2023-04-11 FHAC Meeting (closed caption)

15:02:20 rental services office.

15:02:24 Niki Luneclair was unavailable for today's meeting.

15:02:24

15:02:28 Ryan, you can go ahead and start the

15:02:29 recording.

15:02:31 >> Recording in progress.

15:02:32 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Excellent.

15:02:35 We've got a bunch of new

15:02:38 members today which is really exciting.

15:02:41 We'll do a formal round robin of introductions after

15:02:43 the staff updates.

15:02:46 So right now we're just going to do the roll call.

15:02:47

15:02:49 Ashley Miller?

15:02:50 >> Present.

15:02:53 >> Fannie Adams?

15:02:55 >> Present.

15:02:58 >> Rachel

15:02:59 Nehse?

15:03:01 >> Present.

15:03:04 >> Jamillah J.

15:03:08 Rutherford?

15:03:08

15:03:09 Jamillah?

15:03:11 >> Sorry, I'm here.

15:03:14 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: I was like, I thought I saw her.

15:03:14

15:03:16 Welcome, welcome.

15:03:17 Jesse Neilson?

15:03:18 >> Here.

15:03:21 >> Caroline Jackson?

15:03:21 >> Present.

15:03:24 >> Welcome, Caroline.

15:03:30 Irina Alonso?

15:03:36 Irina?

15:03:37 >> Present.

15:03:41 >> Wonderful, welcome.

15:03:41

15:03:44 Mara Romero?

15:03:45 >> Present.

15:03:47 >> Olia Gorelkina?

15:03:49 >> Present.

15:03:52 >> Stephanie Grayce?

15:03:54 >> Present.

15:03:57 >> Holly Stevens?

15:04:06 Holly?

15:04:09 Christina Dirks is absent per an email notification.

15:04:09 She's a new member.

15:04:15 Allan Lazo?

15:04:18 >> Good afternoon, all, present by video.

15:04:20 Happy fair housing day.

15:04:23 >> Yes.

15:04:24 Barbara Guire?

15:04:27 >> Here, in person.

15:04:27

15:04:32 >> And Dung

15:04:33 Ho?

15:04:34 >> Present.

15:04:35 >> Wonderful.

15:04:37 We have met quorum.

15:04:40 We can move on to staff updates presentation.

15:05:08

15:05:12 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: As I mentioned earlier, Niki Luneclair was not able to make the

15:05:15 meeting today so I am

15:05:19 taking over for much of the facilitation.

15:05:22 I hope I live up to Niki's wonderful

15:05:23 standards.

15:05:28 I'm Breonne

15:05:31 DeDecker, manager of rental services for the City of

15:05:32 Portland.

15:05:32 Next slide.

15:05:36 And as Allan mentioned, it is not

15:05:41 just fair housing month,

15:05:46 but today is the anniversary of the signing of the

15:05:50 Fair Housing Act, an auspicious day for us to be meeting.

15:05:50

15:05:55 Last Wednesday Portland city City Council did proclaim April

15:05:58 to be Fair Housing Month in the City of

15:05:59 Portland.

15:06:03 There was a wonderful proclamation, we had two of

15:06:06 the poster artists come down and join us in city

15:06:07 council, which was very nice.

15:06:11 This was the grand prize winner, seventh grade,

15:06:14 Halima Asad from the

15:06:17 Muslim Educational

15:06:20 Trust, "Community includes all

15:06:21 of us."

15:06:24 We have copies of this poster available in our office if anybody wants to

15:06:25 grab one.

15:06:28 We do have some on hand

15:06:30 to give out.

15:06:32 It's a very lovely poster.

15:06:35 I wanted to thank you, Allan, for your wonderful comments and

15:06:39 for being as always a great master of

15:06:39 ceremonies.

15:06:42 A wonderful proclamation.

15:06:45 It's always a time to celebrate but also reflect

15:06:48 on the fact that we

15:06:51 have so much work to do to realize all the promises made by

15:06:56 the fair housing act

15:07:07 Act.

15:07:10 The AFFH proposed rules, we

15:07:14 sent out the slide deck notifying that the comments had

15:07:16 closed.

15:07:19 They have actually reopened the comments, so now comments can be made

15:07:22 to HUD until April 24th.

15:07:25 So if you as an individual would like to make

15:07:29 comments, there's still time to send those comments in.

15:07:30

15:07:34 PHB did submit public comment in support of the proposed rule.

15:07:37 Once the final rule was published, we will

15:07:41 review the requirements and update

15:07:44 FF if there are any next steps which may affect our

15:07:49 Portland fair Fair Housing Plan project.

15:07:49

15:07:52 I just happened to catch an article

15:07:55 this morning that they had changed the deadline.

15:07:55

15:07:58 Apologies for the miscommunication earlier, but there is still time to send comments if you would like.

15:08:02 Next slide.

15:08:05 As many of you know,

15:08:08 we've got an exciting pool of people joining us

15:08:09 on the body.

15:08:12 We're very excited to welcome all of these new

15:08:14 members.

15:08:17 It's the first meeting for these committee

15:08:17 members.

15:08:21 I apologize in advance if I have butchered anyone's

15:08:24 name, please do correct us if we're mispronouncing your

15:08:25 name.

15:08:28 We'll do a brief round of round robins for all commissioners

15:08:29 in a minute.

15:08:33 These are our new members.

15:08:33

15:08:36 And we are in need of

15:08:39 recruitment for a new committee chair position.

15:08:43 If you're interested in becoming a committee chair, right now we only

15:08:46 have one so we need a co-chair, please email

15:08:50 Niki Luneclair by Monday, May 1st

15:08:50 .

15:08:53 We can drop her contact information into the

15:08:56 chat for any FHAC members who may not be aware of

15:08:57 it.

15:09:00 And she will provide instruction on what information should be

15:09:02 provided for consideration.

15:09:05 Final selection on committee chair is made

15:09:07 by the bureau director.

15:09:14 Does anyone have any questions?

15:09:17 Current chair is

15:09:21 J. Rutherford.

15:09:37 Does anyone have any other questions?

15:09:37 Okay.

15:09:41 Well, next on our agenda is

15:09:44 the really fun round robin

15:09:46 of introductions for all committee members.

15:09:49 So we want everyone on the committee to introduce themselves, not just the new

15:09:53 members, so everyone can get acquainted with

15:09:53 one another.

15:09:57 If you would please just state your

15:10:00 name, your pronouns, what you do for work, your interest

15:10:03 in FHAC, that would

15:10:04 be wonderful.

15:10:07 And J., as the current chair, do you want to kick us off?

15:10:09

15:10:10 >> Sure.

15:10:13 Hi, everybody, my name is J. Or

15:10:17 Jamillah Rutherford Tai.

15:10:29 I have been on the committee for two years now.

15:10:32 I have a company called responsible media group or

15:10:35 RMG, Diane at this

15:10:39 racist media and also produce antiracist

15:10:42 media and have a special interest in housing because I've

15:10:45 lived in tons of cities or communities, actually, that

15:10:48 have been gentrified.

15:10:51 So it's been an honor to be here for the

15:10:53 last couple of years.

15:10:55 And that's it.

15:10:58 It's nice to see a new group of people.

15:11:01 Do you want me to pass it to someone or do you want me to just

15:11:02 stop?

15:11:04 Should I throw it to somebody?

15:11:08 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Yeah, if people can

15:11:09 popcorn, that would be great.

15:11:12 >> I'll give it to Mara.

15:11:14 >> Ooh, I could feel that coming.

