17:01:18 too.
Our theme this week is,
17:01:23 everything, you know, constantly making changes until -- constant
17:01:27 perfectism until the very last minute
[ LAUGHTER ]
17:01:31
17:01:33 >> STACY JEFFRIES: I wanted to let you know that we went ahead and
17:01:37 started the recording.
So we are recording.
17:01:41 >> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: Great.
So I think I'll go ahead and
17:01:45 I'd like to just start and welcome everyone
17:01:48 to this evening's bond oversight committee meeting.
17:01:52 Thank you all for joining us.
Dr. Holt, our esteemed
17:01:57 facilitator is running a little bit behind so I'm going to start us
17:02:01 off a little bit with some reminders about
17:02:05 our virtual meeting experience.
I think we are all old hands at
17:02:08 this now.
But just want to welcome everyone
17:02:14 and just have a quick reminder of our online meeting protocols and
17:02:17 tips.
We have started recording the
17:02:21 meeting and so all of the slides
17:02:25 and audio and including the chat will be recorded for this meeting
17:02:30 tonight.
So please remember to mute
17:02:34 yourself when you are not speaking.
That will help decrease any
17:02:38 background noise that may be happening in your environment.
17:02:42 And also when you do unmute yourself, please remember to
17:02:45 introduce yourself before speaking, just a first name.
17:02:48 And I will start, I'm Tanya Wolfersperger.
17:02:52 I use she/her pronouns and I work for the Portland housing
17:02:56 bureau helping coordinate housing bond programs
17:03:00 which is very fun and exciting.
I will pass it around the room for
17:03:04 introductions and just start with Auerbach members that I see in the
17:03:08 room.
So I will call on a few folks.
17:03:11 I will start with Susan, please.
>> SUSAN EMMONS: Okay.
17:03:15 I am Susan Emmons, a bond oversight
17:03:20 committee member and I use she/her
17:03:22 pronouns.
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: Would you
17:03:26 like to go next?
>> TODD STRUBLE: Sure.
17:03:30 Good evening, everyone.
Todd Struble.
17:03:34 I use he/him pronouns and on the bond oversight
17:03:36 committee.
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: Allan,
17:03:39 would you like to introduce yourself?
>> ALLAN LAZO: Good afternoon all.
17:03:43 I am Allan Lazo with the Fair Housing Council
17:03:48 of Oregon, my pronouns are he/him-his and
17:03:51 I'm a bond oversight committee member.
17:03:55 >> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: Great.
And Anneliese
17:04:00 .
>> ANNELIESE KOELER: I'm Anneliese
17:04:04 Koehler and I am a bond oversight committee
17:04:07 member.
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: We have
17:04:11 lots of HFP staff.
I will start with
17:04:13 miss Shannon.
>> SHANNON CALLAHAN: Good
17:04:18 afternoon, everyone, Shannon Callahan with the Portland housing bureau
17:04:23 .
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: Molly, are
17:04:26 you with us?
17:04:27 >> MOLLY ROGERS: Yeah.
Good evening.
17:04:31 I'm Molly Rogers, I go by
17:04:36 she/her pronouns and I will send it off to Jill
17:04:38 .
>> JILL CHEN: Hi, everyone.
17:04:42 This is Jill Chen.
I am also with PHB, the housing
17:04:45 investments and portfolio preservation manager.
17:04:49 And also use she/her pronouns.
And I will
17:04:53 send it over to Mike
17:04:58 .
>> MIKE JOHNSON: Hi.
17:05:02 Mike Johnson.
I'm the finance county manager here
17:05:06 at the Portland housing bureau.
Good evening
17:05:09 .
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: Mike, would
17:05:13 you like to pass it on to one of your colleagues or I can do the
17:05:16 honors.
>> MIKE JOHNSON: I can't see one
17:05:18 that hasn't spoken already on the screen.
17:05:19 Sorry.
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: I'm going
17:05:23 to pass it onto Martha.
17:05:26 >> Martha.
Hi, everyone, I'm Martha Calhoun,
17:05:30 public information manager for the Portland housing bureau
17:05:38 .
>> I'll go next.
17:05:42 Jennifer Chang, she/her pronouns.
Portland housing bureau
17:05:44 .
Good to see everyone, especially
17:05:49 Auerbach members, and Dr. Holt.
>> I'll
17:05:53 go next, Gwen Thompson
17:05:56 .
I use she/her programs.
17:06:01 Hello, nice to meet everyone
17:06:02 .
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: Excited to
17:06:05 have Gwen join our team.
Thank you for introducing
17:06:08 yourself.
And now I will hand it over to Dr.
17:06:21 Holt.
17:06:23 >> SHANNON CALLAHAN: I don't think we can -- at least I can't hear you,
17:06:28 Dr. Holt
17:06:40 .
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: We have
17:06:45 some technical difficulties getting Dr. Holt into the room with us
17:06:48 .
I think he's with us.
17:06:52 >> STEVEN HOLT: I think I am.
Can you hear me now?
17:06:54
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: Yes.
17:06:55 >> STEVEN HOLT: Hello, everyone.
Hi.
17:06:59 Good evening.
Welcome to our bond oversight
17:07:03 committee meeting.
Welcome into the space
17:07:06 .
This is a meeting that is open to
17:07:09 the public.
It is not a public meeting.
17:07:13 I apologize about two things.
17:07:18 One is I had vehicle difficulty.
I think that was told or shared
17:07:22 already.
And so I had to Zoom in from
17:07:26 Tigard through all of the traffic and the time to get here as quickly as
17:07:29 possible.
So it's good to be in this space
17:07:33 and I appreciate Tanya for covering while I was navigating
17:07:37 that.
And then, to get into the space and
17:07:41 for whatever reason have the technical challenge, but, you know, one of
17:07:45 the things that Zoom is teaching us, I think, is a lot of patience and grace
17:07:49 with ourselves and one another, at least I hope.
17:07:53 Anyway, we are here for tonight's oversight -- bond oversight
17:07:57 committee meeting.
It is the 15th of April.
17:08:01 And I am going to begin by
17:08:03 articulated this meeting is open to the public.
17:08:07 It is not a public meeting.
I'm Dr. Holt and I facilitate our
17:08:10 process.
I'm going to do a roll call very
17:08:13 quickly.
And then we will get into our
17:08:18 meeting tonight.
So Todd Struble
17:08:22 .
>> TODD STRUBLE: I am here.
17:08:26 >> STEVEN HOLT: Excellent.
Allan Lazo
17:08:28 .
>> ALLAN LAZO: I am here, Dr.
17:08:29 Holt.
Good to see you.
17:08:33 >> STEVEN HOLT: Good to see you, sir.
17:08:36 Anneliese.
>> ANNELIESE KOELER: Here.
17:08:39 >> STEVEN HOLT: And then Susan.
>> SUSAN EMMONS: Here.
17:08:40 >> STEVEN HOLT: Excellent, excellent.
17:08:44 Welcome into the space.
And I appreciate you being here
17:08:46 .
Give us a moment to approve the
17:08:49 minutes from the last meeting.
Don't know if you need to take a
17:08:53 second to look it over or not or if there's someone who is ready to make a
17:08:57 motion for approval.
>> SUSAN EMMONS: I'd like to make a
17:09:01 motion that we approve the minutes as presented to us
17:09:05 .
>> TODD STRUBLE: I will second.
17:09:07 >> STEVEN HOLT: It's been moved and second.
17:09:11 If all are in favor, merely say
17:09:15 yea
17:09:16 .
>> Yea.
17:09:17 >> Yea.
>> STEVEN HOLT: So moved.
17:09:20 The minutes have been accepted from the last meeting.
17:09:24 Today is fair housing month and I'm going to ask Allan if you would
17:09:28 say a few words in regard to fair housing month
17:09:30 .
>> ALLAN LAZO: Sure.
17:09:34 Thank you, Dr. Holt.
I always like to start out by
17:09:36 wishing everybody a happy fair housing month.
17:09:40 So April is fair housing month, the fair housing
17:09:44 act was passed on April 11th in 1968, so more than
17:09:48 53 years ago now.
And I just wanted to offer
17:09:53 today is the grand prize award winner for
17:09:57 our annual fair housing month poster contest and I think that Tanya
17:10:00 has it on the screen here now.
And one of the things I love about
17:10:05 the poster contest is asking the young artists a little bit about themselves
17:10:09 , and this year's award winning poster which
17:10:12 gets printed on a poster that travels around the state is a fourth grader
17:10:16 from Beverly Cleary School, Anneliese dew point.
17:10:22 Dupont.
She says she wants to be an
17:10:24 architect, an author or both when she grows up.
17:10:26 Her favorite subject in school is science.
17:10:30 And her hobbies are drawing, watching Anime, which as you can see
17:10:34 has influenced her poster here, and building in Minecraft
17:10:39 .
So it is always so enlightening and
17:10:43 encouraging to hear from these young artists the theme of our poster
17:10:47 contest this year was, it's fun having all kinds of neighbors
17:10:49 .
And really highlights for us the
17:10:53 work that we do in this committee to recognize
17:10:57 that the importance of housing isn't just putting a roof over people's
17:11:02 heads, but it's putting folks into opportunities out
17:11:06 their front door, into neighborhoods that are vibrant,
17:11:11 inclusive and full of opportunity.
And, you know, and young
17:11:15 people like Anneliese have dreams like becoming an architect
17:11:19 or an author, and that part of those folks reaching those
17:11:23 dreams is insuring that they have safe, stable
17:11:27 housing, free from discrimination and have access to opportunity.
17:11:30 So it's just a great reminder, I think, the work that we do in fair
17:11:34 housing and how it connects to the work that we do here on this committee to
17:11:39 bring forward affordable housing and housing throughout our city.
17:11:43 Thank you all for the work you're doing in this community
17:11:47 .
>> STEVEN HOLT: Thank you for
17:11:49 bringing that forward.
What a great thing to celebrate and
17:11:55 to recognize.
Yes, fair housing month to all
17:11:57 .
We are about to go into our time
17:12:00 for public testimony.
We are going to give opportunity
17:12:04 for those who have signed up in advance and articulated
17:12:08 they would like to participate in the process and share thoughts in
17:12:12 regard to the bond and what's going on specifically related
17:12:16 to affordable housing.
We like to --
17:12:20 I want to direct your comments to that
17:12:25 specifically, that the request is that your comments be connected
17:12:29 to the agenda for the meeting.
If there are other concerns
17:12:33 beyond the agenda for the meeting, you are more than encouraged to reach out
17:12:37 to the staff of the Portland housing bureau.
17:12:41 Your concerns are valid and necessary,
17:12:44 important to be captured.
We would like to make sure that our
17:12:48 time is used as adequately as possible since we are in a
17:12:52 limited opportunity tonight.
You see on the screen two minutes
17:12:55 per person.
And you can submit your testimony
17:12:59 via chat also.
So at this point I will ask
17:13:04 , is there anyone in this space who has identified
17:13:08 a desire for public testimony?
17:13:13
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: Dr. Holt ,
17:13:16 this is Tanya.
I don't have anybody signed up but
17:13:20 we can give a small space for anyone in the room that would like to do so now
17:13:24 .
>> STEVEN HOLT: We will do that.
17:13:28 We will give an opportunity if there's anyone who is in the
17:13:30 space.
Tanya, give them instruction with
17:13:34 how they can indicate so.
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: Sure.
