18:08:36 Housing Strategy Oversight
18:08:39 Committee. Happy new year,
18:08:39 everybody.
18:08:42 >> [Recording in process]
18:08:44 >> We are all doing as well as
18:08:47 we could possibly be, good to
18:08:51 see your faces. I am going to do
18:08:55 a quick acknowledgment of the
18:08:57 team who are here. And others
18:09:01 identify them as well. So, let's
18:09:03 go around the table and I will
18:09:05 begin on this side.
18:09:05 >> Yes, sir.
18:09:12 >> Let's start with
18:09:15 Kevin.
18:09:17 >> Are you green over there?
18:09:18 >> I am Kevin and I am green and
18:09:19 I am present.
18:09:20 >> John. Present.
18:09:30 >> Awesome. - Ruiz, present.
18:09:38 >> Jillian Perez, present.
18:09:41 >> Wonderful, wonderful. It is
18:09:43 great to have folks present. I
18:09:46 mentioned last time when we
18:09:48 gathered, we also in creating
18:09:50 this space wanted to make sure
18:09:52 it was equitable as possible.
18:09:54 Access was important, location
18:09:56 was important, and timing was
18:09:57 important and providing
18:10:00 something for people in the
18:10:02 evening to substance for folks
18:10:05 to enjoy and have access to. So,
18:10:07 tonight we got sandwiches and
18:10:10 chips, cookies and beverages for
18:10:14 those who are remote. We got
18:10:16 sandwiches and cookies and
18:10:18 beverages just putting that in
18:10:22 the air. Glad you are here.
18:10:26 On the screen, we have
18:10:33 aa'Nesha
18:10:39 ha.
18:10:43 >> TA' NESHA: Oh, you could not
18:10:44 hear me?
18:10:48 >> Saw that you are unmuted but
18:10:53 we are not getting
18:11:15
18:11:19 >> If you have an agenda, we'll
18:11:20 stick to it tonight.
18:11:22 This is a meeting open to the
18:11:23 public. It is not a public
18:11:25 meeting. What is meant is that
18:11:26 you have the opportunity, the
18:11:28 public is welcomed into the
18:11:30 space for a transparent and
18:11:31 accountability to see the work
18:11:34 that the Oversight Committee is
18:11:37 doing. We are following the
18:11:39 agenda that has been prepared
18:11:41 for this meeting. There is space
18:11:42 for public comment and
18:11:43 testimonies. We would love to
18:11:46 hear it. If there are concerns
18:11:48 outside of committee and outside
18:11:50 of this agenda, I am going to
18:11:52 ask the members of the Portland
18:11:56 Housing Bureau to identify
18:11:58 themselves. Those on the screen
18:12:00 if you can turn on your cameras,
18:12:02 would be awesome. Those in the
18:12:03 room if you can participate by
18:12:06 waving your hands. As well as on
18:12:07 the screen, you can wave so
18:12:13 people know who you are.
18:12:14 >> Thank you very much.
18:12:16 These are the people you would
18:12:17 approach. These are the folks
18:12:18 you would reach out to if there
18:12:22 are concerns. Again, outside of
18:12:25 tonight's agenda. You are also a
18:12:27 given space about two minutes
18:12:29 for public comment where you can
18:12:31 weigh in on the work we are
18:12:33 doing. With that being said,
18:12:35 we'll go forward with our agenda
18:12:37 tonight and we'll begin with our
18:12:38 director's update.
18:12:42 >> Lesley and Tahiti
18:12:45
18:12:50 Tahiti -- Ta'Nesha has their
18:12:50 hands raised.
18:12:53 >> I am going to do my best
18:12:55 those who are hybrid to keep my
18:12:57 head up so I can see the screen.
18:13:00 If you didn't hear the screen we
18:13:01 have to view from is connected
18:13:05 to the ceiling. So, I will do my
18:13:10 best to capture that. With that,
18:13:14 please Ms. Helmi.
18:13:18 >> Ms. Helmi Hisserich: Good
18:13:19 evening, happy new year.
18:13:22 I am the director of the Housing
18:13:24 Bureau. I want to acknowledge
18:13:25 that I am here with the
18:13:27 executive team of the Portland
18:13:30 Housing Bureau, all four members
18:13:32 of the team are here. Lesley
18:13:37 Goodlow who's the director. Our
18:13:39 business equity is on screen.