15:11:16 >> You knew I was going to do it.

15:11:17 >> I knew it.

15:11:19 I was prepared, though.

15:11:22 I'm usually just vomiting things out of my mouth anyway.

15:11:23

15:11:25 I apologize, my camera is not on.

15:11:26 I'm in my car.

15:11:29 But I wanted to make sure I didn't miss this meeting.

15:11:33 So my name is Mara Romero, I

15:11:36 use she/her

15:11:36 pronouns.

15:11:39 I am primarily a housing advocate.

15:11:43 I work for independent living Independent Living Resources, which is a

15:11:46 peer-based disability advocacy organization.

15:11:49 And I work on all of

15:11:50 their housing type stuff.

15:11:54 So part of that has been to get out and get on these committees to

15:11:56 kind of share the disability perspective.

15:11:59 So yeah, that's what I'm doing here.

15:12:02 And I really, really enjoy this work because it's not something that my

15:12:05 brain is usually good at or like I don't think that I'm

15:12:08 good at it, so being able to be

15:12:12 in spaces where I can understand something and

15:12:15 people take the time to explain things has been really nice.

15:12:15

15:12:18 And I'm definitely understanding the policy side of our housing advocacy a lot more.

15:12:27 So that's it.

15:12:31 Oh, I'm supposed to popcorn,

15:12:31 right?

15:12:32 I apologize.

15:12:34 Now I feel like this is a lot of pressure.

15:12:37 I guess I'll have to go to

15:12:37 Allan.

15:12:39 >> ALLAN LAZO: Thank you, Mara.

15:12:42 Good afternoon, everyone, I'm Allan Lazo, executive

15:12:45 director with the fair housing council of Oregon.

15:12:45

15:12:47 I use he/him pronouns.

15:12:51 We have a particular interest in the organization as

15:12:54 the fair Fair Housing Council of

15:12:55 Oregon.

15:12:57 We're the only qualified housing organization in the State that specializes just

15:12:59 in fair housing.

15:13:02 So we're here to help provide

15:13:05 technical assistance and support for the work that we're doing here

15:13:07 with the bureau.

15:13:10 So you'll hear some of that this afternoon when we talk about the work we've done around

15:13:13 testing and some other data that we have to present.

15:13:17 So I'm so excited about being here today, and

15:13:20 again, as Breonne mentioned, today is April

15:13:23 11th, it is the anniversary day of

15:13:26 the Fair Housing Act which was passed, signed

15:13:30 into law April 11th, 1968,

15:13:33 a very apropos day for us to gather and start

15:13:35 talking about these issues again today.

15:13:38 So I really appreciate being here with you all.

15:13:43 And I will pass it to

15:13:46 Dung is actually next up on my

15:13:47 screen.

15:13:50 >> Hello, everyone, my name is Dung

15:13:53 and my

15:13:56 pronouns are she/her/hers.

15:13:59 I'm the community support director at the community Community Alliance of

15:14:00 Tenants.

15:14:04 A quick overview what have we do, what I'm able to contribute to

15:14:07 this space, we have a lot of partnerships with

15:14:11 folks in the room.

15:14:14 We've worked for a long time with passing along referrals and sharing educational information about

15:14:18 fair housing law as well, with tenants, and making

15:14:21 sure that they understand what their rights are,

15:14:24 and how to recognize what fair housing discrimination looks like,

15:14:27 because sometimes it's not as obvious.

15:14:30 It might just be, you know, a weird feeling, you know, when you're going

15:14:33 out there, looking for housing

15:14:36 or being treated differently.

15:14:39 And so learning about all of the things and sharing

15:14:42 all the information among all these experts in the

15:14:45 room, it's a wonderful space.

15:14:46 And I'm glad to be here.

15:14:49 And I will go ahead and pass

15:14:52 it on to

15:14:56 -- whoa, there we

15:14:57 go.

15:14:59 Things are moving.

15:15:02 Is Fannie here?

15:15:07 I think I saw Fannie on the screen there for a second.

15:15:16

15:15:17 Or I also saw --

15:15:20 >> I'm on, I'm sorry.

15:15:21 >> I couldn't think of a backup.

15:15:25 >> Hi, everyone, my name is

15:15:28 Fanny, I am the community development block

15:15:31 grant coordinator here at Multnomah

15:15:34 county.

15:15:37 I'm based out of the youth and family services

15:15:38 division.

15:15:40 We have multiple programs.

15:15:43 The mission of the housing stability team is to keep

15:15:46 families and individuals housed.

15:15:49 I'm very grass-rooted in working with nonprofit

15:15:50 agencies.

15:15:53 Some of you are on call that we have contracts

15:15:54 with.

15:15:57 And that the CDBG grant collaborates with

15:16:01 some of you in carrying out some of the work to

15:16:04 just keep folks housed

15:16:07 and it's my first year in this group.

15:16:08

15:16:11 Here learning a lot more from you than I feel at times that

15:16:12 I'm contributing.

15:16:19 But I'm glad to be here in this space.

15:16:21 And I actually can't see the names.

15:16:27 If someone wants to join next.

15:16:31 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: I'll just toss it over to Irina

15:16:34 Alonso, I'll call on the first new person on the list.

15:16:37 I wanted to put that list up so everyone who isn't as familiar

15:16:40 with the new appointees could see the

15:16:41 names.

15:16:42 >> IRINA ALONSO: Hi.

15:16:46 Sorry, my dog is barking a

15:16:48 lot.

15:16:49 [Barking]

15:16:50 I'm so sorry.

15:16:54 My name is Irina

15:16:54 Alonso.

15:16:58 I work for county social services, I'm a permanent

15:17:02 supportive housing case

15:17:04 manager.

15:17:08 One of my causes is to support chronically homeless

15:17:12 families in the Clackamas County area and help them

15:17:14 get housed and stabilized.

15:17:18 I work on supporting them with kind of all of the things

15:17:19 that come with life.

15:17:24 And I also have programs on supporting the

15:17:27 kiddos and making sure they're successful in school and I support background services

15:17:28 and whatnot.

15:17:33 And then I also work very

15:17:36 incidencely with ODHS with a much shorter term

15:17:39 case

15:17:43 lows where we support families who

15:17:45 --

15:17:47 [barking]

15:17:51 Sorry -- to help house them and

15:17:55 stabilize them.

15:17:55

15:17:56 [Barking]

15:17:59 I'm sorry, I have a cat.

15:18:02 I like housing because I really love my job and

15:18:05 I love the ability to help

15:18:08 people at the worst moment

15:18:11 and be able to -- I don't know, usually I feel

15:18:14 very grateful that I am in a position where

15:18:18 people trust me to help their families at the

15:18:19 very worst moments in life.

15:18:23 And then I still get to stick around and watch their

15:18:26 kids grow and be there

15:18:29 along for the good and bad times in life.

15:18:31 I'm very happy about that.

15:18:34 I'm pass it to Stephanie.

15:18:38 >> STEPHANIE GRAYCE: Hello, my name is Stephanie Grayce.

15:18:41 I am a soon-to-be

15:18:44 graduate of Lewis and Clark Law School, this is my

15:18:47 last week in law school, in

15:18:48 fact, I will graduate in May.

15:18:54 I've been also hired by

15:19:00 Lewis and

15:19:02 Clark.

15:19:06 Reform for

15:19:10 the

15:19:13 formally incarcerated

15:19:16 is my passion.

15:19:17

15:19:21 There are people that are still experiencing significant housing

15:19:24 barriers despite some efforts to limit the

15:19:25 look-back on convictions.