17:13:38 As you can see on the screen here, you can use the chat
17:13:42 feature to submit any kind of public
17:13:46 testimony or at least indicate that you would like to, or you can
17:13:51 go into your participants list if that comes up
17:13:55 for you.
And there's a raise your hand
17:13:59 feature that -- well, no, we don't have that.
17:14:03 I think going through chat, which may show up as the three
17:14:07 dots at the bottom right-hand corner of your
17:14:11 menu options, right here to the chat or through the
17:14:17 chat, if that makes sense
17:14:20 .
>> STEVEN HOLT: Since we don't have
17:14:23 any, provided we go through the meeting and we have time at the end, we can
17:14:28 come back and revisit that.
Thanks, Tanya, for your
17:14:32 assistance.
We are going to go into our project
17:14:36 updates or project dashboard and I will turn it over to director
17:14:40 Callahan to introduce the presenters
17:14:44 .
>> SHANNON CALLAHAN: Thank you, Dr.
17:14:48 Holt.
It took me a moment to find the
17:14:52 unmute button.
It's lovely to see everyone this
17:14:54 evening.
For the first part of our
17:14:59 presentation this afternoon we have a Portland housing
17:15:03 bond update and I'd like to make sure
17:15:07 that Jill and Chen and Tanya Wolfersperger
17:15:12 are up and ready to do the next part of the presentation
17:15:17 .
>> JILL CHEN: Yes we are.
17:15:20 >> SHANNON CALLAHAN: Hi, Jill.
>> JILL CHEN: Hi, Shannon.
17:15:23 Thank you so much.
In terms of our bond dashboard, you
17:15:27 will have seen that the handout showed the status of
17:15:32 when the projects are going to be -- they are estimated financial
17:15:38 close and when is the lease up [their estimated] and any changes in the
17:15:41 unit count.
Actually, since the last quarter,
17:15:45 since our last update there has been no changes in unit count.
17:15:49 Everything is actually on schedule and moving
17:15:53 forward and the only changes you may have seen
17:15:57 in the handout is that the funding award has now
17:16:02 included the program delivery fee.
And my colleague,
17:16:05 Mike Johnson, will talk a little bit about that because we are trying to
17:16:09 make sure that as we move forward all the information that the bond
17:16:14 oversight committee receives, as well as also all the other committees, IE,
17:16:18 the auditors and such, they are all consistent so that there's no
17:16:22 differentiation between the award amounts and the -- we
17:16:27 call it the loan amounts
17:16:31 .
And next slide
17:16:35 please.
We are very pleased since our last
17:16:40 bond meeting, that we have had two new closings
17:16:46 , Las Adelitas and
17:16:51 Hayu Tilixam.
I assume some of you have -- may
17:16:55 have gone to already visit that one.
It was a fantastic community
17:16:59 celebration.
It is a project that is sponsored
17:17:03 by hacienda with 141 units in a site
17:17:07 that is formerly known as the sugar
17:17:12 shack that has been an eyesore for the whole community for years and years
17:17:15 and years.
And the other closing we had was in
17:17:18 the end of March and that was with Hayu Tilixam.
17:17:22 This is a project sponsored by
17:17:28 Naya and CDP and it's 50 units and on a PH
17:17:32 B owned site that is close to
17:17:36 Las Adelitas, it's also in the
[INDISCERNIBLE]
17:17:39 Neighborhood and that is a 50 unit project.
17:17:43 And I think Naya mentioned to me it's supposed to be having their
17:17:47 virtual sort of ground breaking, I
17:17:51 believe, next week but I haven't gotten an email from them official
17:17:54 ly confirming that.
So it's very exciting to see two
17:17:58 new projects coming on.
Westwind was supposed
17:18:02 to close end of April.
Actually
17:18:06 , April 29th.
Unfortunately, we heard
17:18:11 that the H.U.D. environmental review -- not
17:18:14 environmental review, sorry.
Excuse me.
17:18:17 Subsidy layering review was delayed.
17:18:21 We had given them, I think, eight weeks to do it and
17:18:25 it's now probably going to be more
17:18:27 .
And they are looking at a closing
17:18:32 on May 13th.
So very exciting.
17:18:36 That is a 100-unit project that's focused on
17:18:40 PSH in downtown with central city concern
17:18:43 .
Next slide, please.
17:18:46 In terms of upcoming project closings, we have
17:18:52 got -- all of the bond projects will close in this calendar
17:18:55 year.
Knock on wood.
17:18:59 So it's very exciting.
The next one closing is
17:19:04 Stark Street, which you will hear about from Andy Miller today
17:19:08 .
Project with
17:19:12 [INDISCERNIBLE]
Human solutions and that's closing
17:19:16 June 3rd.
And after that
17:19:22 is Susan Emmons.
Susan, thank you so much for your
17:19:25 project.
That is a project with northwest
17:19:29 housing alternatives in
17:19:33 downtown, in northwest.
And that's closing
17:19:38 , targeted closing is June 21st.
We will
17:19:42 have a little bit of a break because OH
17:19:46 CS and essentially because of
17:19:51 their legislative, you can call it blackout date, we are not expecting
17:19:55 any closings at all in July and August because
17:20:00 of the blackout date.
And then after that,
17:20:06 there will be Anna
17:20:10 Mann house 3000 Poul and Joyce
17:20:14 .
3000 Powell are both anticipated to
17:20:19 close sometime in September.
And
17:20:26 Ahmed desol is here to talk about the
17:20:28 3000 Powell project.
And that is with Home Forward.
17:20:32 And the final one is Joyce and that is anticipated to close towards the
17:20:36 end of this year, in December.
And they have had a number
17:20:40 of permitting design.
So that has been
17:20:44 a little bit delayed.
Next slide.
17:20:48 And I think I'm handing it over to
17:20:54 Mike.
>> MIKE JOHNSON: Good evening again
17:20:59 .
As we discussed last time, numbers
17:21:03 were starting to move quite a bit after they had been stagnant for a
17:21:07 while, while the projects were going through their underwriting process
17:21:10 .
I think the biggest change now is
17:21:14 we are showing the percent spend
17:21:19 d number has now gone over 25% of the bond issue so
17:21:22 that's -- city milestone.
We have been quite a ways under
17:21:26 that number for a while, even with having bought several
17:21:31 buildings, but now we have kind of broken over that milestone
17:21:33 point.
We will continue to see that number
17:21:36 grow.
We meet with you again at the next
17:21:38 meeting.
Obviously, we are in the heart of
17:21:42 construction season.
And as Jill pointed out, we have a
17:21:47 couple of more closings happening between now and June
17:21:51 June 30th.
So we will really start seeing that
17:21:55 spend amount grow and, of course, as that happens, the
17:21:59 committed amount will also begin shrink
17:22:03 ing in a corresponding manner.
17:22:07 Showing the reserved and remaining amounts.
17:22:11 We will be hanging onto those reserve amounts until we get through
17:22:15 closing.
And then that will be re-evaluated,
17:22:19 closing on the existing projects and then we will re-evaluate that
17:22:23 as we start contemplating what next steps are on the bond
17:22:27 .
The interest and credits numbers
17:22:31 has continued to grow as I have indicated to you it would, as the
17:22:34 majority of the bond funds are earning interest right now.
17:22:38 But as you can see we are now starting to, as
17:22:43 of this week, starting to draw on
17:22:47 on the 2020 bonds that were sold a few months ago
17:22:50 .
So things are really moving.
17:22:54 There's a lot of change going on.
You will
17:22:58 notice from the financial report, we
17:23:01 actually changed the format a little bit.
17:23:05 We are actually now showing a column for the amount spent on each project
17:23:09 .
So you can track the projects of --
17:23:12 track the project and each project separately.
17:23:16 As Jill also indicated, we are showing what the full award amount
17:23:19 was.
You will remember we were breaking
17:23:24 out the admin allocation, we called it
17:23:29 , separately.
But as we -- for these projects
17:23:33 we rolled that amount into the project
17:23:39 because -- in each of the project awards because of how the projects
17:23:43 are paying the program delivery fee.
We wanted to make sure we were
17:23:46 showing what the actual award amounts were on this sheet.
17:23:50 As we move forward to another stage of the
17:23:55 bond, we will see how that mechanism
17:23:58 works.
That may change how we present
17:24:02 things again
17:24:05 .
Something I wanted to reference
17:24:09 again from the report is showing our delivery
17:24:14 expenses so far.
Shown both
17:24:18 a percentage of project expenses
17:24:23 and the expenses and commitments.
So while on
17:24:26 the -- I think those numbers got transposed.
17:24:30 We are at about 2.8% on
17:24:32 expenses as -- no, excuse me.
I'm wrong on that.
17:24:37 They are fine.
Going a little cross
17:24:41 eyed this late in the day.
The delivery expense as a percent
17:24:45 of project expenses, you will see we are over, 7%, and as
17:24:49 we have discussed with you before, we are front loaded on our
17:24:53 delivery expenses because of the -- both the solicitation and the
17:24:57 underwriting process.
So if we actually
17:25:02 take a look at our admin -- or delivery expenses as a percentage
17:25:06 of the expenses and commitments, we are under 3% right now
17:25:09 .
So that's another set of numbers
17:25:14 that will change most definitely by the time we get to the next meeting.
17:25:18 And I would definitely expect it to, as a percent of project expenses
17:25:22 , we will be under that 7%.
Those two numbers will start moving
17:25:28 together.
So a lot of information there.
17:25:32 A lot of changes.
I think they are good changes and
17:25:34 they are showing progress in what we are doing.
17:25:38 So I would be happy to take any questions you might have
17:25:42 .
>> STEVEN HOLT: Any questions from
17:25:46 the oversight committee?
I see Susan
17:25:49 shaking her head.
And it looked like Todd shook his
17:25:54 head as well.
Yes, Allan
17:26:01 .
>> MIKE JOHNSON: You didn't let me
17:26:02 down, Allan.
Thank you.
17:26:07 >> ALLAN LAZO: Even though I had my second
17:26:12 COVID-19 vaccination today, I'm still alert enough to ask a
17:26:13 question.
>> MIKE JOHNSON: I'm doing mine
17:26:15 tomorrow.
Glad to hear it.
17:26:19 >> ALLAN LAZO: Curious on, you mentioned this expanded
17:26:24 category, but the number that's in the report, it
17:26:28 looks different than the -- what's on the screen there.
17:26:32 Am I not reading that right or is there not all projects on -- in the
17:26:37 report?
It's on page 2, right, the spend
17:26:39 column?
>> MIKE JOHNSON: Right.
17:26:42 You've got the original bond acquisition and expenses, the 52
17:26:45 million.
And to that there's another
17:26:50 [spend] 16 million, so that's where the 68 million comes from.
17:26:51 >> ALLAN LAZO: Got it.
Got it.
17:26:55 Okay.
I see [
17:26:59 expended] there's a 7%
17:27:04 cap on admin in the bond and so which of those numbers --
17:27:07 I'm assuming it's got to be the project expenses and commitments,
17:27:08 right?
It's got to be the total.
17:27:11 So it's 7% of that total, which is essentially the bond total?
17:27:14 >> MIKE JOHNSON: Right, right.
As I said, those two numbers will
17:27:19 get closer together as we go through.
