Opportunity awaits us at every corner

Editorial from the Sept. 18 edition.

The world is a very daunting place. From war to health care, the environment to the economy, and the H1N1 flu – people are feeling the squeeze. Locally, it’s no different. From the front page story on this edition of Street Roots to unemployment rates in Oregon to young Oregonians coming home in body bags; like we said, it’s a daunting place.

Saying that, we also live in a beautiful city, among amazing and innovative people, rich and poor, with a will to make the world we live in a better place.

Both big and small contributions are being made daily to make the city and region we live in a healthy and sustainable environment. From Metro’s stand on urban sprawl to the Portland Trail Blazers’ “Make It Better” Campaign, from the Reed College students raising money for sex trafficking victims to the vendor selling you this newspaper, amazing things happen.

Watching many of the newly elected officials in Portland navigate the recession while trying to improve the quality of life for Portlanders and Greshamites is assuring. You get the feeling that with the political intelligence and craftiness of many of the commissioners at the county – something special is on the horizon.

Nick Fish is finding his way. It’s not easy being the housing commissioner in Portland. He has taken shots from the left, including from Street Roots, while balancing a frozen market, a housing bureau reorganization and an increase of homelessness. And still, it feels like he’s just getting his engines started and that we have yet to see what he has planned for affordable housing and people experiencing homelessness in the region.

While City Hall does feel more strange than Street Roots has ever seen it (and we can’t quite put our finger on it), there’s still great things happening. Commissioner Randy Leonard can’t seem to get enough of creating more public restrooms. And we can’t get enough of cheering him on. Sam Adams and Amanda Fritz may pull off the unthinkable on the sidewalks issues – and make both advocates and businesses happy. So, geez, it’s not all bad.

When President Barack Obama was elected into the Oval Office in November, Street Rooters, like many other Portlanders, had a sense of renewed optimism. It’s time to channel that energy. It’s time to stand up. No sitting on the sidelines. (Sidewalks are OK.)

There’s hundreds of non-profits and/campaigns working for the greater good in the region. Environmental issues, poverty, agricultural and immigrant movements, civil and human rights, there’s no shortage of great things to contribute to. No engine can ever pick up steam without a single spark to set it off. So be it pedal power or political engagement, there’s an important place for you in this town’s future.

Lastly, treat yourself right. It’s contagious. Then maybe, that daunting world, will have to take a back seat to the change we are becoming. There’s no time like now. The chance won’t come again.

Loss of low-cost housing routing poor from downtown

Affordable housing for Portland’s poorest residents has declined significantly in the city center, even as more high-end housing increased.

According to the Central City Housing Inventory, released in July by the Portland Development Commission, the city center lost more than 22 percent of its lowest income housing options, but gained nearly 12 percent more in the number of units for higher incomes.

The result, according to those in the business of placing people in affordable housing, has been a shift of poverty from the central city area to outer parts of Portland and Multnomah County.

“Here in mid-county and in east county we are seeing an increasing number of people seeking low-cost affordable housing,” says Jean DeMaster, executive director of Human Solutions. “And we believe part of it is the lack of housing in the central city areas and the decrease of housing in the central city area.”

The sources interviewed for this article all point toward a growing trend: the displacement of low-income people, who can no longer find affordable housing in the central city, to other parts of Portland and Multnomah County.

The increase of people looking for housing in eastern parts of Multnomah County has been happening for the last three or four years, DeMaster says, but Human Solutions saw a “marked” increase in the last six months, corresponding with the deepening of the recession.

The inventory, published every three years, monitors whether or not the city is adhering to its “No Net Loss” policy. Passed in 2001, the No Net Loss policy establishes that the same number of rental units available to people earning 60 percent of MFI or below in 2002 would remain the same through preservation or replacement. That number is 8,286.

Sit-lie a cliche of obstructionism

The new ruling that the sit-lie law is unconstitutional caught Street Roots off guard. According to sources at City Hall, it also caught the city on its heels.

Rumor has it that staffers there are scrambling to try to figure out what exactly the ruling means.

