurance and have it inculcated into the plan that all those issues were going to be addressed, and that we would protect those people who were in the community. We were able to build the light rail. You can see it and probably ride it every day. But we still had not gotten enough funding available to the issues that we had raised. And so the next thing that came along, just when the funds in the urban renewal zone got high enough that we could really start addressing some of those issues, the interest in hope six came along, which they wanted to address columbiaville because of all the issues out there and saw an opportunity partnering with the federal government to redevelop that area. So we agreed to allow $30 million to come out of our funds so that that area could be developed with the understanding that we were going to get the next funds, that we would benefit from that money going out there in terms of being able to produce jobs and employment for the people in the area. We then found out we had a housing strategy that all of a sudden went away from just being addressing the folks in north northeast, but addressing housing in general and homelessness in general. And so we got caught up in the mix or lost in the mix. We developed a program that said, with the gentrification that's starting to occur with the predatory lending that is happening, we need to have a way to protect our people in our community. And so we wanted to put together something that could work for us. That was something folks could trust and feel comfortable with. And we came up with a housing strategy around retention of our customers, or I should say, our, our, our community, the individuals who own homes. At one time, we had one of the highest percentages of home in a black community around the nation. And so we wanted to get back there. And the thing that we wanted to see done was home retention, home repair, and educating people around how they could stay in their homes, especially if they were seniors who have younger folks in the home who may have set it up so that they would have to do pay for their their taxes. By deferral. And then when they passed, the folks who were still at the home didn't have a way to finance that or didn't even know how to do it. The thing that I've been impressed with is that with all that has happened in the last ten years, all those things that we had said we were going to do, we're seeing that the evidence of it on the streets in our community. Finally, people are coming back into the community. People have options for housing. They can have home ownership. They can actually come into the area with affordable rental properties. We want to see this continue. We've delayed it. We finally are getting in the mix of being able to see the results of the effort, with real dreams being fulfilled and homeowners who are actually starting to be able to have a legacy in that they are building up equity in the properties that they have. So I think the thing that I want us to understand for our new council members, this is not a new thing and it is not a done thing. It is a it is something that was promised to the community. And we finally got the mechanisms in place to make it happen. And we need your continued support to make sure it happens this time around.
17 Thank you.
18 Very much.
19 Thank you very much for your comments, I appreciate it. I will identify my recommendations, make a few comments around them, and give us an opportunity to interact. If there is desire for that, first recommendation is to, of course, adjust affordable targets to reflect economic realities. I was talking about that a moment ago. 60%, 30%. We must have some 40%, 50% opportunities for rental as well as homeownership opportunities. It is unfortunate that when you look at the area median income for black families, it is 50% of that of the privileged majority. It is unfortunate. It says a lot about where we are. Another recommendation then is to increase black trades and construction participation as it relates to this particular work. This is one of the areas that we have an opportunity to do economic strategy, where we can get involved in economic development by helping to lower the barrier and create pathways to help african American business owners get into the trades, or get into the spaces where they can take advantage of the dollars that are being allocated. One of the incentives that is associated with the allocation of dollars is that they're doing it with certified companies. Well, I own a certified company, and I know the barrier, the standards that and the hoops you have to hop through in order to get certified. And it isn't simple for small business owners, the insurance standards. Et cetera. Et cetera. Some are just absolutely ridiculous that have nothing to do with with the work that is being done. We've got to lower the bar or find ways to increase access that will help people generate revenue, which then can help folks secure their housing. Another recommendation is to leverage housing choice vouchers with home forward, the housing choice voucher program has been accessed whereby people, instead of just getting the dollars that are covering their rent, can turn that to mortgage coverage. Why not leverage that and make sure that we're doing all we can to help individuals get into spaces where they're buying and not just renting. You don't build wealth by renting. You can have security and consistency, which is extremely important housing stability. But we really would like to see people leverage and build wealth. So that's a recommendation. Recommendation number four maintain long term support for the preference policy. This policy is not only gained national attention, it's gained international attention. There is nothing like it in the nation. There's been no other policy that has been established that has created a pathway to bring families in and to communities where they once lived, that is associated with geography