15:19:28 And it's because of my work with them and

15:19:31 because of my personal experience

15:19:34 with the carceral system that I wanted

15:19:37 to work in a different way to support our

15:19:41 communities, particularly when you look at the people

15:19:44 who are convicted and incarcerated

15:19:47 are people from traditionally marginalized communities.

15:19:50 I think it's an important issue and I'm incredibly happy to be

15:19:56 here and to represent to the best of my abilities people like my clients

15:19:57 and those I serve.

15:20:00 Ly pass it to Caroline.

15:20:01 >> CAROLINE JACKSON: Hi, everyone.

15:20:03 Thanks for all those introductions.

15:20:04 It's great to get to know you all.

15:20:07 My name is Caroline Jackson.

15:20:10 I use she/her

15:20:10 pronouns.

15:20:13 And I am an employee of Outside In.

15:20:17 We're a nonprofit that mostly does transitional

15:20:18 housing and also health care and social services.

15:20:22 My first job there

15:20:25 was with our low cost tattoo removal

15:20:29 program which got me interested in this topic because a lot of

15:20:32 folks had tattoos that were barriers to housing and

15:20:32 employment.

15:20:35 Now I do volunteer management and outreach event coordination but

15:20:39 I also just finished a masters degree

15:20:42 in public policy at

15:20:46 Portland

15:20:49 State University, congratulations to

15:20:51 Stephanie too on almost being done.

15:20:54 I'm really passionate about equity in housing.

15:20:57 So I'm really excited to learn from this group, because

15:21:00 it's my first sort of professional

15:21:03 foray into policy

15:21:04 work.

15:21:07 I also have been a renter for 12 years in Portland

15:21:10 and I've lived in eight different rental units.

15:21:10

15:21:13 All of that was while being very privileged to not have as

15:21:15 many barriers as a lot of folks.

15:21:18 And I've seen firsthand how hard it is for someone

15:21:22 with that privilege, and I can't imagine the barriers that a lot of

15:21:23 other folks face.

15:21:26 So really honored to serve on this committee.

15:21:27 Thanks so much.

15:21:30 I'll pass it to -- is Olia here?

15:21:31

15:21:33 >> OLIA GORELKINA: Yes, I am, hello.

15:21:35 My name is Olia.

15:21:40 I am really excited to be here listening to everyone's

15:21:43 stories and how they got to work with

15:21:45 housing, it's really inspiring.

15:21:47 My pronouns are she/her.

15:21:51 I am a housing coordinate

15:21:54 for a domestic violence agency, we

15:21:57 work specifically with Slavic refugees

15:21:58 and immigrants.

15:22:02 We find housing for survivors

15:22:05 but in addition educating everyone who doesn't

15:22:09 know how to rent, which is most of the people who come to us.

15:22:12 We get referrals and calls, we try to teach classes and organize

15:22:15 workshops to explain how it works in Portland,

15:22:18 how it works in the U.S. generally.

15:22:21 And people are always shocked, are always surprised,

15:22:22 they don't understand any of the rules.

15:22:25 This is basically what we do.

15:22:28 And we started only about half a

15:22:31 year ago doing this critical work.

15:22:31

15:22:33 We hope it's going to continue.

15:22:37 I decided I want to be part of the Fair Housing Council

15:22:40 because I want to know more, I want to educate myself and

15:22:42 bring all of that into my community.

15:22:44 So thank you for having me here.

15:22:47 And I am going to pass it on

15:22:50 to Jesse

15:22:53 Neilson.

15:22:56 >> JESSE NEILSON: Hi, everyone, my name is Jesse Neilson, I use

15:22:57 he/him pronouns.

15:23:01 I currently work at the Oregon bureau

15:23:04 of labor industries,

15:23:08 civil rights division,

15:23:13 I'm an attorney and did a

15:23:16 lot of housing

15:23:17 work.

15:23:20 My family has some personal experience with

15:23:22 housing insecurity.

15:23:25 And, you know, I guess for a long time I've

15:23:29 had an interest in housing issues and how

15:23:32 it impacts people differently and what the government is doing about it or

15:23:33 should be doing about it.

15:23:36 I'm excited to be here to hopefully share my experience but also to

15:23:41 learn from everybody here and

15:23:44 get the city and jurisdictional part going in the right

15:23:46 direction on fair housing.

15:23:48 I'll pass it to Barbara.

15:23:52 >> Hi, I'm Barbara Guire.

15:23:52

15:23:56 I've been -- this is my second term on the

15:23:57 committee.

15:24:00 I started three years ago.

15:24:03 I am Barbara Guire Real Estate.

15:24:04

15:24:07 I have been in the real estate industry licensed for over 40

15:24:12 years, starting in California.

15:24:16 For the last 20 years I've had a real estate business in

15:24:19 both Oregon and

15:24:22 California.

15:24:24 Always, always, always studying the law.

15:24:27 In order to renew our licenses, we have classroom requirements

15:24:31 that amount for me to

15:24:34 about a week a year

15:24:35 that I have to do.

15:24:38 And I study a lot of fair housing.

15:24:42 Laws of agency, laws of contract,

15:24:45 laws of business and

15:24:46 professions.

15:24:50 My main goals, and for

15:24:53 some reason it has made me somewhat unpopular, and I don't understand

15:24:57 it, but I feel it's vital

15:25:00 that we

15:25:04 explore the complaints, fair housing complaints, that have gone to a

15:25:07 number of -- I have a long list --

15:25:10 organizations and agencies that receive complaints from

15:25:10 everyone.

15:25:13 And I would like to find out what those complaints are, because I

15:25:15 personally have no idea.

15:25:19 I mean, maybe we don't have a fair housing problem in

15:25:20 Oregon.

15:25:22 Maybe we have a major, major problem.

15:25:26 Maybe people regularly come out of their front doors

15:25:28 and they see nooses hanging from the ceiling.

15:25:29 I don't know what's going on.

15:25:33 So to me it's very, very important

15:25:36 that we do that, that we look at that.

15:25:36

15:25:40 And the other thing is that we explore all tenants

15:25:43 trying to get into housing and what the barriers

15:25:45 are.

15:25:48 And it's quite difficult in buildings where there are lists, lists that

15:25:52 go on for many

15:25:52 years.

15:25:56 So those lists are not controlled by anyone

15:25:59 but I suppose the organizations, the

15:26:00 landlords.

15:26:04 So tenants asserting their housing

15:26:08 rights, I'm interested in representation.

15:26:08

15:26:10 I have represented renters.

15:26:13 I've never been a site manager,

15:26:16 but as a licensed individual,

15:26:19 I've represented a very wide,

15:26:23 broad spectrum of population, always following the

15:26:26 law, always found it easy to follow

15:26:29 the law, just go to the highest level and follow it and

15:26:31 you'll never get into trouble.

15:26:34 So my pronouns are she/her.

15:26:36

15:26:39 What was the other thing?

15:26:40 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: I think you covered it.

15:26:44 How about Ashley, Ashley, have you gone yet?

15:26:44

15:26:45 I don't think so.

15:26:46 >> I have not, thank you.

15:26:49 Good afternoon, everyone, my name is Ashley Miller,

15:26:51 she/her pronouns.

15:26:53 And I am one of the jurisdictional partners.

15:26:56 So I work for the City of

15:26:57 Gresham.

15:27:00 I am the in term urban design and

15:27:02 planning director and the housing services manager.