Street Roots thinks it’s clear to the broader public what the ruling means and what City Hall should do. For years, seven to be exact, the sit-lie ordinance has become a wedge issue in our community. Not to mention that the law infringes on the rights of Portlanders, specifically homeless folks.

The sit-lie ordinance is being evaluated in community-wide discussions led by City Commissioners Nick Fish and Amanda Fritz to determine the long-term viability of the law. We have a hunch that the process will not shed any new light on the subject.

This law is more or less a waste of everyone’s time.

It’s time to cut bait. Stop beating a dead horse. The police bureau, private security groups and the business community need to learn to live without the sit-lie ordinance.

The simple fact of the matter is, we have individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty that live and contribute in our community. We may not always like the way a few bad apples create tension on the streets, but it’s time to turn over a new leaf and look at more progressive and innovative ideas when thinking about these issues.

The Street Access For Everyone (SAFE) workgroup, made up of members from the business community, homeless advocates and concerned citizens, has created a framework on which to work together. We don’t think this should be lost.

Street Roots recently joined the Portland Business Alliance (PBA) in the same vein. We believe that while we don’t always agree on specific issues, the PBA and the larger business community do care about people experiencing homelessness. And we have to find a way to breakthrough the tired rhetoric. Here’s our chance.

In the past two years, the city and the PBA have supported the SAFE committee to help build more park benches and to open public restrooms downtown — things that benefit both the housed and homeless communities. They have worked to create day access space for people on the streets to have a welcoming place to go and have created the capacity for a homeless women’s shelter to increase its hours to 24/7. The shame of the sit-lie law only tarnished these worthy efforts.

What if the discussion could move on to what homeless folks can do alongside the business community? How can we be involved in cleaning blighted areas or helping police drug dealers and predators that prey on people on the streets? We can develop a relationship in the spirit of collaboration instead of confrontation, and share the concept that the people on the streets are a part of the solutions we all seek.

None of this is possible with an ordinance that tells people not be a part of the community at-large. It’s time to move along.

Read the latest news and the seven year history of the ordinance.

Sit-lie update and seven year history

Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Stephen K. Bushong has ruled that the city of Portland’s sidewalk-obstruction ordinance — commonly referred to as sit-lie, unconstitutionally exceeds the city’s authority.

The ruling was issued June 19, and grants the motion to dismiss a sit-lie case being defended by attorney Clayton Lance.

“This ordinances has been found unconstitutional on three separate and distinct grounds,” Lance told Street Roots. “That’s a heck of a lot of unconstitutionality for one little ordinance out of the city. It just is not going to work and they just keep trying to make it fit, and it will never be able to fit, in my opinion.”

The sit-lie law prohibits sitting or lying on downtown sidewalks between the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. The city has said that it is to keep the sidewalks free of obstructions. Records show that the majority of people cited under the law are homeless.

Judge Bushong ruled that the city’s law conflicts with and is pre-empted by state law; State v. Robison, which Lance says already allows the city to penalize people for obstructing sidewalks.

“The (sit-lie) ordinance does not at all deal with obstruction. That’s a myth,” Lance said. “It was to move the transient and the homeless because the transient and homeless were sitting on the sidewalks in downtown Portland. Nothing else.”

As Lance noted, this is the latest round in the city’s failed attempts to institute a sit-lie law. In 2004, Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Marilyn Litzenberger ruled that the city’s 2003 version of the ordinance was unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. The current version was a response to that ruling with more specific information on what was and was not prohibited. The Court of Appeals further ruled that the 2003 version was pre-empted by state law, the same as Bushong’s ruling.

“In the United States, we fundamentally respect the rights of individuals to meet, to assemble, to communicate and to use public property. And (the city’s) attempts at curtailing those fundamental rights have been unconstitutional every step of the way.”
It is presumed by many that the city will revise its ordinance for another round. Lance says he is ready to defend any charges under the ordinance for free.

“Because of social justice and compassion,” Lance said. “We need to have social justice and compassion. And this law lacks that completely.”

In May, the City Council voted 4-1 to extend the ordinance until October, with the only dissenting voice on the council being Commissioner Randy Leonard.
City Commissioners Nick Fish and Amanda Fritz are currently leading a community process for input on the controversial ordinance.