as opposed to as opposed to ethnicity. This creates a way or has created a way to be supported by HUD. In fact, it is on hud's. Hud's website at least used to be as their equity website, as a reference to an equitable way of building community that came out of Portland, that came out of this committee. I think we should make noise about that. We need to strengthen the home retention tools. We talked about that. Miss sheila just talked about that. It is important those who currently own and are housed, we'd like them to be secure and to continue in that space. And that means more work. That might mean variety of ways of telling the story, so that families who can benefit are able to access that. We need to. Another recommendation is expand homeownership resources amid market challenges. Our current district affordability continues to just I don't even know the words explode. It's ridiculous. The pricing. I never thought that I would see $1 million home on williams and fremont. I never thought we would see those kinds of prices. If we're going to help people own homes, we can't stay localized in one district. We have to look at citywide opportunities. Another recommendation is to respond to the PSU report findings with accountability and action. I won't go through all of those findings, but there are some very specific areas that should be considered. It's in the report. You can dig into it. It is. We want to make sure that the people who are moving back are benefiting from the privilege of being back. We want folks to be in safe communities, safe neighborhoods, safe spaces, as well as embraced in community. One of the things I talked about with mayor hills and also talked about with mayor wheeler, and I don't know how we will go about it, but what a what a great opportunity to begin to have some sense of collaborative engagement with the market rate. Places, as well as the affordable places around a sense of community development? We don't have much. I would say that creates spaces where where there's interaction and dialog and relationship development. And what I'm referring to specifically are people who are coming into or living in affordable houses or affordable rentals and now going to some of the marketplace and market spaces and treat it in ways that continue to create bias and discomfort. It would be wonderful to do something around establishing a sense of community and continuity, not necessarily in our scope, but certainly of value. And last recommendation is to explore expansion of the strategy for other risk communities. We are not the only one. The truth of it, though, is we're at the bottom, and that's what makes it most unfortunate. Tony hobson, the director of cei at the ten year celebration, said words like these. It's not a specific quote, but in essence, he communicated this. The work that's been done is great, the investment is tremendous, but we need more of it. We need more of it. It's been ten years. We need another ten years and then another ten years after that. I will conclude my comments by saying this. I think I'm a fun guy. I think I'm a fun guy. I think I'm a jovial guy. I think I'm a guy that not only cares about the community, but pretty easy to get along with. It's unfortunate that our introduction is in this moment, so this is not personal to you. This is not an affront or an attack to you. I am passionate about our city, and I'm passionate about the people who look like me, who live in this city, not just because of my lived experience, not even just because of my family's lived experience. As you've heard the data and you've heard the report and you've heard the information, we have a problem. Portland has a problem, and someone needs to be courageous enough to unapologetically articulate it, bring attention to it, and work at a strategy to solve it. At some point, the promises that have been made need to be the promises that are kept. Thank you for some time.
20 Thank you so very much. I am. I'm also feeling emotional and the mixed emotions because I also regret that this is the way that we have to meet, and that all of the circumstances that led to this report coming to the committee, I much would have preferred that it come to council. In fact, we invited all of the councilors to attend at a minimum to listen to the report and absorb what the report is really saying about how we need to be leading as a city in this dire moment. You absolutely have been on my radar. In fact, I fought hard to get $500,000 in the budget to go towards the north and northeast preference policy, preservation of housing. I was pretty disappointed that my colleagues, after a lot of, you know, remarks during the albina settlement, couldn't come around to support those critical dollars for black families. So I share your frustration in seeing lots of promises get made to the black community that aren't kept. But I am here to assure you that I'm here to make sure that they are kept. I am here to. Obviously, I'm a leader and I'm responsible for being accountable to what you are saying. And I am your partner in this. And I will assure going forward that we will strengthen this partnership. I'm incredibly committed to the work that you all are doing because as you say, this isn't this is about the entire city. It's not just about the black community. If we can rise up the black community, we will rise the rest of the city. But it's unacceptable that we continue to let our black portlanders falter at the bottom. And it's unacceptable to me. I believe it's unacceptable to this committee. And we are, I think, committed to ensuring that we continue these discussions. So thank you for your words. You know, your your emotions are felt and they're real and they're acknowledged. And I just want to assure you that we're going to do better moving forward. As you said, now that we know better, we're going to do better. Thank you. Let me have councilor Morillo add some thoughts and then we'll continue chatting. Go ahead.