It's 7%
17:27:23 over the life of the bond and any particular point in time
17:27:27 we -- especially doing this many projects up front and the nature
17:27:31 of how our expenses happen,
17:27:35 whereas if it was a construction project
17:27:40 the city was doing, the program delivery expenses might be a little
17:27:44 bit more of a bell-shaped curve.
Whereas
17:27:48 our expenses are more front loaded again because of the nature of what we
17:27:50 are doing.
All the work that Jill's team is
17:27:55 doing, I mean, they have been grinding on these dying projects for
17:27:59 , what, over a year now, Jill?
And then as she was showing, they
17:28:03 will get a little bit of a breather as they get into September and October,
17:28:07 but then I don't know if Andrew is on the call, but his team in the
17:28:11 construction corner then pick it up and actually my team starts adding
17:28:15 into it too.
But in terms of relative
17:28:20 cost of the delivery, definitely the more
17:28:23 of it up front here.
And we will see the same thing with
17:28:27 the next round we do also.
>> ALLAN LAZO: Got it.
17:28:28 Okay.
Good.
17:28:31 Thank you.
>> STEVEN HOLT: Thanks, Allan.
17:28:35 Any other questions for Mike?
17:28:42
Well, Mike, I think you are off the
17:28:44 hook.
So thank you very much.
17:28:46 >> MIKE JOHNSON: Thanks, everybody.
Have a good evening.
17:28:49 I'll stick around in case there's other questions.
17:28:51 >> STEVEN HOLT: Excellent.
Thank you.
17:28:55 We will move forward.
And
17:28:59 I think the planning for remaining
17:29:03 bond funds is to you, director Callahan.
17:29:05 >> SHANNON CALLAHAN: Thank you, Dr. Holt.
17:29:09 So, as we discussed at our last meeting
17:29:13 and as you just saw from the remaining
17:29:19 funds left to be allocated under the Portland housing bond,
17:29:23 we are presently targeting 36 -- just over
17:29:29 $36 million.
And that is not including the --
17:29:32 what we have set aside to include for administrative expenses.
17:29:36 So this is available for projects
17:29:40 in the future.
And so I just wanted to go through
17:29:44 a few key points to kind of ground us back
17:29:49 in that long ago world of the stakeholder
17:29:53 advisory group and a couple of other key things and then, frankly, take the
17:29:57 time to hear from our oversight committee members about things that we
17:30:02 should be considering or factoring from your perspective as we bring
17:30:06 forward a plan to
17:30:11 do more, build more, buy more, create more affordable housing.
17:30:15 So really the point of this next section is to pull out
17:30:18 a bit of information from you.
So I'm going to go pretty quickly
17:30:22 to give you just some background, again, to ground us in some of our
17:30:26 guiding principles
17:30:27 .
Next slide, please.
17:30:31 As you may recall from the stakeholder advisory group that
17:30:36 met, the priorities for priority communities were -- and are
17:30:41 communities of color, families, including families with children,
17:30:45 immigrant and refugees and intergenerational households,
17:30:49 households experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk and households facing
17:30:52 displacement.
Next slide, please.
17:30:56 Our progress on the bond, as you know, we are on target
17:31:01 to exceed our goals with the projects that are currently
17:31:05 in process and applying
17:31:10 a similar metric if we were to take those same funds and not
17:31:14 exceed $150,000 contribution
17:31:17 per unit.
We could expect potential of
17:31:25 another 245 units and/or potentially exceeding our total committee
17:31:29 to the voters by 33%.
So just to kind of put in context
17:31:34 what we have remaining.
Next slide
17:31:36 , please.
I also wanted to share with you
17:31:41 information about where the city and the county are in their shared goal
17:31:45 to create permanent supportive housing, which is part of our
17:31:49 commitment, to helping folks who are living on our streets
17:31:53 or in our shelters or people who need that extra bit of wrap
17:31:58 around services to truly be successful in our
17:32:01 housing.
So far to reach that 2000 unit goal
17:32:05 we have got 1265 either planned or
17:32:09 in operation.
We expect another 250 from
17:32:14 further progress on the metro bond.
And there's still
17:32:18 a need to identify resources for that goal of 485 units
17:32:20 .
So I wanted to share that with you
17:32:23 because I know we probably don't share that with you often enough, just to
17:32:28 know how the bond fits into some of our
17:32:31 --
Next slide, please.
17:32:35 Based on a little bit of a snapshot review, I would like
17:32:39 to and the team would like to pull out from you what
17:32:44 things, what considerations that we should be building in as we look
17:32:48 at the next planning phase for
17:32:52 having more resources.
So with that, I
17:32:56 would like to make sure that we hear from each committee member if that's
17:33:01 possible to share some thoughts and ideas
17:33:09 .
17:33:11
>> STEVEN HOLT: Thanks, director
17:33:13 Callahan.
I would like to call on each of the
17:33:17 oversight committee and I saw your hand go up first, Susan, so go.
17:33:19 >> SUSAN EMMONS: One of the geographical goals we didn't meet and
17:33:24 it wasn't we didn't try, was to get a building in southwest Portland
17:33:26 .
If at all possible, I would like to
17:33:30 see that a priority.
And I think I'm sitting on
17:33:34 the metro supportive house services oversight
17:33:38 committee and watching that roll out and that's going to be a lot of
17:33:42 resources to provide rent assistance and supportive services.
17:33:46 And it seems like any project we have going forward that we
17:33:50 fund, it would be nice to see a linkage, some sort of linkage between
17:33:55 that project and the supportive services that are going to be
17:33:57 available.
I don't know -- I don't know how to
17:34:01 talk about that.
A marriage,
17:34:06 just an encouragement to see a building that would be open to
17:34:10 housing chronically illness people knowing there are going to be
17:34:13 significant supportive services available.
17:34:17 So those were just some of my thoughts
17:34:18 .
>> STEVEN HOLT: Thanks, state of
17:34:22 Susan.
Director Callahan, did you want
17:34:25 to respond at all?
>> SHANNON CALLAHAN: I would rather
17:34:28 let everybody on the committee share their thoughts and comments.
17:34:31 If there's time at the end, I'm happy to give more detail but I want
17:34:36 to make sure each committee member has a chance to reflect
17:34:39 .
>> STEVEN HOLT: Thank you very
17:34:42 much.
Todd Struble.
17:34:46 >> TODD STRUBLE: The first thing that popped in mind was like a
17:34:50 geographic like presence of the projects
17:34:54 and, you know, where we did not get to southwest.
17:34:58 So I guess I kind of would -- in my head I was thinking I would like to
17:35:02 see the map again and see kind of that distribution over the
17:35:05 city.
And then the second part was
17:35:09 permanent supportive housing.
I'm not as involved as Susan in on
17:35:13 those discussions, but I think there was a
17:35:17 -- there's a strong need for it.
I think there was a commitment in
17:35:21 our bond to provide a certain number and if we can exceed that, I think
17:35:25 that would be good
17:35:27 good.
>> STEVEN HOLT: Thank you, sir.
17:35:31 I appreciate that.
Allan, your thoughts?
17:35:32 >> ALLAN LAZO: Thank you, Dr. Holt.
17:35:36 Yeah, I would agree with my colleagues, with Susan and
17:35:40 Todd, in both this leveraging of the resources that are around
17:35:44 for PSH right now.
But and then
17:35:48 add an and to that.
Given
17:35:52 how the work that you all have done to exceed the goals of the bond already,
17:35:56 it sort of puts us in this place where we have an
17:36:00 opportunity now where we are not -- we are not -- we are past the
17:36:05 finish line to some degree.
And so we have the opportunity to
17:36:09 do something that we are not necessarily required to do, is what I
17:36:11 would say.
We could do something that could
17:36:15 meet some very specific needs, whether that's around PSH or
17:36:19 geography.
The other geography was inner north
17:36:21 and northeast.
And maybe it's looking at different
17:36:25 income levels or specific communities.
Because there are a lot of
17:36:29 PSH resources right now.
So it's curious to look
17:36:33 at, you know, one way to think about it might be kind of
17:36:37 in scrolling through the summary right now and try to visualize whether or
17:36:42 not there's any gaps that are there, if we were to take a matrix
17:36:45 of those original priorities against what we actually ended up with, you
17:36:50 know, would we see a gap anywhere?
And I'm not sure
17:36:54 that there are any glaring ones.
And so maybe
17:36:58 it is just looking for that special opportunity with those
17:37:04 funds that might arise and, you know, whether that's geographically
17:37:07 or community specific.
So that's kind of what I would say
17:37:11 is -- you know, the upside of where you all have put us is we are not -- you
17:37:15 know, we are not sort of not scrambling at the end to meet the goals
17:37:18 .
You know, if we have a very
17:37:21 specific opportunity that comes up, I think I would be comfortable saying
17:37:26 let's look at it rather than saying, well, we can't because
17:37:30 we still need to meet all these other goals
17:37:32 .
That's where my thinking is at
17:37:35 right now.
>> STEVEN HOLT: Thanks, Allan.
17:37:39 Appreciate that
17:37:42 .
Anneliese.
17:37:46 >> ANNELIESE KOELER: Ditto to what everyone else has been saying.
17:37:48 I had a thought as to deep southwest.
17:37:52 I would want to see a map of the available housing that's available in
17:37:55 Portland and lay the bond on top of it because I don't know if there's
17:37:59 already a bunch of affordable housing that exists in southwest Portland so
17:38:03 less of a need and wanting to think about it holistically
17:38:07 as opposed to just our bond projects.
And, yes, obviously, a
17:38:11 strong commitment for PHS and zero to 30.
17:38:15 The other thing that is in my head and I don't know if this is really the
17:38:19 right tool for it, is I think we are
17:38:23 really yet to grasp kind of the
17:38:27 ramifications from
17:38:31 the pandemic and COVID-19 on our community and what that will mean for
17:38:35 our community members and kind of just from a more business perspective, what
17:38:39 it means for the real estate market.
And
17:38:43 so part of me wants to kind of hold tight a little bit
17:38:47 on it or just see what opportunities might arise,
17:38:52 whether they are urgent in their nature to respond to
17:38:56 COVID in some way, and they are bond dollars.
17:38:58 They are not going to be structured as rent assistance.
17:39:00 I know that.
But thinking about the unknowns of
17:39:04 the pandemic and what our community will look like and if there maybe is
17:39:09 an opportunity, since, as Allan pointed out, like we have
17:39:13 really met our goals and so what that means to me is there's an opportunity
17:39:17 to be very nimble and flexible in a way
17:39:22 that sometimes we are not
17:39:23 .
>> STEVEN HOLT: Thank you very
17:39:25 much.
Director Callahan, I think we have
17:39:29 got a couple minutes if you'd like to frame anything up before we move
17:39:31 to the next session, that would be great.
17:39:34 >> SHANNON CALLAHAN: I appreciate all of your very thoughtful comments.
17:39:37 This will not be the end of the discussion, but before we start to
17:39:41 develop plans, I wanted to make sure that we heard from each of you.
17:39:45 We do have some concepts, but things we really need
17:39:49 to come at together as a team.
I also
17:39:53 just wanted to know, we still had 51 vouchers remaining
17:39:58 .
At least thus far from our
17:40:01 commitment from Home Forward and I think in conversations that I have had
17:40:06 with the joint office about the supportive housing services measure, I
17:40:10 definitely think we can achieve
17:40:14 additional rent assistance support
17:40:18 and -- for permanent housing so I believe it's possible for us to
17:40:23 make a strategic decision about a priority
17:40:27 population and a way to build a building
17:40:30 that is serving a particular focus with supportive house.