Fritz told Street Roots she is reviewing the ruling and communicating with the City Attorney’s office before making a formal comment.

Fritz does say, “I am currently hoping our public meetings over the summer will go ahead as planned, as now more than ever we need to talk together to figure out solutions that work for everyone.”

“I never supported the sit-lie, because of its effect on some of our most vulnerable citizens,” says Leonard.  “I am happy the courts agree.”

“Everyone at City Hall is circling the wagons and trying to figure out next steps,” says Matt Grumm with Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman’s office. “People are aware of the decision and next week we will have a little more clarity.”

Asked if the police are currently enforcing the law after the ruling, Grumm says, “The commissioner has not asked the police to stop or discontinue with enforcement.”

The court’s ruling was welcome news at Sisters Of The Road, which has campaigned against the ordinance since its creation.

“This ruling re-affirms what Sisters has known from the beginning,” says Brendan Phillips with Sisters Of The Road. “The sit-lie law violates the human rights of Portlanders, it (also) violates the constitutional rights of Portlanders and hopefully this (ruling) will lead the city to immediately repeal the ordinance.”

Seven years of sit-lie; A history of Portland’s sidewalk suits

Architects show off “inviting” and “durable” Resource Access Center design

Representatives from Holst Architecture presented their latest renderings for the Resource Access Center to downtown’s Public Safety Action Committee this morning. The RAC, on NW Broadway and Irving across from the Greyhound Station, will include a full-service day center, 90-bed men’s shelter and 130 units of permanent supportive housing. Originally planned to fill the entire block, the building was redesigned with a smaller footprint earlier this year when tax credit funding became scarce.

“What we’re really trying to do is create a usable space that will be inviting, easy to maintain and very durable,” Dave Otte of Holst Architecture told the committee.

City Council extends Sit-Lie until October

This morning, City Council voted 4-1 to extend the term of the sit-lie ordinance until Oct. 23, 2009. Commissioner Amanda Fritz had proposed prolonging the term of the ordinance, which was scheduled to sunset in June, so that she and Commissioner Nick Fish could spearhead a community-wide discussion before deciding what to do with the law in the long term. Last week, council heard testimony from one person in favor of extending the ordinance and more than 20 people opposed to it.

Tobiah Tillman protested the sit-lie ordinance last week

Commissioner Randy Leonard was the only council member against the temporary extension last week and this morning’s only “no” vote.

“Sometimes our community gets caught up in process for process’ sake, as if process is a means in itself,” Leonard said. “This process that’s being asked for by my colleagues is at the expense of some of the most vulnerable in our community, and I am just appalled.”

He added that he hopes Fritz and Fish will arrive at the same conclusion he has: that the sit-lie ordinance does not work.

Fritz said she does not yet know how she’ll vote on renewing the ordinance in the fall, but she identified issues from last week’s testimony that she wants to address over the next few months.

“I know that a lot of passion has been provoked by this effort (to extend the ordinance),” Fish said. “I’m confident that with the breathing room that has been proposed and the chance to have a broader community conversation, we can come back in 4-5 months (to vote it up or down), and … have a better understanding of the various ways it could be strengthened if it was to go forward.”

City Council will reconsider renewing the ordinance in September.

Posted by Mara Grunbaum

Housing and homeless services saved for now…

Mayor Sam Adams and housing commissioner Nick Fish announced a total of $9.98 million increase in base services for people experiencing homelessness and poverty in the FY 2009-2010 proposed budget. The entire proposed city budget was slashed by $8.8 million – with 62 percent of that being administrative costs at the city level.

Street Roots along with Oregon On, 211 Info, Sisters Of The Road, and many faith based community members, including Chuck Currie, have been leading a campaign to save $6.7 million dollars in one-time funding.

Commissioner Fish says the move is a win for people experiencing homelessness and poverty and will bridge existing services and allow for expansion during the economic crisis.

Fish told Street Roots when the city started the budget discussions, it was looking at a 20 percent shortfall in funding, but that with an 11 percent increase in homelessness in the city, it was crucial that the city step up.