15:27:06 I oversee Gresham's administration

15:27:08 of HUD home and CDBG funding.

15:27:11 It's nice to meet you all and be here today.

15:27:14 And I will pass it off to Rachel

15:27:17 Nehse who also works for the City of Gresham.

15:27:20 >> Hi, my name is Rachel

15:27:24 Nehse, she/her/hers

15:27:25 pronouns.

15:27:28 I also work for the City of Gresham, as Ashley

15:27:29 mentioned.

15:27:32 I am a program analyst here working with our HUD grant funds.

15:27:32

15:27:34 I've been here for about five years.

15:27:38 And I do most of the day-to-day

15:27:41 stuff for both our CDBG and home grant

15:27:42 funds.

15:27:45 I'll also be heavily involved in the city

15:27:49 participation with Portland and the county when we

15:27:52 do the -- I can't remember what

15:27:57 it's called -- furthering fair housing plan.

15:27:58

15:27:59 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Thank you, Rachel.

15:28:02 The last but not least person

15:28:05 to go is Holly Stevens

15:28:08 who I think I saw enter.

15:28:13 >> Hi, everyone, my

15:28:17 name is Holly Stephens,

15:28:19 she/her pronouns.

15:28:22 Rise Partnership is a trust on behalf of the State of

15:28:24 Oregon.

15:28:27 I support home care providers in

15:28:29 all of their benefits administration.

15:28:32 And all that fun stuff.

15:28:34 And let's see, what else?

15:28:37 Oh, this is my second term on the

15:28:38 committee.

15:28:41 I got involved because there's a lot of fair housing stuff that happens

15:28:45 a lot in my industry.

15:28:48 When I think about the elderly, aging populations, folks with

15:28:52 developmental disabilities, who need stable

15:28:56 and affordable housing so that they can receive the care

15:28:58 they deserve and they want in their own homes.

15:29:01 And so, yeah, I'm really passionate about this, happy to see

15:29:05 some new faces, welcome, and I look forward to getting to know you.

15:29:07

15:29:11 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Awesome, thank you all, really dynamic

15:29:14 committee, really excited to welcome all the new

15:29:15 folks.

15:29:17 And that is that for introductions.

15:29:21 And we can move on to the next section

15:29:24 of our agenda, initial recommendations for

15:29:27 the Portland Fair Housing Plan.

15:29:57 We have a presentation.

15:30:00 And I have introduced myself I think twice already but I'll

15:30:03 do it again, for anyone who has not caught

15:30:04 it.

15:30:08 I'm Breonne DeDecker, I'm the

15:30:10 rental services office manager.

15:30:13 I'm here with Jessi Conner.

15:30:16 >> JESSICA CONNER: Good afternoon, everyone, my name is Jessi Connor,

15:30:20 senior policy and planning coordinator here at the Housing

15:30:20 Bureau.

15:30:22 I use she/her pronouns.

>> BREONNE DEDECKER: Excellent.

15:30:27 Next slide, please.

15:30:30 So we just wanted to provide a sort of

15:30:33 background on our fair housing

15:30:35 project work plan.

15:30:38 Last year we identified a list of subject areas

15:30:41 to include in this analysis.

15:30:43 FHAC is going to be providing --

15:30:46 FHAC already has provided feedback on these issues,

15:30:49 these areas of analysis.

15:30:52 So far, we have reviewed the demographic summer

15:30:55 and the low income household analysis.

15:30:56

15:30:59 That one was just done in the past April.

15:31:03 The demographic summary was to write context for the rest of the analysis and

15:31:06 did not have any associated policy recommendations.

15:31:06

15:31:10 Today will be our first of many policy

15:31:12 conversations.

15:31:16 PHP has drafted some initial recommendations based on the data presented thus

15:31:17 far.

15:31:20 So looking at the low income household analysis that was

15:31:23 presented back in April, we're going to be

15:31:27 revisiting this list of policy recommendations as we move

15:31:29 throughout the project.

15:31:32 So every time we move through the analyses, we

15:31:35 will revisit our policy

15:31:38 recommendations and sort of like do additional edits to

15:31:41 it, update them,

15:31:43 incorporate new ideas.

15:31:47 Once completed and compiled into a draft

15:31:51 report, we'll develop a plan to present the

15:31:53 draft to the public.

15:31:56 The schedule may change as HUD finalizes the rules.

15:31:59 So we're hoping this will put us on

15:32:02 track to complete the plan

15:32:05 by April, wrap up

15:32:07 all this on April 2024.

15:32:09 That's a year out from now, and best laid plans, right?

15:32:13 So, next slide.

15:32:16 This is just sort of a reiteration of

15:32:18 what I was just saying.

15:32:24 This is an iterative process

15:32:27 whereby we're going to receive data presentations.

15:32:27

15:32:31 FHAC will provide feedback based off the

15:32:31 presentation.

15:32:35 The staff will draft recommendations based on that feedback and FHAC

15:32:38 will provide feedback on the draft recommendations and we'll continue to work through this process

15:32:41 until we've gone through all of the

15:32:44 areas of analysis that have been identified and we

15:32:47 come out with a full, you know, draft recommendation that we can then finalize.

15:32:53 Next slide.

15:32:56 And just to highlight some summary

15:32:59 points from April's presentation, this is

15:33:02 from our low income household analysis.

15:33:05 First, the proportion of extremely low

15:33:08 income households has increased at a higher rate than the growth of

15:33:11 all households since 2011.

15:33:15 And affordability has continued to decline.

15:33:16

15:33:19 Low income households are

15:33:23 disproportionately people of color.

15:33:26 Low income households have the highest rate of a household

15:33:29 member experiencing some form of disability.

15:33:32 Low income households are disproportionately renters

15:33:35 and tend to be severely cost burdened, and low income

15:33:40 renter and on are households are most often

15:33:45 geographically located in east

15:33:47 Portland.

15:33:50 These are the recommendations that formed the basis of

15:33:53 the report that we'll be presenting.

15:33:56 You should have received the full list of recommendations as a

15:33:58 PDF with the meeting email.

15:34:01 We'll be covering each staff recommendation one by one, sharing

15:34:05 the basis of the recommendation and the analysis and we'll be sharing associated

15:34:08 actions that are happening or could happen in response to the recommendations.

15:34:13

15:34:13 Next slide.

15:34:16 The first policy recommendation is to continue funding for emergency

15:34:20 rent assistance programs and to consider deep city

15:34:22 support of long term rent assistance programs.

15:34:25 The basis of this recommendation is that we

15:34:29 know low income households are disproportionately members of a protected

15:34:32 class, specifically people of color and those

15:34:35 experiencing disability, and tend to be

15:34:38 severely cost

15:34:41 burdened. There is an identified impact on these

15:34:43 communities.

15:34:45 This creates barriers to housing.

15:34:48 One way to mitigate this is rental assistance programs.

15:34:51 During the pandemic the city did provide

15:34:55 emergency rent assistance in

15:34:57 unprecedented amounts.

15:35:00 Nearly 115.3 million in rental assistance

15:35:04 has been provided to over 226,000 households.

15:35:04

15:35:06 Those numbers are accurate as of member.

15:35:09 Those are the latest data that's been

15:35:10 published.

15:35:13 This coordinated effort has been impactful to

15:35:17 our community but current funding streams were in response to Covid-19

15:35:18 and will be spent soon.

15:35:22 In order to leverage the infrastructure and partnerships that have been built

15:35:25 and continue to provide this resource, the city would need to identify

15:35:27 new funding.