21 Yeah. I just wanted to say thank you so much for presenting today. I think that this was information that I did need to have, and I'm very grateful that you're here today. I also would have much rather had this at the full council. So I think as we're, you know, having these discussions and working out our new government system, we need to make sure that we're really intentional with people who have done this work for a long time that are going to lead us. So I just want to acknowledge that. And doctor holt, I really appreciate you. You know, putting your heart on the table in these spaces. We don't always do that. And this work is personal. When we're breaking generational curses and everything that has come before us. I'm paraguayan, so my struggle is not the same as yours. But I feel that our struggles are parallel in many ways and that we need to stand in solidarity together. So I'm very grateful for all of you being here, and I will make sure that all of my colleagues watch this committee meeting. I will bug them every day for the next few weeks if they don't. Thank you. And I made sure that my constituent services person also reached out. I think we got your contact information so that we can set up a meeting. I would be happy to attend a committee and learn more about this and where we can support. I really appreciate you guys laying out a plan for us, for the things that you need from us. And I know for a fact that councilor Avalos and me and I know councilor Dunphy is online watching as well, are very committed to this. So I appreciate you very much for being here.
22 Thank you. Thank you.
23 Councilor Dunphy.
24 Thank you. First, I want to apologize to everybody for not being there in person. I'm currently calling you from beautiful milwaukee, wisconsin, but this was important and I'm glad to be here. Second, I also want to apologize for not having been able to attend the north northeast housing committee meeting. Yet. The first six months in this job have been the most overwhelming six months of my life. But that's no excuse and I hope to attend one soon. This is absolutely important. Third, I will I will note I agree, doctor holt, you are a fun guy, as is mr. Washington and mr. Montez, I had the pleasure of knowing all three of you and the other folks. I haven't had a chance to meet yet. But more than being fun, I'm just so deeply thankful for your commitment and your long term commitment to these, to our community, to our shared vision for what this city could look like. All of the recommendations you made felt exceptionally reasonable and within grasp, and so I'm eager to try and see what that we can we can exercise those recommendations into policy. I'll note I also supported commissioner or councilor Avalos amendment and I'm disappointed it did not pass. We will find another way to be able to continue this work. And last I will ask a question and I guess it's maybe more of a philosophical question, but like doctor holt, I you know, I grew up in northeast Portland. I would never thought I would see $1 million piece of property on north williams. And it makes me wonder, you know, the historic challenge of the albina district trying to get folks to come home is such an enormous task when faced against the real estate market. And the real estate market is absolutely, like disconnected from reality. I'm wondering, is there is there a guiding philosophy for the north northeast housing strategy around? Being intentional about what, I guess, what leslie was saying, you know, trying to find some of those opportunities for home ownership when the geography wasn't there. You know, I'm thinking specifically that one neighborhood in Portland where black families can afford to live is in district one, and we are continuing to be the only place where there is any level of affordable housing. So is there a need for a broadening of the mission of this, or do you think that continuing to primarily preference both preference? The albina, the historic albina district is the right direction for the next ten years?
25 I appreciate that. I see that miss leslie wants to miss goodloe is eager to respond to that. I'm going to give her the opportunity to do so first. But I certainly have two specific things that I think will offer some strategy around that.