Here’s the breakdown:

- Ongoing funding to Resource Access Center operations: $1 million

- Additional one-time bridge funding for housing services: $5.8 million

- Expansion of rent assistance, housing and economic opportunities: $3.1 million

Public argues against extending Sit-Lie

Leo Rhodes

Fritz and Fish insist they need time for further discussion

City Council heard a wave of public testimony this morning against the downtown sit-lie ordinance, which they are considering extending until at least October 23, 2009.

The 2-year-old Sidwalk Obstruction Ordinance was scheduled to expire June 8. A Street Access For Everyone committee report finding that the ordinance was predominantly enforced against homeless people was presented to council in November.

Rather than having the council decide whether or not to renew the controversial ordinance permanently, Commissioner Amanda Fritz proposed prolonging its term to give her and Commissioner Nick Fish — both relatively new to council — time to study the ordinance and discuss it with the wider community.

For the play-by-play:

April Fools: Nick Fish spearheads acquisition of new furniture

From the April 1 edition of Street Roots. (The April Fools edition was one of the most popular Street Roots ever published. We sold out of the newspaper in a week and ordered more. It’s on the streets for two more days – get your copy while it’s hot!)

Portland City Council officials were forced to postpone several pressing agenda items this week after their habitual praising of their own accomplishments ran even longer than usual.

When their April 1 meeting convened, council members unveiled their new set of swivel chairs, which they will sit in to deliberate city policy and hear testimony from the public. Commissioner Nick Fish spearheaded the acquisition of new furniture after a wheel broke loose from his previous chair, leaving it with a lean and prompting concern about the safety of all the council seats.

The commissioners often take time to acknowledge the work of their colleagues when a policy passes or a project kicks off, but they seemed especially pleased about this project.

“This morning has literally been hours – or even days – in the making,” Fish said as he sank into his plush new seat. “But I think I can speak for the rest of council when I say that it’s been a real labor of love. Before we continue, I want to make sure we recognize the people who spent significant amounts of time and energy making this happen.

“First,” Fish went on, “I want to recognize Roger Stillman of the Office Depot furniture department, without whom this really would not have been possible. It has truly been an honor to work with Roger, who was kind enough to walk me through the office chair aisle and offer his opinions and support.

“I’d also like to thank, from the bottom of my heart, chief of maintenance Edgar Delgado, who had to unpackage the chairs and screw all of the pieces together. And boy, you practically need a whole new committee to read those instructions,” Fish added with a chuckle. (The Furniture Assembly and Regulation Team appointed by former Mayor Tom Potter was cut in 2007 for lack of funding.)

Fish then presented Stillman and Delgado, who were in the audience, with the city’s first-ever “Spirit of Furniture” awards.

“I’d like to pause for a moment,” declared Commissioner Randy Leonard, swiveling his chair toward Fish and steepling his fingers under his chin, “to recognize what a great orator Commissioner Fish has become. It has truly been a pleasure to watch.”

Head of BHCD resigns

Street Roots had been hearing lots of rumors over the past week about the departure of the Bureau of Housing and Community Development Director, Will White. Turns out those rumors had some merit.

Here’s the letter sent to Street Roots by White this afternoon. A letter sent out by Commissioner Nick Fish follows.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

As you know, Commissioner Fish and Mayor Adams announced in December the creation of a new Bureau of Housing, combining resources and personnel currently at BHCD with those of PDC’s housing department. At the same time, BHCD’s Economic Opportunity Initiative will move to PDC, resulting in a Commission more strongly focused on economic development.

Along with many of you, I have long advocated for structural changes to create an integrated system to set policy for housing and homelessness, allocate resources to support those policies, and manage housing assets more efficiently.

As Commissioner Fish takes responsibility to lay the groundwork for this new bureau, I know that he wants to be free to create a clear new mission, develop a strong bureau structure, blend organizational cultures, and select new leadership. That is a very large responsibility, and it appropriately rests with the Commissioner of Housing.

To allow Commissioner Fish the fullest latitude to implement his vision, I have decided to leave my position as Director of BHCD effective February 13th. I expect that Commissioner Fish will announce his selection of an Interim Director for BHCD later today.

I am proud of all we have accomplished while working together for the last 15 years. I wish all of you great success in the future, and am confident that I will continue to be in close contact with many of you going forward.