18:13:41 She's usually here on person but
18:13:43 she's remoting in from a
18:13:45 business trip that she's on.
18:13:47 So, we are glad she's willing
18:13:50 and able to take time to be with
18:13:53 us. Deputy director Gonzalez
18:13:55 who's taken up a bite of his
18:13:57 sandwich is here with us. I
18:13:59 think possibly for the first
18:14:03 time in-person. He's a new
18:14:05 deputy director so really so
18:14:06 pleased to have him joining us.
18:14:08 He's been with the bureau for
18:14:11 several years. He moved up from
18:14:12 having our finance and
18:14:14 accounting team and is now taken
18:14:16 on really important roles
18:14:20 overseeing a lot of our internal
18:14:24 operations. Online, we have
18:14:28 Josh Roper. He's the director of
18:14:31 Policy Planning and Research. He
18:14:35 started with us a month ago. He
18:14:40 has extensive background. Our
18:14:42 whole executive team is here and
18:14:44 we are here to listen to the
18:14:45 community and to be present in
18:14:47 the northeast communities. Very,
18:14:49 very pleased. Of course, we are
18:14:52 joined by a lot of PHP staff. I
18:14:54 am not going to name everybody.
18:14:57 I want to say great team, my
18:14:59 deep pleasure to work with the
18:15:01 people at Portland Housing
18:15:03 Bureau. I have a couple of
18:15:05 things to go over. First, it is
18:15:07 very personal but I want to
18:15:10 share with all of you that I
18:15:11 moved to Portland just about a
18:15:15 year ago from the city Of Los
18:15:20 Angeles. So, the last 24
18:15:22 hours, I have spent paying
18:15:24 attention to my family, daughter
18:15:26 still lives in Los Angeles. My
18:15:28 parents and my siblings as well
18:15:30 as many friends and really being
18:15:31 online and paying attention to
18:15:35 the devastating fire that has
18:15:38 really completely changed me. As
18:15:41 somebody who works -- I work in
18:15:43 local government, we have a
18:15:44 responsibility and even though I
18:15:47 am not a firefighter, we have
18:15:50 the responsibility to show up
18:15:51 during these kinds of
18:15:54 catastrophic events. This
18:15:59 particular event, my family has
18:16:02 been affected. Nobody is to
18:16:04 evacuate yet. It is really
18:16:06 pointing a fine point on the
18:16:08 importance of the city to be
18:16:10 prepared for these kinds of
18:16:12 things. I really woke up
18:16:16 thinking about, you know, what
18:16:17 if something like this were to
18:16:19 happen in Portland, what's my
18:16:21 role as a director of public
18:16:27 Housing Bureau and as a team -
18:16:31 [audio is distorted]
18:16:36 >> Ms. Helmi: I reached out to
18:16:40 the fire chief and bureau of
18:16:44 management, reiterate of the
18:16:47 importance of the housing bureau
18:16:49 of catastrophic events like
18:16:52 this. I want to express my - ask
18:16:54 all of you and express my own
18:16:57 and send my own prayers to that
18:17:00 city, the city Of Los Angeles
18:17:02 and think about how appreciative
18:17:06 I am that the State of Oregon
18:17:08 has sent 340 firefighters to
18:17:09 Los Angeles and several fire
18:17:11 trucks are driving down there
18:17:11 now.
18:17:13 There has been this incredible
18:17:16 response from a neighboring
18:17:21 state. Also, to to acknowledge
18:17:23 that we are in this together
18:17:24 and pulling together matters and
18:17:26 it is a priority for me as a
18:17:28 director and for our team to be
18:17:30 available and be present for
18:17:34 these kinds of things in
18:17:40 Portland. A few things I have
18:17:41 spoken about such as the changes
18:17:43 the city. The biggest thing is
18:17:45 our government completely
18:17:48 changed. We have all new elected
18:17:50 officials. We have new Mayor
18:17:52 Keith Wilson. New council
18:17:54 members. We are in district two.
18:17:56 In district two, we have three
18:18:02 new council members.
18:18:09 And council Member Dan Ryan, he
18:18:11 was a former commissioner and
18:18:12 reelected. I think we have a
18:18:14 great representation in this
18:18:15 district. I look forward to
18:18:16 working with them. I am only
18:18:18 just at the beginning phases of
18:18:21 getting to engage with them and
18:18:22 learn what the protocol is.