26 Thanks for the question, councilor. I think as we are developing the action plans for the new tif districts, and we know where bipoc folks are living, that we need to consider whether we create a preference for people to not be displaced out of those neighborhoods. How do we ensure that, as we're putting in infrastructure on 82nd and division and in parkrose, that people don't end up being displaced farther east or farther south or over the river to Vancouver, there have been questions about how do we utilize the preference policy in in the new tif districts, the funding that we have currently, you know, is restricted to, of course, to interstate ura. And those funds are just about all committed. We have three projects that are in some stage of development, and we still have some money left for homeownership in the district, but once those funds are done, then in order for this to continue, we have to have another funding stream for northeast Portland, or. We look at how do we ensure that people that are living in that one affordable neighborhood, can they buy there? How do we how do we help them to become homeowners in in those new districts? And I'm working with the cully team tomorrow, we're going to be working on the housing portion of the action plan. And one of the questions that came up there was, can we do a preference policy to for folks from cully to not get displaced? So I think that there are ways to look at this as a, as a stepping stone for other, other districts and other areas of town to keep poor people and brown people from getting the short end of the stick.
27 And then to my left, miss jillian has a response.
28 To you. Yeah.
29 So I just I just wanted to add one of the reasons that or the reason that the preference policy works is because it's not. It's based on place, and place is not a protected class. So the reason that this particular policy has impacted, has positively impacted black families is because these are the neighborhoods where historically black families have lived, and that they were displaced from. The number one way to fight displacement is to prevent it in the first place. It is far harder to get somebody to move back in to a neighborhood that's been gentrified than to help them not leave that neighborhood. And so one of the recommendations in in our report, and that doctor holt talked about is extending this preference policy to other ura's to other urban renewal areas. We have several new ones that have been developed around the city. And to really use this prototype and apply it to those areas, it doesn't necessarily because it's place based, have to be people who have already been displaced. You could prioritize people who live in that neighborhood. So the cully ura funds could have a place based preference for people who used to or currently live in cully. So that I think is just some color on as from an affordable housing perspective, you know how we are staying within the bounds of fair housing law and also impacting the folks that we want to have the impact. So yes, and you can look at the map that leslie had up earlier of where those homeownership opportunities have been. And they're not all in north northeast, but they started with that north northeast preference policy. That's where the homeownership education came in. That's where the connection with other down payment assistance came in. But the way into that system is through where they lived historically and not necessarily. And so does that make sense? What I'm saying, like the impact has to be place based. Otherwise, frankly, someone who looks like me makes a fair housing challenge.
30 Excellent. Thank you. It's great to be surrounded by brilliance. Two things I will say that not to echo what has been said. Jillian, you certainly nailed so much of what I was going to say. Two things I will say that miss goodloe said earlier. The ability to help homes or help individuals become homeowners really is tantamount more than just where it's what, because you can't build wealth renting, right? And so helping get individuals into a place where they're owning is, I would say, the number one priority. I will illustrate, though, the second thing that's a concern that we don't necessarily control, but we do need to prioritize and think about. There are if you've ever been to dawson park on a sunny day, you will see the park full of individuals, dominoes, cookouts, hanging out. These people don't live in the neighborhood anymore. They drive in. Why do they drive in? Because of community. Because of the sense of belonging, a sense of space which says to me that wherever they are, it doesn't exist. So prioritizing this, prioritizing it as a value is something for us to begin to strategize for us to begin to reconsider. How do we help to establish a sense of belonging? And part of that is by the use of our policies. And part of that is also by the use of how we talk about the work that we do. I think that's in our hands. Thanks for your question. I appreciate it.
