Housing Authority seeks funding change for public housing

By Amanda Waldroupe, Staff Writer

The Housing Authority of Portland’s board of commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday, March 15 to pursue an application to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to change the funding stream for 1,200 units of subsidized, public housing for low-income people.

The Housing Authority of Portland (HAP) owns and operates 1,200 public housing units in 10 high rise buildings. Public housing is limited to people and families on extremely low-incomes, the elderly and disabled. Residents pay no more than 30 percent of their incomes in rent; the rest of the rent is subsidized by HAP and funding from HUD.

Housing puzzle: New Street Roots on the streets tomorrow

(July 10) With a new housing commissioner, mayor and City Council on the horizon, Portland’s affordable housing developers decided in January that it was time to start looking at their operations in a new light. Six months later, five major housing development entities within the Portland area are undergoing a collaborative evaluation: the Housing Authority of Portland, the Bureau of Housing and Community Development, the Portland Development Commission, Gresham city government and Multnomah County.

The evaluation is being overseen by the Seattle firm Clegg and Associates and is being called the Clegg Report. The report may radically change the way business is done on the front lines of homelessness and affordable housing and is do out in August. Contributing reporter Anthony Schick has the scoop.

Two area attorneys gear up to challenge Portland’s controversial Sidewalk Obstruction Ordinance (sit-lie), Randy Leonard and the Bureau of Housing and Community Development butt heads over shelter beds, and Sally Erickson is named the new head of the Portland’s 10-year plan to end homelessness.

All of this and much more in the new edition of Street Roots hitting the streets tomorrow.

Posted by Israel Bayer