Thank you for your friendship and support over the years.

Sincerely,

Will

Director, Bureau of Housing and Community Development
421 SW 6th Ave, Suite 1100
Portland, OR 97204
(503) 823-2380

Via Nick Fish…

Today I accepted the resignation of Will White, Director of the Bureau of Housing and Community Development.

Will has made an invaluable contribution to the City and has a notable record of service and accomplishments. Under his leadership, BHCD has achieved success with the 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, empowered people to self sufficiency through the Economic Opportunity Initiative, and developed and preserved housing to serve seniors, families with children, people of color, and our lowest income populations.

It has been my good fortune, as the City’s Housing Commissioner, to have had the benefit of Will’s experience during my first six months as Housing Commissioner. I am grateful that he will continue his service with the City through February 13, 2009, and will continue to serve me as an advisor in the future.

As BHCD is preparing to transition its operations and programs to the newly-created Portland Housing Bureau, I do not intent to hire a replacement for Will. Instead, I will conduct a search for a director to lead the new Portland Housing Bureau.

I have asked the Bureau’s Deputy Director, Andy Miller, to serve as interim Executive Director. Andy will assume responsibility for leading day-to-day operations of BHCD effective February 13.

Kate Allen, Housing Policy Manager for the City of Portland, will continue to manage the City’s efforts to transition PDC housing and BHCD into the Portland Housing Bureau.

If you have any questions regarding the hiring of a new director for the Portland Housing Bureau, please contact Sam Chase at 503-823-3599.

Sincerely,
Nick Fish

City set to streamline resources for affordable housing, homelessness and economic development

From the Dec. 26 2008 edition

Mayor-Elect Sam Adams and Portland’s housing commissioner Nick Fish announced on Dec. 16 the formation of a new city bureau.

The new bureau will replace the Bureau of Housing and Community Development (BHDC), the city agency responsible for economic opportunities, ending homelessness and economic development.

The new bureau will solely focus on Portland’s affordable housing stock and ending homelessness, including incorporating the housing development and finance functions currently at the Portland Development Commission (PDC).

“It’s a complimentary set of changes,” says Kate Allen with Nick Fish’s office. “The notion that we can create a new bureau with a clear focus on housing will give both the new housing bureau and the PDC much clearer direction.”

Portland’s 30 percent set aside of funds for housing boasts some success, some problems and some trouble ahead

“Homeless Giant” by Eric Drooker. His graphics have appeared on countless posters, books and CD covers and his paintings are often seen on covers of the New Yorker Magazine. He makes his work available to social-justice nonprofit organizations at no cost.

From the Dec. 12 special affordable housing edition, “In need of a new deal.”

In October of 2006, the Portland City Council unanimously approved an ordinance that created what is known as the 30 percent Urban Renewal Tax Increment Set Aside. The new ordinance mandated that the Portland Development Commission (PDC) redirect 30 percent of all money projected in nine Urban Renewal Areas through a complex bond system to be spent on affordable housing serving people earning below 80 percent median family income over the next five years.

The move by the city was seen as an historic victory for housing advocates who for decades had struggled to correct years of urban renewal-fueled gentrification and displacement that continues to radically change Portland’s demographics, specifically those with little to no income and minority communities.

For years, advocates and loosely built coalitions had worked to create city-sponsored programs to balance affordable housing against higher end development. Despite the creation of unit goals for specific urban renewal areas, the city struggled to create the affordable housing needed due to lack of available funds after competing public priorities for urban renewal dollars — such as transportation, business recruitment and store front improvement — consumed renewal funds.

In response to the lack of units being built, organizers began to explore a California policy in 2002 that mandated set percentages of urban renewal funds to be dedicated to affordable housing. The set aside strategy was chosen because of its proven track record in California and regardless of competing priorities; unmet housing would finally have a dedicated funding stream.

Four years later, that strategy became a reality when the ordinance passed. Today, a little more than two and half years into program’s 5-year projected goals, the city and the PDC find itself struggling to stay above water in a shrinking economy and swimming to find a formula that works for affordable housing in a sea of bureaucracy.