17:40:34 I also think we have some opportunities to potentially be
17:40:38 opportunistic with some of these resources as well, and we will be sure
17:40:41 to come back with you and do the mapping again.
17:40:45 Now, we will make sure to get a map out for you so you can see some
17:40:50 of the other areas where there is not as much
17:40:53 affordable housing, not just related to the bond.
17:40:57 I will say we have been working with metro on metro's bond,
17:41:01 related to southwest Portland.
It is a harder
17:41:05 topography and there's not as
17:41:09 much available land especially that the light rail line is not at any
17:41:13 point imminent.
So that is at least a consideration
17:41:15 on my part.
And I would be remiss if I also
17:41:20 didn't say I think east Portland, although we have invested
17:41:24 significantly in east Portland, I think a continual investment in the area
17:41:28 that we know -- you know, east Portland is where we are seeing
17:41:32 rent increases.
The central city we are not.
17:41:35 Even during the pandemic as the central city's rents are coming
17:41:40 down, east Portland is rising a
17:41:43 tiny touch, which is clearly showing the displacement even during this time
17:41:45 period is more of a risk.
We will come back with you and
17:41:48 provide you more information.
And just wanted to thank you for
17:41:52 your thoughtfulness in helping us as we guide the next steps and I am so
17:41:57 excited that we are going to be able to do more and create more affordable
17:42:01 housing with our resource and I wanted to thank you for your guidance as a
17:42:05 committee and I wanted to thank the entire
17:42:10 PHB team who has been working on these projects
17:42:14 alongside our community partners.
And I am, frankly, amazed
17:42:18 how much everyone has been able to keep on track to know that we are
17:42:22 going to have all of our buildings at some phase of construction
17:42:24 by the end of this year is pretty exciting.
17:42:28 So just gratitude to our community partners
17:42:31 and yourself and our team and thank you.
17:42:33 >> STEVEN HOLT: Thank you, director Callahan.
17:42:37 Incredible to be at this space and the opportunities that are in front to
17:42:40 do more.
How appropriate.
17:42:43 How fantastic.
We are now at our next section, the
17:42:47 project team presentations.
Tanya, I believe that falls to you
17:42:48 .
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: Yes.
17:42:52 Thank you, Dr. Holt.
I am Tanya Wolfersperger again
17:42:55 .
I just want to kick us off.
17:42:59 We have got two project teams coming to speak with you all
17:43:03 tonight on our Stark Street Housing project and 3000 southeast
17:43:06 Powell team is back to give you an update.
17:43:10 So I wanted to start by introducing and handing over the
17:43:14 reins of presentation to
17:43:18 Ryan winterburg and Andy
17:43:24 from -- answered
17:43:29
>> Andy: Dr. Holt, members.
17:43:32 Committee, good evening, everyone and thank you all for your service,
17:43:33 overseeing this critical public resource.
17:43:37 I appreciative the time and the attention you give to this task and
17:43:40 it's an important one.
I'm Andy Miller, I am the executive
17:43:44 director of human solutions and co-presenting with me tonight is our
17:43:49 senior project manager, Ryan winterburg lip.
17:43:53 We will try to proceed through the slides quickly and present the project
17:43:57 and save some time to answer any of your questions
17:44:02 .
So next slide, please
17:44:06 .
So briefly, many of you may be
17:44:10 familiar with human solutions, but for those who are not, we are a
17:44:14 community-based nonprofit that has been pushing back on the forces causing
17:44:19 poverty and homelessness in east Portland and east malt Nome county for
17:44:23 the last 32 years.
We have a team of 140 staff and
17:44:27 they deliver a range of services.
Those services include
17:44:31 the operation of three shelters providing support and rehousing
17:44:36 services for families and adult women experiencing homelessness,
17:44:40 as well as a range of housing and economic justice programs that provide
17:44:44 resources and support, so families in these counties can achieve real
17:44:48 housing and economic security.
It's really what we do.
17:44:52 But we also have an affordable housing
17:44:57 development corporation and we develop, own and operate affordable
17:45:01 housing, including permanent supportive housing and
17:45:03 you see some of the numbers listed up there.
17:45:07 One change since this slide was produced, we now have a 17-
17:45:11 17 apartment communities across our service area.
17:45:15 The latest being the Nick fish, our project that
17:45:19 just opened on discovery park in east Portland and we will
17:45:24 will also be the new location of
17:45:27 our Portland site offices.
Excited to be moving in there as
17:45:31 well as many of the affordable housing residents.
17:45:35 So with the next slide I'm going to turn it over to Ryan -- oh,
17:45:37 I'm sorry.
I got one more to do.
17:45:41 So this is the project partners.
Our funders, the Portland
17:45:45 housing bureau, thank you.
And Oregon housing community
17:45:49 services.
Also you see our development team,
17:45:54 Colas construction is the general contractor,
17:46:03 Ho LST.
Holt
17:46:08 and Colas have been with us at this site since we acquired
17:46:12 , for future development which we are finally ready to begin.
17:46:16 But for a brief period it did serve as a temporary family shelter
17:46:20 [HOLST] in the aging
17:46:24 building that was on site when we acquired it and Holt and Colas
17:46:29 donated generously a lot of their time to
17:46:34 refurbish their building and get it up to speed for use as a shelter.
17:46:38 The shelter as a permanent home at 77th and Powell at a former
17:46:42 motel, now known as our Lilac meadow shelter.
17:46:46 You see list here our service partner, Lifeworks
17:46:49 northwest who will be providing behavioral services at the project.
17:46:53 I will say more about that later.
Now I am going to turn it over to
17:46:57 Ryan to walk you through the project specifics and highlights
17:47:00 highlights.
>> RYAN: Thank you, Andy, my name
17:47:02 is Ryan.
I'm a senior housing project
17:47:05 manager with human solutions.
I will give you an overall kind of
17:47:08 perspective of the project and some of the things that we think are
17:47:11 interesting to report back.
So thank you for having us here
17:47:16 with you tonight, committee members.
So the Stark Street
17:47:20 project, and I think you may have heard of it before, but if not, is a
17:47:24 nice refresher, it is 93 units total.
One-third of those units will
17:47:28 be at zero to 30% of AMI and the remaining
17:47:32 62 are at 60% AMI for
17:47:36 the setaside though our intention is to rent
17:47:41 the units at approximately -- to meet the needs of
17:47:44 the communities that we serve in east Portland.
17:47:48 About half of the units will either be two or three-bedroom to provide
17:47:52 housing specifically for families.
Human solutions and Lifeworks
17:47:55 northwest will be the two service providers serving the permanent
17:47:58 supportive housing units and also the entire community there and I'll talk
17:48:02 more about how those services work.
The priority communities that we
17:48:07 anticipate will be served by the Stark Street project meet the
17:48:11 bond's solicitation priorities and also what we know about operating
17:48:15 housing for formerly homeless families
17:48:17 .
We know that the ways of
17:48:21 displacement from other higher cost Portland neighborhoods are
17:48:25 forcing people to east Portland communities and there's also a
17:48:29 concurrent increase in cost in east Portland as rents continue to
17:48:33 rise where they traditionally have been more depressed.
17:48:37 And we know that families, particularly communities of color
17:48:41 or families who have children in schools, are those who are most
17:48:45 impacted by those forces.
So we are really going to be
17:48:49 targeting partnerships when it comes to lease up to serve these particularly
17:48:52 impacted communities.
And we anticipate that the project,
17:48:56 when it is complete, will provide quality housing for over 221 people
17:49:00 .
Next slide, please.
17:49:03 Thank you.
So in terms of some project
17:49:07 highlights, our site is located at the intersection of southeast stark
17:49:11 and 160th, which is in the city's official Glen
17:49:16 fair neighborhood and it's in what is oftentimes considered the Rosewood
17:49:18 neighborhood which is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Portland.
17:49:22 I believe about 28% of residents in Rosewood are
17:49:26 foreign born.
Incredibly diverse vibrant and
17:49:29 evolving community.
And human solutions has been part
17:49:33 of the Rosewood initiative's community driven strategy for hole
17:49:37 istic neighborhood revitalization for many years now
17:49:39 .
And the intent of providing
17:49:43 affordable housing within this strategy is that quality housing can be created
17:49:48 before costs increase and gentrification and displacement occur
17:49:52 to ensure that the neighborhood remains a diverse and vibrant place.
17:49:56 We are excited to be able to be part of that overall community driven
17:49:59 strategy in the neighborhood.
Our site is really well served by
17:50:03 number of amenities.
I will point out it's two blocks
17:50:07 away from a Maxx station so incredibly well connected to
17:50:11 the region and like Andy said, this site we are
17:50:14 particularly excited for the redevelopment because it's been a long
17:50:16 time coming.
Our new building will replace the
17:50:21 now vacant former family center shelter which -- the neighborhood is also
17:50:25 incredibly excited for a
17:50:29 transformational investment.
It's a visible and critical block
17:50:33 and will set the tone for community driven exciting investments in this
17:50:38 particular side of Rosewood that haven't
17:50:41 happened in many years.
A few project highlights.
17:50:45 Our new building will be five stories, including 93 units and 27
17:50:49 onsite parking spaces.
And certainly elements of our
17:50:52 programming were informed by community engagement that we have been doing
17:50:56 through the Rosewood initiative for several years and also with our
17:51:01 partners and our staff, many of whom represent the community
17:51:05 and one of the things that we heard is that to design intentional housing for
17:51:08 families, we really needed to provide spaces both indoor and outdoor for
17:51:11 play activities.
So this is an image of our outdoor
17:51:15 play area and you will see an image of our indoor play area soon
17:51:18 but that's a particularly exciting way to meet the needs of families.
17:51:22 We are also seeking earth advantage multifamily platinum
17:51:26 certification, which is an awesome way to implement the
17:51:30 PHB green building policy.
Really intentional and meaningful
17:51:33 about meeting some of the green building targets.
17:51:37 In terms of timeline, we anticipate
17:51:41 starting construction in June 2021 and finishing up in early January
17:51:43 2023.
Next slide, please.
17:51:47 In terms of overall project funding sources, we were so excited
17:51:51 to be awarded just about 14.9 million from
17:51:56 the PHB housing bond and that does include that program delivery fee
17:52:00 that's sort of baked in which allows us to leverage over $24 million
17:52:04 of other public and private funds, including about
17:52:09 $11 million in tax credits, loan from JPMorgan Chase
17:52:13 of under 6 million.
We received LIFT funding from the
17:52:17 state of Oregon, about 3.8 million.
And funding from what is now
17:52:22 known as the
17:52:26 men program.
A number of different grants
17:52:29 including metro, the Collins foundation, my memorial trust, as well
17:52:34 as the Schweikert foundation that we have done in partnership with
17:52:37 our fantastic development fundraising team.
17:52:41 And we have received about $1.5 million in S
17:52:44 SDC exemptions in the city of Portland which is meaningful and something that
17:52:48 is not found across all the jurisdictions where we do work.
17:52:52 It's worth pointing out those exemptions are
17:52:55 meaningful for affordable housing and we have a $1 million deferred
17:52:59 developer fee which gets
[INDISCERNIBLE]
17:53:02 Project cost.
We consider $37 million because we
17:53:06 don't factor the SDC exemptions
17:53:09 in here.
Just shy of $40 million.