31 Thank you. Councilor Dunphy, any follow up? You good?
32 I am good. Jillian also seems fun. I just want to.
33 Point that.
34 Jillian is very funny.
35 Very funny.
36 And as they say, a hoot are a hoot.
37 You're a hoot and a half.
38 Let me add one more thought, because I'm actually meeting with the cully folks later today in my role at verde, I helped start up that tif district, and we had a lot of discussions around the language in the charter around priority population, and we went back and forth with the lawyers about it because they were like, you can't, you know, yeah, there's all those lawyery things. Right. But I'm really intrigued by how you're describing this, especially as it relates to place and how you were able to get support for that. You mentioned that that also helped you get HUD dollars for it. So let's talk more about that, because I'm really interested to see how we could apply that. And my goal of my meeting later is because most of the new tif districts are in district one, and I've had a lot of my community members come and tell me that they're excited, but they're nervous because, you know, tif is like, it's the new, it's the formerly ura, right? And that is something that is really people understand that to be a place, a tool of displacement. And we tried with the new cully tif to turn that on its head, but we still have a lot to be seen to make sure that we actually accomplish that. So that's why I'm monitoring it. And I want to make sure that we're applying that with these new districts. So let's continue to talk about that. But I just wanted to note that I was intrigued by the kind of legal maneuvering there that I think could be really beneficial to maybe start exploring into putting into the charter. So just flagging that note for you.
39 And I'm sorry, councilor, I just there's one quick point that I wanted to make as we because, you know, we've been putting these clcs together. I think one of the as helmi just reminded me that I've said multiple times is that the these, these new groups should come to our oversight committee and see how it's managed, see what the discussion is, see how how meetings are run, see what the priorities are and that. So that will help them see what they can do. Because we do a lot. We have a lot of committees in the city, probably way, way, way too many. And this particular committee has stayed together. I mean, we've had people change out over the years, but the core has stayed together. And doctor holt and I know he's not going to toot his own horn, but he's only missed three meetings in ten years. Three meetings. And when he started this process, tracy manning, who was the bureau director, told him, oh, it's only going to be three meetings. We just need you for three meetings. And here it is ten years later and he's only missed three. And so the leadership of these people from the community that continue to come back and continue to push the city and continue to push our partners, and it's not personal. We know some of them have taken it personally, but our our goal is to take care of the people who have been displaced, the people who can't find an affordable apartment, people who want to live near their church or their barber shop or near their grandparents, or have their kids go to the same school that they went to and not have to drive in. It is of the utmost importance that folks understand what community can do when they're at the table. And that's what we have done with this committee, with this strategy, with these dollars. And, you know, ten years ago, folks thought we were going to dry up and go away after the $20 million was gone. And we actually had a counselor ask a commissioner, ask us a couple years ago, aren't you all supposed to be done? And so we're not done. And while I may not be there forever, folks will continue to do this work and ensure that we are continuing to take care of people who need to be taken care of.
40 Yeah, this committee's leadership and continued commitment to each other and to the community really is inspiring, and I agree that it is a model that we should look towards as we're trying to develop these, because that's the other thing, as we know with committees and community members being on them, is that sometimes electeds can just wait you out or they'll say stuff like, are you done right? Or we forgot, right? So I'm really grateful that you guys have continued to press and to hold the city accountable, that you guys are not going away. I agree there's lots more work to be done, but I'm so grateful to all of you for your dedication. Truly is inspiring and I'm looking forward to continuing this very soon. So thank you.
41 Thank you, thank you.
42 We're going to take some public testimony, and then if we want to come back and chat a little more, we can. But we'll do that first. Sound good?
43 Testimony. Good.
44 All right. So diego, we have five people.
45 Yes that's correct. I'll read the second item. Excuse me. Public hearing on north slash northeast neighborhood housing strategy. We have five folks signed up arlen Smith, terrance hayes. Terrance will be joining us online.
46 Good afternoon. My name is arlen Smith. I've been here a few times before. If doctor holt is the fun guy in the room, I'm the opposite. I'm the guy that you call in when you want to scare the out of somebody. And sometimes that's necessary. A few. Warning signs here. A decade or more ago, black lives matters came out. The phrase puts people off because it doesn't have the second part to it. It's not black lives matters. It's damn it, all lives matter. It's getting to the point where no one can afford to live in Portland. Good people can't afford to live in Portland, and Portland cannot afford to have people go away. Especially good people, because they can't afford to be here anymore. It's a fundamental wrong. It doesn't matter what the color of your skin. It is wrong that people. Good families of every race, religious persuasion can't afford a comfortable home in a good neighborhood. And this city needs to do something about that, needs to take it very seriously. You, doctor holt, had mentioned being courageous. I hope that I just was with what I said, because that's going to upset some people. Oh, well. There are many things that can be done that aren't being done because people get tripped up over the language. Councilman mentioned meeting with the attorneys and that they have problems with this wording and that wording. When you run into that type of situation, get ahold of me and I will give them some new wording, because there's always way to accomplish it. My. Primary history and training was in hostage negotiation for the department of defense and the state department. And that's all about communication.