15:35:31 The same would be true for the city to

15:35:34 explore providing long term rent assistance programs which are more

15:35:37 stabilizing for households than one-time emergency assistance.

15:35:41 While there are questions about the viability of continuing rent assistance programs

15:35:44 due to funding, staff felt it was still important to include this

15:35:45 recommendation.

15:35:48 Rent assistance provides immediate relief to households experiencing crisis

15:35:50 who are severely cost burdened.

15:35:51 Next slide.

15:35:55 And I'm going to be passing it over to

15:35:56 Jessi.

15:35:58 >> JESSICA CONNER: Thanks, Breonne.

15:36:01 So the second staff recommendation was to

15:36:04 continue funding development of subsidized accessible

15:36:08 housing units for individuals and families below 30% of

15:36:11 the median family income and high

15:36:14 opportunity areas of the city which are near employment, transportation, and education.

15:36:22

15:36:25 Our associated actions for these

15:36:29 recommendations are reflected

15:36:32 in the two voter backed housing bonds,

15:36:35 first the Portland Housing Bond and

15:36:38 then a couple of years later the

15:36:41 metro Affordable Housing Bond

15:36:48 for the development of affordable units.

15:36:51 The next couple of slides are going to share

15:36:54 where we are with our current development goals.

15:36:58 We know this recommendation has been made previously through both

15:37:01 the housing crisis lens, the fair housing

15:37:05 lens, and it continues to be a

15:37:08 primary focus for the bureau.

15:37:09

15:37:13 On this slide you'll see a

15:37:16 graph of both the

15:37:19 stated goal and the actual outcomes for

15:37:22 the Portland Housing

15:37:23 Bond.

15:37:25 This is the one that was passed in 2016.

15:37:28 We'll be looking at completion at the end of this year.

15:37:31 You can see pretty clearly that the stated goal, the

15:37:34 unit production goal for the

15:37:38 Housing Bureau -- for the housing bond,

15:37:41 rather, was 1,300 units.

15:37:44 We have far exceeded that

15:37:47 goal with

15:37:51 1,859 units.

15:37:52

15:37:55 The other goal had

15:37:59 units at 30%

15:38:02 below, supportive housing

15:38:05 units with supportive

15:38:08 services, a variety of services

15:38:10 [inaudible]

15:38:14 successful, case management, mental health care, medical health care, et cetera.

15:38:17 Many of the expertise of the folks on

15:38:19 this committee.

15:38:23 And also family sized units which we're defining as two to four

15:38:23 bedrooms.

15:38:27 You can see on the graph, we've exceeded each of those

15:38:29 goals.

15:38:32 We are quite excited about that.

15:38:35 We're able to overdeliver on each of these goals for folks in the city.

15:38:38

15:38:42 The next slide has got the most recent -- well,

15:38:45 we've got some data here for

15:38:47 the Metro Housing Bond.

15:38:51 The data on the slide are the outcomes through the end

15:38:53 of last year.

15:38:56 So 1/22.

15:38:59 It's the same format, what our stated goal and actual goal is.

15:39:00

15:39:03 The bureau just recently released a more

15:39:06 updated report, so it's a little updated.

15:39:10 We have exceeded the goals in each of these categories as

15:39:10 well.

15:39:13 So briefly, the stated goal was

15:39:16 1,475 units.

15:39:20 As of March, we have 1,587 units

15:39:23 that are either open or are in

15:39:23 development.

15:39:26 And we're also exceeding our goals in each

15:39:30 of the three categories, you know, 30% units,

15:39:33 the PSH units and the family

15:39:34 sized units as well.

15:39:40 We're pretty excited about those developments as well.

15:39:44 And the last piece around our affordable

15:39:47 housing development is really

15:39:50 honing in on deeply affordable units.

15:39:53 Of the approximately 6,300 units that have been developed

15:39:56 by the bureau since 2015, over a third

15:40:00 of them are deeply affordable.

15:40:06

15:40:10 The third goal -- or excuse me, the third staff

15:40:12 recommendation, rather, is to increase partnerships and

15:40:17 communication strategies to reach targeted populations

15:40:20 of those living in east Portland,

15:40:23 black, Indigenous, people of color households, and households

15:40:27 experiencing a disability.

15:40:30 Our actions,

15:40:34 are first to identify additional

15:40:37 program partnership opportunities

15:40:41 with the Expanded Partner Network, 18

15:40:44 culturally specific organizations that we have been working

15:40:47 with throughout the Covid pandemic

15:40:50 for emergency rent

15:40:52 assistance.

15:40:54 Breonne talked about those, I'll skip past that.

15:40:59 The second piece to that is embracing and

15:41:03 continuing to explore and implement

15:41:06 a new approach through

15:41:09 tax implement finance districts,

15:41:13 TIF districts, utilizing the process that I got

15:41:18 to participate in personally, at the request

15:41:21 of a group of

15:41:24 community stakeholders in the Cully neighborhood, who

15:41:27 approached the city and expressed

15:41:31 interest in attempting to take this tool that has

15:41:36 historically seen a lot of displacement

15:41:37 through its use.

15:41:40 And wanted to see if we could use it

15:41:41 differently.

15:41:45 So Cully TIF district has been adopted through

15:41:45 co-creation.

15:41:49 We are pretty excited about the potential of focusing on

15:41:53 housing stabilization rather than lots of new development.

15:41:58

15:42:01 The last piece

15:42:05 there, the last associated action

15:42:08 there is to

15:42:14 effectiveness of outreach to

15:42:17 these communities.

15:42:20 The Racial Equity Plan is currently in process of developing that.

15:42:24 We're in a bit of a transition with the government and in

15:42:27 getting a new director for the

15:42:27 bureau.

15:42:30 Part of that is in flux.

15:42:33 So we may be looking at something that is a little bit more shorter term before

15:42:36 we do a sort of long term look

15:42:40 around five years, a five-year plan,

15:42:42 which is what we would normally do.

15:42:46 I know the equity managers are working with our internal equity council in the development of that plan.

15:42:54

15:42:56 Okay.

15:42:57 Next.

15:43:00 The next one is to hire a dedicated

15:43:04 east Portland policy coordinator to work directly with the

15:43:07 community and in partnership with other

15:43:11 bureaus to develop programming

15:43:14 for households in east Portland.

15:43:17 We have a few actions, first to

15:43:21 open a recruitment and hire the position.

15:43:21

15:43:24 Once that position, you know, person comes on and is hired,

15:43:27 they will be tasked, among their portfolio of

15:43:32 things, primarily will be to develop and

15:43:36 administrate some community grants program

15:43:40 focusing on, you know, community stabilization, housing

15:43:43 stabilization, antidisplacement, et cetera, and that could

15:43:45 look like a lot of things.

15:43:48 I know it sounds a little vague but it is

15:43:51 intended to be vague so that it can be

15:43:53 broadened with creative ideas.

15:43:57 Along those lines, you know, they may seek

15:44:00 to develop a permanent program in partnership

15:44:03 with East Portland stakeholders.

15:44:08

15:44:09 Oh, I've got one more.

15:44:11 I've got one more.

15:44:11 Yep.

15:44:14 Before I hand it back to Breonne.

15:44:14

15:44:17 That's around employment support, continuing to work with

15:44:21 our partners to increase employment

15:44:24 and income outcomes through

15:44:27 training, education, and

15:44:30 employment laws.