17:53:10 Go onto the next slide.
Great.
17:53:14 Our project is currently in predevelopment as we are planning
17:53:19 starting construction in June
17:53:21 .
We are aligned with the bonds
17:53:24 solicit Tyson priorities and also with human solutions' mission in providing
17:53:28 housing and services to our east Portland and east Multnomah County
17:53:31 communities.
And while human solutions has been
17:53:35 providing permanent supportive housing services for the last 16 years, we
17:53:39 have done that in a variety of new construction projects that we own,
17:53:40 also services for other housing providers.
17:53:44 This was a really exciting opportunity for us to be intentional
17:53:48 about design of our building and all of the partnerships that built in,
17:53:52 really to meet the needs of families and supportive
17:53:56 housing.
We should point out that the rating
17:54:00 together of a capital source, services dollars and a
17:54:04 rental subsidy that came through the bond solicitation has really allowed
17:54:07 us to do that.
That has not always been the case
17:54:10 in a lot of our experiences so we have been meaningful and sustainable about
17:54:14 what it means to operate permanent supportive housing.
17:54:18 On the design side we have been working with our architects
17:54:22 at Holt to integrate theories of trauma informed design, into
17:54:25 the building in many different ways to meet the needs of future residents.
17:54:29 It's been an exciting opportunity for us to be very intentional
17:54:32 .
One of the exciting partnerships
17:54:35 that we are able to do because of the services funding that was offered
17:54:40 through the bond solicitation is an onsite mental
17:54:43 and behavioral health partnership with Lifeworks northwest.
17:54:47 We heard loud and clear through our community engagement that there was a
17:54:52 community desire for low barrier, super accessible
17:54:55 mental and behavioral health services.
17:54:58 Something that a lot of community residents struggle with, whether
17:55:02 that's from an insurance perspective, physical pip tiff
17:55:06 perspective or stigma services.
The services dollars offered
17:55:10 through the bond solicitation that Lifeworks northwest mental health
17:55:13 practitioner will be on site and able to serve every resident of the
17:55:16 building who gets their health insurance through the Oregon health
17:55:18 plan.
So not just the permanent
17:55:23 supportive housing residents but everyone on site because we know low
17:55:27 income people and communities of color experience systematic trauma in
17:55:31 lots of different ways so certainly a need for mental and behavioral
17:55:34 health services.
And one thing that we forgot to
17:55:38 note here on this slide is that we are
17:55:43 able and it's exciting for us to do this, going to be able to offer
17:55:47 high-speed internet access for free to every resident already plugged into
17:55:51 their unit and available through wi-fi, as well as all of the common areas in
17:55:55 the building, which we have learned has been particularly important now
17:55:59 that COVID has truly just laid bare to us the inequities in
17:56:03 many ways but also when it comes to Internet and technology access.
17:56:06 It's exciting we will be
[INDISCERNIBLE]
17:56:10 And then Andy will talk more about partnerships at the end but in
17:56:13 terms of milestones we expect our building permit to be ready probably
17:56:17 in just the next few weeks, in May.
We will close our financing in June
17:56:22 , start construction and then, like many projects, we will be entertaining
17:56:26 probably what may be a virtual ground breaking
17:56:30 summer but with he would love to find a way to make it socially
17:56:34 distant and in person.
Stay tuned on that.
17:56:38 Construction is expected to take 19 months overall
17:56:44 .
There's been a couple changes since
17:56:47 this project came before you or you have seen information about it.
17:56:50 First of which is that we found an opportunity during design to include
17:56:55 more three-bedroom units and we stepped it up to meet the needs of a
17:56:59 families in east Portland.
We have also been able
17:57:04 to do an entire brick facade of the building,
17:57:07 so that's something that's really exciting both from a durability
17:57:10 perspective in the ongoing sustainability and life of the
17:57:14 building, but offers a classic aesthetic and a really
17:57:19 lovely exterior that we think will really set a lot of context in this
17:57:22 particular part of Rosewood that hasn't seen a lot of investment in the
17:57:26 past.
And we received funding from the
17:57:30 OHCS LIFT program last summer which enabled us to shake some of the
17:57:35 decisions like Internet readiness, larger three-bedroom units which are
17:57:39 more expensive.
We were also able to include a
17:57:43 solar array on the roof and really meaningfully implement
17:57:47 the PHB green building policy.
Next slide, please
17:57:51 .
And then just a little update on
17:57:57 our WB contracting goals.
Colas
17:58:00 is our general contractor and they are the largest black owned general
17:58:03 contractor in the Pacific Northwest.
And one of the many reasons that we
17:58:07 love working with Colas is that MWE
17:58:10 SB participation is really an inherent part of their mission.
17:58:13 They take it to heart.
It is baked into their values at
17:58:15 every level and they do this in a really meaningful way.
17:58:19 They mentor, they outreach, they have incredible transparency.
17:58:23 And truly long-term relationships with their M
17:58:28 WESB subcontractors which aligns with our values when it comes to
17:58:34 MWESB subcontractors.
Our sole participation
17:58:38 is shy of 32% which results in about $6.86 million
17:58:42 to MWESB firms so we are
17:58:46 excited to spend our money in a way that aligns with our values.
17:58:50 Next slide, please.
And then like I mentioned,
17:58:56 we are thrilled to be able to implement permanent supportive
17:59:00 housing meaningfully, sustainably through the bond opportunity
17:59:04 solicitation, knitting together a funding has been incredibly
17:59:06 impactful.
But one of the challenges that is
17:59:10 always present in affordable housing is that the approval process is
17:59:13 and for all of our many sources can be complex.
17:59:17 So we have multiple public funders with multiple processes
17:59:22 and timelines that we all have to sync up together and we have to sync them
17:59:25 up with our lenders and our investors and have our own internal processes.
17:59:29 So it's a carefully orchestrated dance that is sometimes
17:59:34 hard to align perfectly with the iterative and sort of fast
17:59:38 timing of real estate project.
So it's particularly
17:59:42 challenging right now. You may have heard of
17:59:46 capacity limits and blackout dates with the state of Oregon when it
17:59:50 comes to their closing timelines so we are driving really hard to hit all of
17:59:55 these multitude of deadlines.
We are also wrestling with the
17:59:59 H.U.D. subsidy layering review process, which, I think, all of the
18:00:03 projects that -- are also navigating and we have
18:00:07 built in an extraordinary amount of time to navigate that process
18:00:12 , but, again, sort of -- the system that we work
18:00:16 in doesn't always line up well with an iterative and fast
18:00:20 moving real estate process.
And then the final challenge
18:00:24 I think that I'll mention is
18:00:28 not a challenge that is unique to our project or to affordable housing
18:00:34 or -- but probably every real estate project in the United States at this
18:00:38 very moment, is that there are certain commodities that are really volatile
18:00:42 because of some very large market factors.
18:00:46 They are a little hard to predict and hard to get the timing right of
18:00:49 when to buy materials.
Supply chain is a challenge and
18:00:53 availability of some of the components and systems that go into buildings.
18:00:57 So we, like many projects, have been navigating this very closely with
18:01:01 our contractor and with their subcontractors.
18:01:05 Colas is in close communication with their subs
18:01:09 to identify exposure on certain materials, ways to
18:01:13 mitigate it and find budget solutions along with our architect team that
18:01:18 can keep the project on budget without sacrificing quality to the residents
18:01:21 or quality to the overall asset in the community as well.
18:01:25 So I think now I will switch it over to Andy on the next slide
18:01:30 , who will wrap up what we have learned from community engagement
18:01:34 and we will move forward.
>> Last time
18:01:37 and I will make it quick.
We engaged early and often with the
18:01:40 community on this project.
We really benefited greatly from
18:01:44 our partners at the Rosewood initiative, which is
18:01:49 the neighborhood
18:01:53 prosperity initiative, nonprofit whose offices are right across the street
18:01:55 from Stark Street Housing.
And they have been engaged in
18:02:00 creating a neighborhood vision for Rosewood that includes
18:02:04 the range of housing types and community
18:02:08 assets, wellness assets and educational strengthening
18:02:12 that folks living in the neighborhood feel that they need.
18:02:16 And so the project really benefited in terms of its design and
18:02:20 programming from those conversations.
18:02:24 As Ryan mentioned, we over the last couple of years did a deep assessment
18:02:28 of our own supportive housing focus groups with our
18:02:34 residents and really learned about the need for onsite behavioral
18:02:38 health services from folks who have been living in supportive
18:02:40 housing where that amenity doesn't exist.
18:02:44 So that really resulted in the Lifeworks northwest partnership
18:02:46 .
And then we are -- we have been
18:02:51 working really closely with Reynolds school district,
18:02:54 Glen fair elementary and HB Lee middle school.
18:02:58 This project lies in those areas.
Those are two schools that
18:03:02 experience very high rates of school mobility, which really negatively
18:03:05 impacts the school environment.
Families have to move frequently in
18:03:09 and out of the catchman area during the year, change schools.
18:03:13 So we will be working closely with their homeless student
18:03:17 liaisons to try to coordinate around, lease up and provide
18:03:21 , hopefully, a stable and permanent home for families that have
18:03:26 been experiencing deep instability and insecurity in their housing,
18:03:30 already living in the neighborhood, have an existing partnership
18:03:35 with IRCO and are in the process of discussing a partnership with the
18:03:39 Urban League of Portland to
18:03:43 help BIPOC families from the communities that both of
18:03:48 those organizations work closely with during lease-up
18:03:52 period so we can kind of maximize lease-up of folks
18:03:56 from BIPOC households who, again, have been experiencing deep and ongoing
18:04:00 housing and security in east Portland.
18:04:04 So that's just a snapshot of the community
18:04:06 engagement.
And I think we will step back now
18:04:11 and see if we have -- you have any questions we can answer
18:04:13 answer.
18:04:15 >> STEVEN HOLT: Thank you very much.
18:04:19 Any questions from the oversight committee
18:04:24 ?
18:04:26
>> TODD STRUBLE: I would like to
18:04:30 hear more about the Internet on site.
That's such a cool idea
18:04:34 .
We worked on as part of our COVID
18:04:38 relief efforts in the past year, worked on a technology
18:04:42 grant to bridge the divide and it really put in
18:04:46 stark terms how important it is to have access to that.
18:04:48 I would love to hear more about that.
18:04:50 >> Sure.
I would be happy to share more.
18:04:53 I will say we are still in negotiations with the specific
18:04:58 provider that we ended up going with.
Either a Comcast or CenturyLink and
18:05:02 both have their trade-offs and I'm sure everyone knows a lot
18:05:06 about your experience personally with either
18:05:08 .
And the contracts that we have been
18:05:12 able to explore with those two providers really leverage the scale
18:05:16 of services and that the project budget will
18:05:20 pay as a guarantee for Internet for all
18:05:23 93 units as well as the community spaces.
18:05:27 So that's able to leverage kind of a discounted rate, certainly
18:05:31 better than any individual resident could achieve for
18:05:35 themselves.
And there's a couple different
18:05:37 models.
One of which, the development
18:05:42 budget would pay a higher up-front installation cost
18:05:45 but essentially pays for the infrastructure for the utility
18:05:49 provider to wire the building and provide readiness to every single unit
18:05:53 and then the operating budget pays for, essentially, kind of like a
18:05:57 monthly access fee for each unit.