On Tuesday, Dec. 9, the PDC released a two-year status report on the progress being made in the nine urban renewal areas. Updated revenue forecasts for 2009-10 and beyond will be presented to the public later in the month or in January.

Street Roots obtained a draft report of the 5-year projected goals produced by the Portland Development Commission from September of this year. Representatives from Nick Fish’s office, Portland’s Housing Commissioner, chose not to talk about the 5-year projected goals outlined in the draft or the specifics about the nine URAs – choosing rather to wait until a final analysis is released by PDC later this month.

A public meeting is scheduled for Dec. 19 with both Commissioner Fish and a PDC representative co-chairing a work-session with several developers, along with public and private finance partners and advocates to review the up and coming set aside annual report and to brainstorm strategies to assure that the goals that lead to the establishment of the set-aside are met.

According to Chief of Staff Sam Chase, “The key will be to bring the right partners together and focus on specific solutions that ensure the set aside dollars get out the door.”

The Nine Urban Renewal Areas

HAP, Nick Fish fight uphill battle to increase Section 8 housing options

From the Dec. 12 special affordable housing edition, “In need of a new deal.”

The Housing Authority of Portland has a perennial problem: thousands of people in need of subsidized housing scramble to join a waiting list, patiently await their turn, and finally – sometimes years later – they receive rental assistance vouchers. Then, vouchers in hand, many of them discover they still have nowhere to go.

Section 8 vouchers, which are funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by HAP, allow low-income tenants to rent privately-owned units in the area of their choice. Tenants with vouchers pay a third of their income toward rent, and the federal subsidy covers the rest. HAP pulls participants from a waiting list, but vouchers expire after 120 days if they cannot find a place to lease.

In March, Street Roots reported that an unusually low number of Section 8 clients were finding rental units before their vouchers expired (See “Sectioned Out,” March 7, 2008). Between November 2007 and late February 2008, less than a third of voucher recipients successfully signed leases. HAP surveyed unsuccessful participants and found that many of them encountered landlords unwilling to accept Section 8 tenants.

New housing bureau announced in Portland

Dec. 16, 2008

Via Nick Fish’s office…

To the Staff and Stakeholders of PDC and BHCD:

We are pleased to announce the formation of a new City of Portland bureau, focused on housing, that will replace the current Bureau of Housing and Community Development, and will take over its initiatives to increase affordable housing choice and end homelessness.

The new bureau will also incorporate the housing development and finance functions currently at the Portland Development Commission. We are charging this new housing bureau with the mission of meeting the housing needs of the current and future residents of our City, and we are vesting it with all of the tools, talent, and accountability to get the work done.

Mayor-Elect Adams has asked Commissioner Fish to lead this new bureau, and oversee the transition.

Sit-lie is a gateway drug

August 12, 2008

One good dose of this distracting intoxicant and a whole roomful of people are likely to spin off on every social ill, vice and offense ever witnessed on Portland’s streets.

Yesterday at the public hearing for the city’s sit-lie ordinance (more formally known as the sidewalk obstruction ordinance) about 60 people assembled at the First Unitarian Church with members of the Street Access for Everyone, or SAFE Oversight Committee. They attended the two-hour hearing, organized by Mayor Tom Potter’s office, to give their views on the controversial ordinance that bans sitting or lying on downtown sidewalks between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. It also bans leaving belongings and pets farther than two feet away from your body.

While the ordinance was the launch pad for this debate, discussion from participants ran the gamut: complaints about anti-camping policies, police sweeps and the routing of people without homes, the lack of follow-through on city’s pledges to open more restrooms, install sufficient numbers of benches and create a permanent day access center – the latter three promised by the city in exchange for the sit-lie ordinance.

Several people raised the issue of private security guards, hired by the Portland Business Alliance, being confused with police officers, who they said are enforcing the law inconsistently. There were also complaints by downtown workers and business owners who say they’ve been harassed, grabbed and even spit on by people outside their businesses, that aggressive panhandling is a problem, and that the number of homeless people, particularly “scary” youths, on the street is growing – none of which has much to do with the law itself, nor are they situations that sit-lie has done one whit to alleviate, despite efforts to couple them politically.

More after the jump.