15:44:33 So, currently the bureau's current

15:44:36 work is that we, through a

15:44:40 passthrough, passing through funds that the

15:44:43 bureau gets, we send

15:44:46 those over to our economic

15:44:49 development, Prosper Portland, and they implement the

15:44:51 economic opportunity initiative, right?

15:44:55 It's got three programs, one on adults, one for

15:44:58 youth, and then one that is a workforce navigator program.

15:45:04

15:45:07 Getting a sense of scale, about

15:45:11 2,800 individuals were served in

15:45:12 2021.

15:45:16 Participants were primarily low income, so it

15:45:19 targeted that demographic.

15:45:22 This is something that we do, that we support

15:45:24 annually.

15:45:27 We do also at this time have an opportunity

15:45:31 to do a pilot program a couple of

15:45:32 years ago.

15:45:35 The city -- not the city,

15:45:38 sorry, the HOUSING BUREAU

15:45:42 was allocated a

15:45:45 small American rescue plan act, the ARPA

15:45:49 act, to implement a pilot project that was focused

15:45:52 on housing stabilization, but

15:45:56 to do that, we wanted to pair

15:45:59 workforce training along with some housing stabilization

15:46:00 services.

15:46:04 So practically what that looks like is that

15:46:07 the program will seek to reach

15:46:10 about 60 participants.

15:46:13 The participants will have the job training which could be

15:46:16 up to three months paid

15:46:17 for.

15:46:20 They will have some housing

15:46:21 support.

15:46:25 That would look like whatever is needed in addition to cover their rent.

15:46:25

15:46:28 For example, if someone was interested

15:46:31 in going into a --

15:46:32

15:46:35 one of the construction trades, sometimes those are full-time and as folks know, maybe

15:46:38 you know, it's hard to carry two jobs at the same

15:46:39 time.

15:46:43 We'll also be doing some household assistance to make sure

15:46:46 they are able to pay bills or do whatever

15:46:49 things they need to do to care for themselves.

15:46:52 We'll also do some navigator services for that to make sure

15:46:55 that folks are actually not just completing the programs

15:46:58 but are actually securing job placements.

15:47:00

15:47:04 And with that, I will go ahead

15:47:07 and turn it over to Breonne.

15:47:10 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Thanks, Jessi.

15:47:12 Tawnya, next slide, please.

15:47:16 Our recommendation is to continue funding and consider increasing

15:47:19 funding for low income

15:47:22 homeowner services, which will provide grant

15:47:25 assistance for repairs or

15:47:26 modification.

15:47:29 We saw that

15:47:32 when people own their homes, they're cost

15:47:33 burdened.

15:47:37 This makes financing of repairs more difficult.

15:47:40 Furthermore, given the higher reported rates of disability,

15:47:43 these households may require housing modifications to be made such as

15:47:46 ramps, installation, or modifications to make platforms

15:47:48 more accessible.

15:47:53 The Housing Bureau does currently fund home loan repairs.

15:47:55

15:47:58 We also partner with community organizations to provide foreclosure prevention

15:47:59 counseling and services.

15:48:03 Recently the bureau has secured new grant funding

15:48:06 to address health and safety concerns in low income

15:48:08 households.

15:48:11 This recommendation asserts the continued need for these services

15:48:12 and the need for targeted outreach to BIPOC communities.

15:48:17 Next slide.

15:48:20 This slide shows a quick snapshot of data around the

15:48:24 home repair grant program.

15:48:24

15:48:27 89% of program participants of households below

15:48:30 50% EMI, looking at

15:48:35 race and

15:48:38 ethnicity data, Black households make

15:48:40 up 30%.

15:48:44 The bureau is strategizing targeted outreach for all historically excluded communities.

15:48:49 Next slide.

15:48:51 So this is just going to run through the recommendations again.

15:48:54 I know we just threw a lot of information at you.

15:48:57

15:49:00 This is, again, a high level

15:49:01 recommendation.

15:49:04 First, continue funding for emergency rent assistance

15:49:08 programs for low income households and consider deep City support of long term rent

15:49:10 assistance programs.

15:49:14 Continue funding development of subsidized accessible housing units for individuals

15:49:17 and families below 30% MFI in high opportunity areas

15:49:20 of the city, near employment, transportation and education

15:49:21 opportunities.

15:49:25 Increase partnerships and communication strategies to reach targeted populations of

15:49:28 those living in east

15:49:31 Portland, BIPOC households and households experiencing

15:49:33 disability.

15:49:35 Next slide.

15:49:38 Hire a dedicated east Portland

15:49:41 policy coordinator to work directly with community and in partnership with other

15:49:45 bureaus to develop programming for low

15:49:48 income households in East Portland.

15:49:49

15:49:52 Continue to work with partners to increase employment and

15:49:55 income outcomes for households through working training, education and enforcement

15:49:56 of employment law.

15:49:59 And finally, continue funding and consider increasing funding

15:50:02 for low income home ownership retention with services for

15:50:04 foreclosure.

15:50:05 Next slide.

15:50:08 So we're going to set some time aside for feedback.

15:50:11 We've got three questions up here to

15:50:12 start.

15:50:15 Are the barriers that were identified in the data analysis being

15:50:18 addressed through these recommendations?

15:50:22 Would you change or revise any of the recommendations

15:50:22 listed?

15:50:26 Are there additional recommendations which could be implemented by the City of Portland that could be

15:50:26 added?

15:50:30 And again, this is not a finalized list.

15:50:30

15:50:33 We're going to continue to revisit,

15:50:36 reevaluate, edit these recommendations and build upon them

15:50:38 after each analysis.

15:50:38 This is an iterative process.

15:50:43 This is just the beginning.

15:50:46 We have about ten minutes now for this discussion and then we'll go

15:50:50 to public comment and depending on Allan's presentation we can revisit some more.

15:51:03

15:51:04 >> Holly Stephens here.

15:51:07 If you go back two slides, I have a question.

15:51:10 Hold on, I just want to see it again.

15:51:10

15:51:13 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: The home ownership ship retention or draft recommendations?

15:51:16 >> Yes, this right here.

15:51:16

15:51:20 Okay, I just wanted to look at this

15:51:21 again.

15:51:23 Sorry.

15:51:24 >> Mommy!

15:51:27 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: I recognize that moment in a Zoom

15:51:29 meeting.

15:51:32 >> I'll put my camera on because she's pretty cute too.

15:51:35

15:51:37 Okay.

15:51:40 Yeah, I guess I was -- I know

15:51:44 we have, you know, like some BIPOC

15:51:47 communities here, households experiencing disability, and sort of

15:51:50 getting back to kind of my

15:51:53 introduction there, nothing around aging populations.

15:51:56 And I was just wondering if --

15:52:00 are we just thinking like aging populations that

15:52:03 fall under low income, or --

15:52:07

15:52:09 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Yeah, that's a great point.

15:52:12 I think we can figure out how to bake those populations

15:52:16 into the recommendations to ensure that those needs are being met, because

15:52:19 that is a crucial component.

15:52:22 >> Yeah, because there is a law

15:52:26 here in Oregon about like

15:52:29 -- I don't remember exactly what it's called, I probably should know in my

15:52:29 role.

15:52:33 It's about like care choice,

15:52:36 and an aging individual's -- kind of

15:52:39 like their right to remain in their home.

15:52:40

15:52:44 So even when they need assisted care, because they're older

15:52:47 and they can't do things for

15:52:50 themselves, there is some -- I don't want to call it a

15:52:53 law but I actually think it is, in Oregon,

15:52:57 that gives you home care choice so that you can choose to stay

15:53:00 in your home and have someone come in and support you in your home.