So there is a higher up-front
18:06:01 capital cast to the project baked into the development budget, which I would
18:06:06 say is possible for us because we have received LIFT funding
18:06:10 and we have received generous public funding and done
18:06:14 really well in our capital campaign.
Because it's easily
18:06:19 $100,000 in up-front costs so not something that a lot of affordable
18:06:24 housing projects can do.
But we know is critically
18:06:28 important going forward for the equity of our future
18:06:31 residents.
And it will reduce an expense to
18:06:36 households, because really what we have heard through our resident
18:06:40 services managers and our work in the city's digital inclusion network is
18:06:44 that many of our families can
18:06:48 pay $0 a month for Internet access
18:06:50 which means that they should not have it.
18:06:54 We can bake it into the operating cost through additional
18:06:58 public subsidy.
So I do hope to see greater
18:07:03 initiatives at scale that make this opportunity available to
18:07:07 more affordable housing projects and not just our ability to negotiate with
18:07:11 Comcast and CenturyLink and I think
18:07:15 this digital inclusion work has been making some important headway that so
18:07:19 we stay involved in that as well.
Thanks
18:07:20 .
>> TODD STRUBLE: Thank you.
18:07:24 I don't have any other questions.
But I want to say, I said this
18:07:28 about the other site as well but the connection to a neighborhood
18:07:32 prosperity network site with the initiative, I think
18:07:36 it's a great example of public resources being leveraged familiar
18:07:40 with the
[INDISCERNIBLE]
18:07:43 >> TODD STRUBLE: To include and have their support is really gratifying for
18:07:48 me to see in these projects.
Thank you.
18:07:49 >> Thank you.
It's our hope this is the first,
18:07:54 not the last of the redevelopment projects that include affordable
18:07:58 housing in this neighborhood
18:08:02 .
>> STEVEN HOLT: Thank you very
18:08:03 much.
Any other questions from the
18:08:07 oversight committee?
>> ALLAN LAZO: Dr. Holt, I don't
18:08:10 have a question and I know we are running short on time.
18:08:12 I want to say thank you.
This is actually the neighborhood I
18:08:14 grew up in.
These are the streets that I ran
18:08:19 around on when I was a kid so it's amazing to me to see what's going out
18:08:20 there.
One of the other things is the
18:08:24 displacement of communities of color and immigrant and refugee
18:08:29 are settling out there and I want to make sure these projects serving those
18:08:32 communities are getting the recognition they deserve to do that because I
18:08:36 notice, for instance, on our dashboard, I think
18:08:40 maybe -- so many different great communities that we don't have room to
18:08:43 put communities of color in that square so I want to make sure that we know
18:08:47 that folks that are working in east Portland are serving those communities
18:08:51 and so I don't know how we capture that or making sure that we are capturing
18:08:55 -- when we are talking about a project like this but it's vitally important
18:08:58 to the work you are doing out there.
If we had more time I would love to
18:09:02 hear more about what we can do in east Portland, given the previous
18:09:05 conversation we had but we are not going to have time.
18:09:09 Very short on time.
But just a quick thank you
18:09:15 .
>> Andy: You know where to find
18:09:18 me.
Always happy to have that
18:09:19 discussion.
>> STEVEN HOLT: Thank you very
18:09:21 much.
Great comment.
18:09:25 We are pushing time.
That is accurate.
18:09:28 We don't want to be insensitive at the same time.
18:09:31 We want to make sure that we are appropriately communicating the things
18:09:36 that need to be covered.
And so we have
18:09:40 next the 30th and Powell Home Forward project and we are going to
18:09:44 give you some moments to communicate and give us an update
18:09:48 what is happening with that project.
And then right after that, we are
18:09:52 going to have some moments with our commissioner, who is the new housing
18:09:57 commissioner, as of this year, commissioner Dan Ryan
18:10:02 .
Thirtieth and Powell, going forward
18:10:04 .
>> AMANDA: Thank you for having
18:10:08 us.
I'm Amanda Saul with Home Forward,
18:10:12 an assistant director in the development department and with me
18:10:16 here tonight is Ben Loftis, one of our finance
18:10:17 managers.
I was thinking as I was getting
18:10:21 ready for this that I gave a presentation to you all
18:10:26 a year ago and I think it was about three weeks after
18:10:30 we all went remote and it was the first presentation I
18:10:33 had given over Zoom and I was thinking, well, it's a year later and
18:10:36 here we are and I'm more ready than I was a year ago.
18:10:40 So that's good.
So I'm here to give a brief update
18:10:45 about 30th and Powell, which is the site that's located on
18:10:49 southeast 30th and Powell, a site that was purchased by the Portland
18:10:53 housing bureau a few years ago.
Tanya, can you go to the next
18:10:57 slide?
18:11:00
Sorry.
18:11:03 Just really quick.
Do we have the renderings and the
18:11:07 site plan as well?
Could we do those first?
18:11:09 >> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: I can bring those up if you would like.
18:11:12 Which one would you like to see, Amanda?
18:11:15 >> AMANDA: Can you show the site plan?
18:11:18 That would be great.
I think that will help orient us a
18:11:19 little bit.
>> TANYA WOLFERSPERGER: I'm going
18:11:23 to stop sharing my screen for a second and bring that up
18:11:24 .
>> AMANDA: Thank you.
18:11:28 Sorry
18:11:44 .
Thanks.
18:11:48 So just to sort of help orient people, this is
18:11:52 30th on the right-hand side of your -- excuse me.
18:11:53 This is Powell on the right-hand side of your screen.
18:11:58 This little half street that you see at the top is 30th avenue
18:12:01 .
And then this building is what will
18:12:05 become the Powell project.
And I'll just
18:12:09 remind folks that about a year ago, in March, we
18:12:14 bought an additional site, sort of at the back of this site,
18:12:18 to help create a bigger, better and
18:12:22 more developable project.
And so I just wanted to show
18:12:27 the site plan because it gives you a sense that it incorporates the
18:12:31 two lots.
There is some parking in the back.
18:12:35 And then also access off of 31st street
18:12:39 down here at the bottom of your screen on the left-hand side
18:12:41 .
As I talk about other things, it
18:12:45 will just -- it just helps for a little bit of context to be able
18:12:49 to to see what the site looks like currently.
18:12:53 Thanks, Tanya.
You can go back to the slides now
18:13:05 .
Thank you.
18:13:09 So just to update folks,
18:13:13 this project is a total of 206
18:13:15 units.
From the last time we were before
18:13:19 you, it's reduced by four units, which was just to make everything
18:13:23 fit sort of in the building footprint.
18:13:27 It's a total of 68 units that will serve folks at
18:13:31 0 to 30%, and 30 of those units will be set aside
18:13:36 for family PSH units.
There's a total
18:13:40 of 59 two-bedroom units and six three-bedroom units
18:13:44 .
The two and three-bedroom units
18:13:48 will also have project-based vouchers to ensure that
18:13:52 extremely low income people only have to pay 30% of their income
18:13:56 to live there.
We are right now working
18:14:01 closely with a joint office of homeless services to develop our
18:14:06 services partnerships and they have helped us to
18:14:10 identify that right now the LatinX community and chronically
18:14:14 homeless families in LatinX community are underserved by
18:14:19 our TSH projects, and so we are working to develop
18:14:23 those partnerships and create those services plan
18:14:27 to make sure we are serving folks that are most in
18:14:32 need.
And just overall
18:14:36 that one of the metrics that the Portland housing bureau uses
18:14:40 is just estimated number of people housed.
18:14:44 So we estimate that this project will serve about 362 people
18:14:49 .
Next slide, please
18:14:52 .
This picture on the right is the
18:14:57 back of the housing project, which is when we added the
18:15:01 additional lot, it allowed us to provide a lot more out
18:15:06 door space.
So we are able to incorporate a
18:15:10 half court basketball hoop, a children's play area, both outside and
18:15:15 inside, some raised garden beds and a really nice seat
18:15:17 ing area as well.
So I feel like this really gives
18:15:21 you a sense of what it will be like to live there
18:15:23 .
On the left-hand side of the screen
18:15:28 you see the sources of funding.
Portland
18:15:32 housing bond is a huge, important source for this project.
18:15:36 This number includes the admin fee, as Ryan
18:15:40 was saying earlier, we also benefit from systems
18:15:45 development charge waivers in the city of Portland, which makes a huge
18:15:49 difference.
Low income
18:15:54 housing tax credits, permanent loan and then a seller note for the land
18:15:58 value and then Home Forward's deferred developer fee helped to
18:16:03 create all of the funding to make this project possible
18:16:07 that will be about $80 million.
And the housing bond funds
18:16:12 are leveraged about 2 1/2 times.
Next slide
18:16:16 , please.
As Jill Chen was saying earlier, we
18:16:20 are currently in predevelopment, but moving
18:16:24 towards construction quickly and we are excited about that
18:16:28 .
We received design review approval
18:16:32 in March.
And then plans were also submitted
18:16:36 for building permits in March.
18:16:40 We have had to do a lot of work with PBOT and ODOT
18:16:45 and PGE.
The site on Powell is
18:16:49 a state highway and so access to
18:16:54 30th avenue and what it's used for has been a big topic of
18:16:58 conversation and has impacted our design and our land use
18:17:02 process.
We are also in the process of
18:17:07 gathering our financing partners
18:17:10 partners.
We expect our plans to go out to
18:17:15 bid in June and as with the last project that you heard about,
18:17:19 our project team is Colas construction
18:17:23 and Holt architecture, same team members.
18:17:26 We feel really lucky to be able to work with them.
18:17:30 Colas does an incredible job doing outreach and helping
18:17:35 to meet really aggressive
18:17:39 NWBS equals which also align with Home Forward's values.
18:17:43 And so that has been exciting to work with them and do
18:17:47 that outreach and target some of
18:17:52 those BIPOC-owned subcontractors
18:17:56 subcontractors.
The other milestones are that we
18:18:00 will select our lender and investor --
18:18:04 our lenders and investors in May and we are supposed to receive permits and
18:18:06 close at the end of August and probably start construction the
18:18:11 beginning of September.
Next slide, please
18:18:17 .
Just to remind you, the site
18:18:21 about a year ago, when we purchased the back lot, was expanded
18:18:26 from 1.2 acres to 2 1/2 acres and at that
18:18:30 point we increased the number of units from 180 to
18:18:33 206.
That allowed us to add parking and
18:18:38 another access off of southeast 31st avenue
18:18:42 and to add much more generous outdoor space
18:18:46 and play area and raise garden beds and seating
18:18:52 area.
When I see the renderings that went
18:18:56 to the design review board, I think this is the place I want to live
18:19:00 and that makes me excited.
I guess the other
18:19:05 major change that has happened over time is that clarity
18:19:09 around the plan for the access, easement,
18:19:13 slope and the environmental remediation that
18:19:19 was needed on that site.
So all of those things are
18:19:23 in process right now.
Next slide, please
18:19:27 .
This just gives you an overview of
18:19:33 the site, just to remind you the area in
18:19:37 purple was the original 3000 Powell site that PHB
18:19:41 purchased.
The yellow and orange site are --
18:19:45 is the second lot that was purchased by Home Forward a year ago.
18:19:49 And that portion that's in yellow is what will become --
18:19:54 is what -- the yellow and blue portions are what will encompass
18:20:00 the 3000 Powell project.
And the area in
18:20:05 orange will be a homeownership development that PHB
18:20:10 will oversee and allocate through its typical process
18:20:15 .