47 Attorneys are.
48 Horrible about communication, but there are things that can be done. Thank you.
49 Thank you. Next up is it terrance hayes. Next up, go ahead.
50 Terrance hayes, if you can hear us.
51 I can thank you. Thank this committee. Councilor Avalos, thank you all for the work y'all are doing in this particular space. I think I always need to remind people that there is a conscious effort into displacing black folks, and there was a conscious effort into pushing them out into spaces that they didn't normally have a presence. And we have to continue to put just as much conscious effort into restoring that balance as folks once put into into getting black folks out of the communities that they lived in. So I just want to remind folks that you got to put the same energy in to restore that, that people put into destroying it. So I'd like to just thank the two councilors up here and Jamie Dunphy. So just for the conscious work y'all have done, and standing on that principle and not being afraid to say that black folks was mishandled, displaced. And though we recognize all the city of Portland needs a specific type of help, that the black community was harmed in a way that other communities were not. So thank you all for being courageous and not being afraid to say that. Doctor holt pretty much put it anything I could say on the table. What I will add is that when me and my wife, who is a fundamental portlander north Portland black woman, was looking for a home, we wanted to move into north and northeast Portland and it was unaffordable. And when we were ready to purchase a home, we looked into this program and one of the things I struggled with is kind of the boundaries that exist when it comes to refinancing your home and taking equity out of your home during certain periods without penalty. So I would love for us to consider that how we build wealth and general generational wealth through home ownership is generally the ability to pull out equity and use that equity to buy homes and start businesses and do other things. So if we're going to talk about building black wealth and talk about using a program like this, I want us to consider that if we cannot pull equity out without consequences or without penalty, then we're not actually creating equitable situations. When you look at people who take more traditional routes into home ownership. So I just want to make sure we're noting that. And as doctor holt said, I do think we need to consider that north and northeast Portland, though, we can recognize the displacement, it is not majority of where black folks are. And so, councilor Avalos, as you talked about, and Jamie Dunphy also is that it is you guys district that has a huge presence for our community now. And so I just want to make sure we consider that as you guys have to look into funding and all that, that we're being prepared to have an open dialog about expanding that and making sure that especially in district one, that we're getting that opportunity.
52 Did we lose him?
53 I think we lost terrance. I'm not sure if you can still hear us online.
54 Okay. Thank you, terrance, for your words. Apologies that there was a technical thing, apparently. Moving on.
55 We have one more testifier. Since our two other testifiers had testified already. Todd littlefield todd is joining us online.
56 Go ahead. Todd.
57 Can you hear me?
58 Yes.
59 Oh, good. I'll make this quick. I think the I'm hoping that the councilors will get behind the initiative, support and champion the division of the homeless and housing committee into two separate committees because of the importance of both in Portland. Thank you.
60 Dan. Thank you todd. And then that concludes testimony. Yes. Well, again, I want to appreciate you all for being here. I think the words that you shared really hit home for us. And I'm going to make sure that that message is delivered to the rest of the council, because everyone on our council needs to be held accountable to this work, not just this committee. I am really excited to see how we can grow this partnership, and I really want this committee to be your partner. And as we're adjusting to this new form of government, I know it's tricky and challenging, but I see there's a lot of potential for this committee to really invest some time and energy into this, into your committee essentially, and growing that work. Do you want to add some final thoughts?
61 Just wanted to say thank you. Great. Thank you very much.
62 All right. Thank you so much for everybody being here. Like I mentioned, we're canceling the rest of the agenda due to quorum. So I will end this meeting at 1:32 p.m.