15:53:00

15:53:03 So I want to make sure that the

15:53:05 aging population is included in here because I think it's really important.

15:53:12 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Thank you, Holly.

15:53:27 Thank you, Mara, yes.

15:53:29 >> This is Mara.

15:53:32 I was going to chime in and say,

15:53:35 yeah, it can be hard sometimes with the way identities

15:53:39 intersect, right, and how, you know, for

15:53:42 example, as an organization that primarily serves

15:53:46 younger than 65 people with

15:53:50 disability, we sometimes, you know, feel siloed or something,

15:53:53 even though we know that

15:53:56 like a lot of the issues intersect.

15:53:59 Housing is definitely one of them, because like for example those

15:54:03 communities are, you know, commonly living on a fixed income and are not actually

15:54:06 able to like work more, for

15:54:08 example, to earn to keep up with the market.

15:54:11 So again, we're similar but we're also different.

15:54:13 And I think it's important to highlight that somehow.

15:54:21 So thank you for bringing that up.

15:54:35 .

15:54:40 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Allan, you raised your hand?

15:54:42 >> ALLAN LAZO: Thanks, Breonne.

15:54:43 A few pieces.

15:54:46 I want to make sure that I let other

15:54:48 committee members have the opportunity also.

15:54:51 But I think the one thing I want to bring forward and remind

15:54:54 us, I know that this section is about low income

15:54:57 households, but I think it's also worth

15:55:00 noting that we often talk about that affordable

15:55:03 housing isn't naturally fair housing.

15:55:06 There's a strong connection there, a strong

15:55:07 intersection.

15:55:11 Where we find the intersections are best served is

15:55:14 when we're pretty intentional

15:55:17 how we're using that affordable housing, how it's directed and how we're serving certain communities.

15:55:18

15:55:21 Again, I think the caution is that's hard to do in a fair housing

15:55:22 context.

15:55:25 Some of the pieces that I didn't sort of see there by name that I know

15:55:29 that the bureau is involved in are things

15:55:32 like making sure that as affordable housing is

15:55:35 being invested in or developed,

15:55:38 that it's low barrier entry, that

15:55:42 we're making sure that the application requirements are such that

15:55:45 it serves the communities that we're intending to serve.

15:55:45

15:55:48 I think in the partnerships you capture the sense around

15:55:52 affirmative marketing, but we don't use those words.

15:55:55 I think part of the partnership particularly with communities of color is to make sure those

15:55:58 communities we would like to serve are being reached out to

15:56:01 adequately if not

15:56:05 predominantly -- I think also, I don't know, I

15:56:08 looked at the list, I'm not sure it will come up later, obviously it will be

15:56:11 a theme throughout, I also don't know if this is a place

15:56:15 where we talk about

15:56:18 antidisplacement measures with regard to developments in low income or affordable housing to make sure we're

15:56:20 paying attention to that.

15:56:24 Maybe the TIF district piece speaks to

15:56:25 that.

15:56:28 There are also two pieces around specificity that I didn't see

15:56:28 there.

15:56:30 It's a super tough needle to threat.

15:56:33 But I would encourage the bureau as we're

15:56:37 doing this work to think about exploring further preferences.

15:56:40 We have a preference policy that was pretty narrow

15:56:44 in north-north east

15:56:47 Portland that was designed to serve a specific

15:56:48 piece.

15:56:51 It would be good to keep in mind we could do that in other places

15:56:53 or other ways.

15:56:56 One of those might be in home ownership.

15:57:00 I guess I don't know enough about the home ownership

15:57:03 work to know whether or not something like special purpose credit programs might apply

15:57:06 or be a value in the loan programs that you

15:57:08 do.

15:57:11 I actually don't know -- it may not work for

15:57:15 ou institutionally.

15:57:18 Along the lines of intentionality, another thing I didn't

15:57:21 see, community land trust.

15:57:22

15:57:24 Again, that might come up in a different topic.

15:57:29 That as a sort of community investment strategy.

15:57:31 I just throw those all out.

15:57:34 I know I didn't answer any of the questions, but a pile of stuff I

15:57:34 had.

15:57:35 Thanks.

15:57:38 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Thanks, Allan.

15:57:38

15:57:39 Stephanie?

15:57:42 >> STEPHANIE GRAYCE: Thank you.

15:57:45 I wanted to piggyback a little bit on Allan's

15:57:49 comments, I'm very grateful he mentioned

15:57:52 fairness and access to low barrier housing.

15:57:55 When we talk about the communities of color and the percentages of people that we

15:57:58 are incarcerating and releasing from

15:58:01 incarceration, the disproportionate impact on communities of color is

15:58:03 huge.

15:58:05 And I think right now there's still a little bit of a disconnect.

15:58:09 I know Portland has an incentive for low barrier

15:58:12 housing, and in speaking with a lot of my clients,

15:58:15 the barriers are still exceedingly significant.

15:58:15

15:58:18 And a lot of landlords

15:58:21 are choosing not to participate, and therefore we

15:58:25 have a lot of exclusion happening that people on this committee

15:58:28 and a lot of us want to see housed and

15:58:28 supported.

15:58:32 I would just like to bring in a suggestion that maybe we

15:58:35 use stronger language when it comes to barrier reduction when it comes

15:58:36 to housing.

15:58:37 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Thank you, Stephanie.

15:58:42 I think Caroline was next with a raised hand.

15:58:44 >> CAROLINE JACKSON: Thanks, yeah, those are great points.

15:58:48 I was curious about rental assistance and particularly eligibility post-Covid

15:58:49 funding.

15:58:53 I know there's a lot of public programs where eligibility is

15:58:57 narrowing post-Covid, and this might be getting into the

15:59:00 nitty-gritty for later, but I'm wondering if we'll have an opportunity

15:59:03 to sort of look at eligibility for who has access

15:59:06 to rental assistance and whether there are funding sources available

15:59:09 to maintain that same level that we saw during

15:59:13 Covid or perhaps increase it or if we're kind of

15:59:17 expecting it to be more limited in a,

15:59:19 quote, post-Covid world.

15:59:24 I'm curious about those guidelines.

15:59:26 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Thanks, Caroline.

15:59:27 Barb, I see you have your hand raised.

15:59:31 We've got one minute before we have

15:59:33 to pause for public comments.

15:59:35 >> Go ahead.

15:59:38 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: And Mara, you raised your hand.

15:59:38 Is your comment a minute?

15:59:44 >> Yeah, I can talk fast.

15:59:47 I also sit on the Metro Housing Bond

15:59:51 oversight committee and certainly part of that effort has been really

15:59:54 geared towards like fair housing and low

15:59:57 barrier screening and, you know, no one is getting

16:00:00 metro money without that promise, basically.

16:00:03 Now, whether or not they're going to hold to that, obviously, that's

16:00:06 what we're doing now, following up with folks.

16:00:09 But it does seem like when you standardize and

16:00:12 you set that requirement behind funding,

16:00:16 people will start to follow along, and they will --

16:00:19 you know, so I don't know, other people on this call can speak to

16:00:22 it better than me, but yeah,

16:00:26 it seems like, you know -- anyway, and then the other thing

16:00:29 I was going to mention is that in terms of how we recommend policy or what we

16:00:32 recommend and push forward too, we

16:00:36 might be trying to think about how that's been successful, but I was also thinking

16:00:39 too, I don't see it on the screen, but one of the things was

16:00:41 about like affordable and accessible housing.