Next slide, please
18:20:20 .
In terms of our
18:20:24 MWESB work, through --
18:20:28 on the sub costs, through our A&E team,
18:20:32 we have -- 86% M
18:20:36 WESB participation and Colas construction is committed to meeting
18:20:41 or exceeding our
18:20:45 DMWESB of 30%.
Ranged from
18:20:50 30 to 51% in MWESB participation
18:20:53 .
We have our mechanical, electrical
18:20:57 and plumbing subs in place and with those
18:21:02 subs, that allocates about 35% of
18:21:07 our project budget we know
18:21:11 will be with MWESB subs.
Another
18:21:15 piece that I will add to that is Home Forward
18:21:19 right now is really actively working
18:21:23 to develop more of a systematic approach
18:21:28 to how we work
18:21:32 with MWESB subs, and then also we have recently added some
18:21:37 new goals around our journey level goals.
18:21:41 We have a workforce training goals for apprenticeships that focus on
18:21:45 women and BIPOC.
And we have added those goals to
18:21:49 the journey level.
So you can really start to
18:21:53 understand and see if people are moving from the apprentice level into the
18:21:57 journey level and working with our
18:22:02 resident services team to include
18:22:06 our existing residents and our section 8 voucher holders in that
18:22:11 process and help them to understand that these apprenticeship
18:22:15 apprenticeship programs are available to them and building those
18:22:19 relationships with the existing workforce
18:22:24 organizations out there and our existing residents
18:22:28 .
Next slide, please
18:22:34 .
The original site was burdened with
18:22:38 complex easements that were very expensive and time consuming to
18:22:42 resolve.
It also has a
18:22:46 PGE powerline
18:22:51 that runs across and an easement.
So Home Forward and PHB
18:22:55 agreed over a year ago to expand the site to help resolve those easement
18:22:58 issues and create a better overall project.
18:23:02 And in March of 2020 that back site was purchased.
18:23:06 And so we are working through those utility easements
18:23:10 and the public right-of-way and what it will
18:23:15 be required by ODOT and PBOT for
18:23:20 the 30th avenue there.
And then working with
18:23:24 through with our environmental team and our engineers
18:23:28 on the contaminated soil and how to address those
18:23:32 issues, both prior to and during construction
18:23:37 .
Next slide, please.
18:23:41 Community engagement.
We have had
18:23:46 several very successful meetings with the
18:23:50 Kenilworth neighborhood association and the inner Powell
18:23:53 alliance through the design review process, we have gotten some great
18:23:57 feedback as well.
We have had extensive
18:24:02 engagement with the immediate neighbors, especially hop works who is
18:24:04 to the west and will be most impacted by the project.
18:24:09 And then working with [hopworks]
18:24:13 service providers to develop the new PSH partnerships and
18:24:17 soliciting input, both on this project and
18:24:21 broader projects, about how PSH services
18:24:27 are delivered, you know, in what kind of space, whether it
18:24:32 be trauma informed, private, or whether it
18:24:34 be, you know, sort of more in a common area.
18:24:38 So really thinking about how we incorporate that into our design
18:24:43 design.
And then also working
18:24:47 with service partners and people who get -- who have
18:24:50 received and are living in permanent supporttive house.
18:24:54 supportive housing.
I think that's the last slide.
18:24:57 I tried to talk fast.
>> STEVEN HOLT: Thanks, Amanda.
18:24:59 I appreciate it.
Thanks for the presentation and the
18:25:03 information.
Any comment or question being very
18:25:08 mindful we are pushing up to our time.
But we want to
18:25:12 hear from Commissioner Ryan for sure.
Any comments, questions
18:25:16 from the bond oversight committee
18:25:20 ?
18:25:23
I see heads shaking no.
18:25:27 Amanda, thank you very much.
We appreciate it.
18:25:30 Looks like an incredible project with great opportunities.
18:25:34 Let me introduce commissioner Dan Ryan,
18:25:38 who is the housing commissioner.
Commissioner of the city
18:25:42 of Portland and is overseeing what's going on with the housing department
18:25:43 .
Commissioner, welcome into the
18:25:46 space.
Thank you also for being sensitive
18:25:50 to allowing the agenda to continue to roll.
18:25:53 >> DAN RYAN: Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Holt and good to see
18:25:57 you all, especially director Callahan.
I hear about
18:26:01 these projects at the council meetings.
18:26:03 It's different to listen to them when you're at a meeting like this.
18:26:06 So I actually was enjoying listening.
18:26:10 And I will try to attend more of your meetings
18:26:14 because this is where the action is.
It's really -- I want to start off
18:26:16 by thanking all of you.
You're volunteers.
18:26:19 And the city needs you.
And the city needs you to be bold.
18:26:22 The city needs you to think out of the box.
18:26:26 We are in an emergency, as you might have noticed, if you drive around and
18:26:29 walk around town.
And so status quo isn't going to
18:26:32 cut it.
It kind of got us to this place, if
18:26:36 you will.
So I just appreciate some of the
18:26:37 out-of-box thinking that I was hearing.
18:26:41 I want to start off by acknowledging the first presentation I walked in on,
18:26:45 was Andy Miller was making the connection between schools and talking
18:26:50 about mobility.
That's --
18:26:53 my heart will always be with children with families.
18:26:56 And when I was involved in that space for years, mobility issues were
18:27:00 always top of the list for a teacher that was truly being honest with you
18:27:04 about what was challenging about teaching, for example, in those --
18:27:08 in that neighborhood that you're specifically talking about.
18:27:10 And it doesn't get enough attention.
18:27:14 And it always puzzled me that a lot of the housing at that time
18:27:16 was smaller units.
So it's great to see two and
18:27:21 three-bedroom units and just really appreciate that trend
18:27:23 .
My passions would probably be for
18:27:27 children in family housing and then for seniors to have the ability to age in
18:27:29 place.
I think that's always on those
18:27:31 margins.
So we don't have much time.
18:27:35 So this will just be a very quick hello, because it's a beautiful
18:27:40 night and your time boundary is 6:30 and I am starting to talk to you with
18:27:44 four minutes to go.
That's just like really great
18:27:48 opportunity to hopefully just say a little something.
18:27:52 And also hear maybe one or two questions
18:27:53 .
I want to give a little bit of
18:27:55 vision.
I don't think it's mind blowing,
18:27:59 but I think of things always in a continuum.
18:28:03 When I was in children and family space, it was about birth to
18:28:07 career and really looking at what the community milestones are,
18:28:11 the indicators that we can track.
And then how you can then go into
18:28:15 the sub indicators and really look at how to make the community
18:28:19 accountable because your best assets are always the community.
18:28:23 But often we don't connect the dots and leverage like Todd mentioned
18:28:27 earlier, where you leverage the good work that's going on
18:28:31 with the community, big picture plan with government, with the nonprofits
18:28:35 and, yes, bring in all the small businesses
18:28:37 .
And the more that we can connect
18:28:39 the dots with the community assets, the better.
18:28:43 So for me it's from people on the streets that are getting no
18:28:48 services, all the way to the continuum where someone is in stable
18:28:52 housing and becoming homeowners and building that equity and that
18:28:55 capital for their families.
That's the goal.
18:28:59 And so following that track.
And
18:29:03 people's
18:29:08 resiliency and agency is where that is and offering people to move in that
18:29:12 continuum and not remain complacent that they don't want to move because
18:29:18 people in their heart always want to continue to grow and evolve in line.
18:29:22 So I hope that our continuum continues to connect those
18:29:24 dots.
And so when the mayor asked me when
18:29:29 I first got in if I had any preference in
18:29:32 bureaus, I didn't.
I'm a big advocate for having a
18:29:35 form of government where we all stay focused on the priorities of the city,
18:29:41 which are houselessness and, excuse me, community safety
18:29:46 and economic prosperity, which right now is survival for many, and
18:29:51 so as a unit, as a team of five, we must stay focused on those top
18:29:53 three priorities.
So I may be the commissioner that
18:29:57 oversees this, but what I liked that the mayor offered was I said
18:30:00 , can they be connected to one another?
18:30:04 So BDS, the joint office and housing have a
18:30:09 nice symmetry so I can do work
18:30:13 that's more systemic in my time in this role so I look forward
18:30:17 to having meetings that include the three directors in charge of those
18:30:20 three bureaus so we can starts to see where we can leverage within
18:30:24 government and start to break down the silos within and start to see greater
18:30:26 efficiency in the city that needs to work.
18:30:30 I'm going to end with just saying that I
18:30:34 spent an hour and a half last night walking around old town.
18:30:38 I try to do incognito visits to neighborhoods that
18:30:42 are suffering quite a bit.
And every time I do
18:30:46 that, well, one, it makes it hard to sleep at night because I couldn't get
18:30:50 over some of the images I felt.
And I just hope I encourage all of
18:30:54 you to continue even in this time of Zoom and in time where we are
18:30:59 not literally seeing one another in rooms, to continue to get
18:31:03 out there with your mask on and see how gripping
18:31:07 it is right now.
It's -- we are a city that's
18:31:10 in a crisis like we have never been in before.
18:31:13 We have people living in a neighborhood like old town that are
18:31:16 prisoners in their homes.
They don't feel safe to go
18:31:18 outside.
Just think about that for a
18:31:20 minute.
Like that's sad.
18:31:22 And we have communities like that right now.
18:31:26 And so if there's a time for you to make some trouble, for you
18:31:30 to think out of the box, now is the time.
18:31:34 So when we are doing work such as sheltered to housing and we are
18:31:38 doing -- we are codifying the opportunities for tiny
18:31:43 homes, for outdoor villages, how can we think
18:31:47 about -- we have met our goals for this last bond
18:31:51 but what can we do to think out of the box to look at other parts of that
18:31:53 continuum?
I think all of these projects are
18:31:55 great.
I'm not dismissing that.
18:31:59 I'm just saying, what else can we do to challenge ourselves
18:32:03 so that we really do connect the dots between the housing bureau with the
18:32:05 joint office, which is done all the time.
18:32:09 But I just want us to keep pushing ourselves to be creative at a
18:32:13 time of crisis.
And I think I'll just end with
18:32:16 that because of the hour.
It's 6:32.
18:32:19 And I'm a real time boundary person.
18:32:22 So if you want me to stay for a few minutes, I will.
18:32:26 But I'll understand if you're done with having being on a Zoom
18:32:29 Zoom.
>> STEVEN HOLT: I appreciate that,
18:32:31 commissioner.
I think having you hang out for a
18:32:35 little bit is going to be great for some interaction with the oversight
18:32:38 committee members.
I will call each oversight
18:32:41 committee member, just call you and give you an opportunity to interact
18:32:44 and respond.
I will begin with Anneliese because
18:32:49 you went last last time, you will go first this time
18:32:51 .
>> ANNELIESE KOELER: Thank you, Dr.
18:32:53 Holt.
Ryan, it's good to see you again
18:32:57 and I really appreciate you coming.
I was excited to learn when I were
18:33:00 -- when you got housing.
I know how passionate you are about
18:33:06 it.
So, yeah, I am excited to have you
18:33:08 here and to hear more about what your vision is.
18:33:12 I know this has been quick.
So, you know, excited for
18:33:16 continued conversations and learning more from each other and
18:33:21 from the community.
>> DAN RYAN:
18:33:25 Anneliese, tell me why you wanted to be
18:33:27 on this body, the bond oversight committee?
18:33:31 You're all going to answer that.
Tell me why you have a fire
18:33:34 in your belly to be on this.
If you don't have a fire in your
18:33:39 belly, please leave.
>> ANNELIESE KOELER: When
18:33:43 the Portland housing -- I served on one of the original community groups
18:33:48 that brought the Portland housing bond to fruition so to me
18:33:51 it's been really wonderful to join this group and see it through to the
18:33:55 -- hopefully to the very end and to a
18:33:58 success.
So often when you do policy work
18:34:03 you're a creating laws and passing bonds and you go onto the next thing
18:34:05 .
This has been such an amazing
18:34:09 opportunity to have sat at one of the initial tables, helped pass it and
18:34:13 then continued to see it through all the way
18:34:17 .
>> DAN RYAN: Thank you.
18:34:21 >> STEVEN HOLT: We are going to go next to Todd Struble
18:34:21 .
>> TODD STRUBLE: Good evening,
18:34:23 commissioner.
My name is Todd.
18:34:26 I don't think we have had a chance to meet in person.
18:34:29 But I did want to recognize we know someone in common.
18:34:33 I went hiking earlier this week with
18:34:37 RJ Peters Hagen and he said to say hello.
18:34:40 Small world.
>> DAN RYAN: You know RJ?
18:34:43 Wow, I would love to talk off-line for you.
18:34:47 I went to Roosevelt high school back in
18:34:49 the day.
>> TODD STRUBLE: He said high
18:34:51 school and college together.
But to answer your question, I
18:34:56 think to the seriousness of our housing crisis
18:35:00 , and, you know, I think I was appointed by your predecessor
18:35:04 , commissioner fish and it's been very gratifying to serve on this
18:35:08 committee.
I'm appreciative of him for that
18:35:13 opportunity.
It's the crisis of our city at this
18:35:17 time and has been for a while and continues to be for
18:35:22 the foreseeable future.
I
18:35:27 think commissioner fish saw our work in east Portland
18:35:31 with aupono in the J district
18:35:35 around equitable development and stabilizing communities that have
18:35:39 are vulnerable to the
18:35:42 displacement and the pressures of rising housing costs and economic
18:35:44 challenges.
So that is the perspective that I
18:35:48 have tried to bring to this group and this
18:35:52 public project.
And I'm -- like I
18:35:56 mentioned before, seeing some of these projects come to life in
18:36:00 some of the neighborhood prosperity networks
18:36:04 that Prosper Portland has invested in has been gratifying and I would like
18:36:07 to see this work through.
Thank you.
18:36:10 >> DAN RYAN: Thank you, Todd.
That's really helpful.
18:36:14 >> STEVEN HOLT: Susan, we will go to you next.
18:36:18 >> SUSAN EMMONS: I'm also am really happy you're here, Commissioner Ryan,
18:36:22 I think it's so good that you have joined this meeting tonight
18:36:25 .
I was appointed by Amanda Fritz to
18:36:28 the bond oversight.
I was the director at northwest
18:36:33 pilot project for 31 years.
And we were an organization that
18:36:37 published an annual inventory and documented the loss year after year
18:36:39 .
And so I think we were one of the
18:36:43 groups, we kept losing housing and losing housing.
18:36:46 In the central city.
We monitored one neighborhood.
18:36:50 And so when the bond measure passed and there was an opportunity to sit on
18:36:54 a group that could actually look at projects and determine how we were
18:36:58 going to spend this money and how we were going to report back to the
18:37:02 community and measure, and I think PHB has done an
18:37:07 exceptional job of reporting.
We, as members
18:37:09 , we have asked very specific questions.
18:37:13 At one point after one meeting, I said, are we asking -- are
18:37:16 we a nuisance?
Are we asking too many questions?
18:37:19 No, no, that's great and that you want the specifics and you want the
18:37:22 budgets and you want to be responsible.
18:37:26 I, like you, have walked the city.
I
18:37:29 have lived all my life in an apartment, all my adult life in
18:37:33 apartments and raised our twin sons in an apartment in northwest Portland.
18:37:36 And I talked to people who are camping.
18:37:40 I talked to neighbors who have tents on
18:37:44 their streets in northwest Portland where they never have,
18:37:47 in neighborhoods where we have never seen people camping.
18:37:50 It is appalling.
I have the same sense of urgency
18:37:54 that you do.
And I think that we have got to
18:37:57 do better and we will.
I think that we will.
18:38:01 I am very encouraged by some of the outreach that's going on.
18:38:04 But it is a very difficult and challenging time.
18:38:07 And I just can't say enough about the PHB staff.
18:38:12 I think they are a really hard working, passionate group of people
18:38:14 .
So that's my input.
18:38:18 >> DAN RYAN: Thank you, Susan.
>> STEVEN HOLT: Allan, it is
18:38:20 you.
>> ALLAN LAZO: Thank you, Dr.
18:38:23 Holt.
And good evening, Commissioner
18:38:25 Ryan.
Great to see you again.
18:38:28 Before council -- was that the same week or was it last week?
18:38:32 It's hard to keep track of the weeks anymore down here in my basement
18:38:35 .
I really -- really resonates with
18:38:38 me what you are talking about, kind of where we are in the project.
18:38:42 We were just talking about that earlier in the meeting about the
18:38:46 funding that we have still available in the bond and the opportunity that's
18:38:51 before us and how we look at solving the crisis that is at hand and
18:38:54 how we respond to that.
And I agree with the folks here who
18:38:59 tonight have said that the PHB staff are the right folks
18:39:03 to put that charge in their hands.
They have been really
18:39:07 wonderful in responding to the work that's happened under the bond and
18:39:11 so it's a pleasure to work with them and to be involved in this.
18:39:15 And, you know, I also appreciate the question about why we are involved
18:39:19 here and for me, it's a very specific answer
18:39:24 and, you know, I think the best way for me to root it is in
18:39:28 something that, as we said, your predecessor, commissioner fish
18:39:34 had pulled me aside to say I was speaking for council and one of the
18:39:38 phrases I used was that, you know, housing isn't just
18:39:42 about -- and I said this earlier, isn't just about the roof over your
18:39:44 head.
It's about the opportunity out your
18:39:48 front door.
And so we have really, for me,
18:39:52 trying to bring that fair housing perspective, that isn't just about
18:39:57 building units, it's about creating opportunity and insuring that
18:40:01 as we are making these investments, that they are
18:40:05 paying off for those residents in a way that is meaningful
18:40:11 for those folks.
And I think that's a
18:40:14 vitally important piece of this work, not just counting the number of units,
18:40:19 the number of people we are housing but what we are doing to
18:40:23 create opportunity, create inclusive communities and to create
18:40:27 opportunities for so many people that might not otherwise have those without
18:40:29 the work that you all are doing here.
18:40:33 So greatly appreciate that.
>> DAN RYAN: Thank you, Allan
18:40:37 .
>> STEVEN HOLT: Appreciate the
18:40:40 feedback and the opportunity to hear from Commissioner Ryan and then also
18:40:44 for each of the bond oversight members to kind of talk about the fire that's
18:40:47 in their belly.
Before I wrap up our meeting,
18:40:51 commissioner, were there any other thoughts or comments?
18:40:53 >> DAN RYAN: I want to make some closing comments after I hear the fire
18:40:57 in your belly, Dr. Holt.
>> STEVEN HOLT: Oh, the fire in my
18:41:01 belly.
You will get a chance to hear a lot
18:41:05 of the fire in my belly when we come together for the group that
18:41:10 I chair.
In this space I am the
18:41:14 facilitator of the work and so -- and helping to strategize how we do what
18:41:18 we do, but I am extremely passionate when it comes
18:41:22 to housing and affordability and how we address gentrification
18:41:26 and displacement.
So thank you for the opportunity.
18:41:30 And I look forward to being able to expound
18:41:34 more when we are in the oversight committee for the
18:41:38 north-northeast housing strategies.
>> DAN RYAN: Let me just
18:41:42 end by saying I realize I'm on shoulders when you come into any
18:41:46 position and so my job is to leverage those assets and I'll start by saying
18:41:50 that I'm impressed with Dr. Callahan and her team, like was mentioned
18:41:54 earlier, and also mark Joe
18:41:58 land and their team at the joint office and I see them as definitely
18:42:00 connected.
I want to mention I saw an article
18:42:04 not too long ago where director Callahan even mentioned we have a slow
18:42:08 permitting process.
This just in, since the
18:42:09 [INDISCERNIBLE]
Portland has been challenged with
18:42:14 permitting process that's a little glacieresque.
18:42:18 And so we are on it.
It's called the permit
18:42:21 improvement task force.
And tomorrow we have our second
18:42:25 meeting and we have all seven bureaus that do
18:42:29 permitting are involved with their director and the person that's
18:42:33 online and responsible for the committee itself.
18:42:37 And we have to figure out how to improve and speed that up, especially
18:42:40 at a time like we are in now.
Now is the time.
18:42:44 And I just wanted to say congratulations for
18:42:47 the word exceeding being repeated four times on this slide.
18:42:51 It's not lost on me.
And I appreciate your
18:42:53 advocacy.
And I look forward to being back at
18:42:57 other meetings so I can partner with you and leverage what you're doing out
18:43:02 in the public space so that we can continue to build momentum.
18:43:06 And I agree that Portland's best days are coming and our big challenges
18:43:10 challenge is to show ourselves and the rest of the world that we know how to
18:43:14 handle our gripping houselessness challenge
18:43:17 challenge.
Please know my compassion for those
18:43:20 on the streets is big.
I lost a brother on the streets and
18:43:24 we have to call it out sometimes and say it's overwhelming and I think
18:43:27 old town might be the neighborhood that sticks out more than most in
18:43:30 terms of just how challenged we are at the moment.
18:43:34 And so anyway, let's just continue to think good thoughts, continue to
18:43:38 have compassion and let's continue to take action.
18:43:41 And I appreciate all of you for the action you took.
18:43:42 Thanks.
>> STEVEN HOLT: Thank you.
18:43:45 Appreciate that.
With that, we will wrap up our
18:43:48 meeting for tonight.
Appreciate everyone being in the
18:43:50 space.
We have gone past our time but it
18:43:53 was worth it.
The work is significant and the
18:43:55 lift is big.
It's going to take all of us
18:43:59 collaboratively, strategically thinking about how we do that together.
18:44:03 So those who were leaning in, it is appreciated and
18:44:06 valued.
Our next meeting is going to happen
18:44:09 in July, on the 15th.
It will be at 9:30 in the morning.
18:44:13 That's the third Thursday of July.
It will be via
18:44:17 Zoom platform and hopefully we will be leaving these platforms and actually
18:44:21 be able to see people in person and reconnect soon.
18:44:25 Until then, let me encourage you to do a couple of things.
18:44:29 One, you have heard it repeatedly, get out in the community and see for
18:44:33 yourself what's going on.
Nothing hits your heart like
18:44:37 seeing it up close and personal.
Number two, stay safe
18:44:40 .
Do what is necessary to keep
18:44:43 yourself and your family safe.
And then number three, I think it's
18:44:48 important that we keep breathing, that we breathe deeply, that
18:44:51 we think compassionately and that we take action.
18:44:53 Thanks so much for everybody being in the space.
18:44:55 Have an incredible Thursday evening.
18:44:58 Take care of yourselves.
We will see you soon.