16:00:44 And that's just one of my little things right now, is like what is the definition

16:00:46 of accessible housing.

16:00:49 And I've been trying to get anybody really to answer that question for

16:00:49 me.

16:00:51 And nobody really can.

16:00:54 And that's because it's all wrapped up in sort of policy and the

16:00:57 bureaucracy of development and all of that.

16:01:00 So anyway, that's just like a little area I identified

16:01:03 as like, there isn't really a lot of standardization about

16:01:07 what low barrier screening is, for example, or

16:01:09 what an accessible unit is more broadly.

16:01:13 So I think I made it under a minute.

16:01:14 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Thanks, Mara.

16:01:18 It is 4:01, so we do need to pause for

16:01:20 public comment.

16:01:23 We do have two members of the public signed up for public

16:01:24 comment at the moment.

16:01:28 So I apologize if I pronounce

16:01:30 anybody's name incorrectly.

16:01:33 The first is Guinevere Mercal.

16:01:43

16:01:52 Is she here?

16:01:55 >> RYAN: She doesn't appear to be on.

16:01:59 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Next is Matthew.

16:02:02 >> It's part of my presentation, sorry about that.

16:02:03

16:02:17 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Anyone else who wants to make public comments at this time?

16:02:20 I'm trying to get better about holding space and not just rushing

16:02:21 on.

16:02:24 So I'll hold it for one more minute before we resume the discussion.

16:02:28

16:02:31 >> I think you're supposed to sing happy birthday in your

16:02:32 head.

16:02:35 Or at least that's how us ADHD folks have to do it [laughter].

16:03:05

16:03:08 >> BREONNE DEDECKER: Okay, folks, I think we can

16:03:12 go back to the previous conversation, provided that if

16:03:15 at any point a member of the public until 4:15

16:03:18 is interested in making public comment, please just announce it in the chat,

16:03:19 that you're interested.

16:03:22 Otherwise we can go back to discussing the recommendations until 4:15, when Allan will do his presentation.

16:03:26

16:03:29 So, barb, I know that you had your hand

16:03:31 raised.

>> Yes.

16:03:38 We were talking about -- we were on the feedback page.

16:03:42 Are the barriers that were identified in the data analysis being

16:03:46 addressed through these recommendations, well, I imagine they are.

16:03:47

16:03:50 This is the Portland Housing Bureau

16:03:52 of which most what have you're [inaudible].

16:03:56 And so I take you at

16:04:00 your word that you are accomplishing your goals.

16:04:03 These are economic plans, these are economic

16:04:05 support.

16:04:06 This is the Fair Housing Advocacy Committee.

16:04:09 And I'm here because there is

16:04:12 such a tremendous suffering in

16:04:16 Oregon due to all

16:04:19 kinds of protected classes,

16:04:23 having your housing rights invited

16:04:30 violated.

16:04:33 Whenever I bring it up I feel like I'm the downer in the group.

16:04:33

16:04:37 It's the suffering I see through no fault

16:04:40 of people who are experiencing it.

16:04:40

16:04:43 I'm experiencing it.

16:04:47 And I certainly don't think I deserve any of

16:04:48 that.

16:04:51 So, no, I don't think -- I mean, for three years I

16:04:55 have brought up these things periodically

16:04:56 along the way.

16:04:58 And I plan to keep going.

16:05:01 But last month, when we

16:05:05 met, I asked -- and Lizzie came on to respond

16:05:08 to my question, there was a question that many of us in

16:05:10 committee asked in 2020.

16:05:12 What is the purpose of FHAC?

16:05:15 And I still don't know.

16:05:16

16:05:19 And is the pushback to me based on

16:05:22 the fact that what I bring

16:05:24 up is not part of FHAC?

16:05:27 Is that the problem?

16:05:30 I was hoping Leslie would be here today to address the

16:05:31 purpose of this committee.

16:05:33 What are our goals, what is our purpose?

16:05:36 I think

16:05:40 Portland Housing Bureau probably does a

16:05:40 wonderful job.

16:05:43 But I see the world through the prism of real estate, of

16:05:45 representation.

16:05:48 Every single person over these 40 plus

16:05:52 years has had some barrier of

16:05:56 some sort, some kind of barrier,

16:05:59 something, something.

16:06:02 And there are individuals, and each of

16:06:06 their needs are met of that's the benefit of

16:06:07 representation.

16:06:11 Tenants, particularly low income tenants or

16:06:14 low resource tenants, don't have that benefit, there's no one out

16:06:14 there.

16:06:18 So I'm here to bring up things that I see and that

16:06:22 I want to address, and

16:06:23 --

16:06:24 >> Good afternoon.

16:06:25 I'm here.

16:06:28 >> There she is, hi.

16:06:31 >> Hi, Barb.

16:06:36 So I think part of the issue is

16:06:41 providing some overview

16:06:44 for FHAC about

16:06:48 -- for fair housing council about what

16:06:51 the bureau does and what it does not do and however

16:06:54 the authority of the housing bureau goes as well as the

16:06:57 advisory committees.

16:07:00 This is one of the things that came to us

16:07:03 through the consultant that we

16:07:07 hired around our strategic plan and around

16:07:10 the director search, is that

16:07:13 there is a lack of

16:07:17 clarification around what we do and where our authority

16:07:17 is.

16:07:20 So I think that's the first thing that would probably be

16:07:23 helpful, given we've got a number of

16:07:26 new people on this committee, is to provide an

16:07:32 overview of all of the programs that the housing bureau

16:07:35 provides and what their authority is.

16:07:35

16:07:39 Some things that I've heard today, they're great recommendations.

16:07:42 But I don't know that we have the

16:07:45 authority to do some of them, because

16:07:49 our authority is primarily around

16:07:52 affordable housing, and then we do have

16:07:55 some authority to make rules

16:07:58 in regards to renter protections

16:08:01 based on what City

16:08:05 Council wants to address.

16:08:05

16:08:08 Those are things like, you know, the

16:08:12 eviction

16:08:15 changes,

16:08:18 moratorium, the relocation assistance,

16:08:22 issues around the amount of percentage

16:08:25 that rent can be raised.

16:08:29 And so those apply to everyone.

16:08:32 But we do have a limit when it comes

16:08:35 to market rate about where complaints go.

16:08:36

16:08:39 So if there are issues around habitability of units, those

16:08:42 don't come to us.

16:08:45 Those go to BDS.

16:08:46

16:08:49 You know, we don't have any authority to enforce

16:08:54 corrections or things that need to be

16:08:57 fixed on units except

16:09:00 through, you know, working as a -- with mediation with our legal services.

16:09:00

16:09:03 And that's if the landlord wants to go to mediation.

16:09:07 So I think that's the biggest issue at least

16:09:10 from what I've heard in the last two meetings, is

16:09:13 around what does the bureau

16:09:16 do, what are the programs.

16:09:16

16:09:20 Allan brought up, you know, land trust models.

16:09:20

16:09:22 We don't do a land trust model.

16:09:25 We support development and we support down payment assistance and

16:09:29 we support home repair programs.

16:09:29

16:09:33 So we don't have -- we do not have an internal requirement

16:09:36 for land trust except for

16:09:39 depending on what the funding source is

16:09:41 and what that project is.

16:09:44 And so I think with more information, it will be

16:09:48 helpful to the committee about where

16:09:51 to dive into deficiencies and how

16:09:54 we can address those things, and

16:09:57 where we need to move those type of things

16:10:01 onto council or onto government

16:10:04 relations to have addressed through changes at the legislative level.