18:18:25 I am sure more will be revealed
18:18:28 as we come back and tell you how
18:18:31 things are going. The city
18:18:32 administrator, so I now report
18:18:35 up not to a commissioner but I
18:18:38 report through the mayor,
18:18:40 through the city administrator.
18:18:45 I report to deputy city
18:18:49 administrator, Donny Ol
18:18:53 iveraOlivera.
18:18:59 So, we four bureaus all work
18:19:02 together and we all report to
18:19:07 city administrator Donny Olivera
18:19:13 and reports to Michael Jordan.
18:19:14 He's been the interim
18:19:16 administrator for the past year
18:19:18 agreed to stay on for another
18:19:20 year. From my own positive,
18:19:22 that's really good news because
18:19:23 there are so much change
18:19:23 happening.
18:19:27 It is nice to have at least one
18:19:28 person to stay the same for at
18:19:33 least a year. I think he's still
18:19:35 an interim place and so that'll
18:19:39 change in a year. For now, it is
18:19:40 nice continuity. We are going to
18:19:42 keep you informed about how
18:19:44 process is at the city change.
18:19:46 There is a number of processes
18:19:47 that are changing.
18:19:48 We are figuring out what goes to
18:19:53 city council right now. City of
18:19:55 Council will take policy matters
18:19:57 and we'll take some budget
18:19:59 changes to them. We'll let you
18:20:00 know how those changes affect
18:20:02 our day-to-day life.
18:20:08 And then, lastly, I just want to
18:20:12 acknowledge that the six new
18:20:13 TIFF districts are on the
18:20:15 horizon for us. I don't know if
18:20:18 we have a map of those TIFF
18:20:19 districts, do we have one to
18:20:19 share?
18:20:23 >> We do. I can pull it up.
18:20:31 >> Ms. Helmi: It will be help
18:20:32 full to see.
18:20:35 There are three in east
18:20:39 Portland. The east of 205
18:20:42 district, Columbia park Rose
18:20:47 district and the 87th avenue and
18:20:48 in the central city area, we
18:20:50 have the Lloyd holiday district,
18:20:54 the central east side corridor
18:20:54 district and the west side
18:21:00 district. So, those three TIFF
18:21:01 districts are sort of - there
18:21:05 you go. They're in sort of three
18:21:07 clusters.
18:21:11 From Portland Housing Bureau, we
18:21:14 participated in the development
18:21:16 of these districts and the
18:21:18 action that was taken at the end
18:21:20 of last year was to actually
18:21:21 establish the districts.
18:21:23 They were voted on by the city
18:21:26 council and approved.
18:21:29 45% of the revenues that are
18:21:31 generated in these districts
18:21:34 will be used for affordable
18:21:35 housing. So, that's significant.
18:21:38 Over the course of the next 25
18:21:42 years, I think it is 25, these
18:21:45 six districts will generate $1.1
18:21:47 billion in affordable housing
18:21:50 funds. So, that's a very large
18:21:52 amount of funding that'll be
18:21:55 directed towards housing
18:21:56 development. None of those funds
18:21:58 are going to be available for
18:22:00 the next five years. Right now
18:22:04 what we are looking at is
18:22:07 entering into deep engagement
18:22:09 with each of the communities of
18:22:10 the TIFF district to develop
18:22:14 action plans. So, Portland
18:22:16 housing bureau together with
18:22:20 prosper Portland will be doing
18:22:22 deep engagement and building up
18:22:24 a five-year plan and as soon as
18:22:26 the funding became available,
18:22:28 we'll have some programs to
18:22:31 implement. So, this year, we
18:22:33 view as the year of Community
18:22:35 Engagement and planning together
18:22:37 with the community. Building
18:22:39 onto the kind of community
18:22:40 engagement you have been leading
18:22:41 here and all of you have been
18:22:43 engaged in this.
18:22:44 This is the model that I think
18:22:46 will be informing how we work
18:22:50 within the community. So, that's
18:22:53 it. Just -- lots of changes in
18:22:55 the city and very exciting
18:22:59 opportunities for us to really
18:23:01 deeply dialogue of the Housing
18:23:03 of Portland.
18:23:05 >> Thank you, director. If we
18:23:08 can go back to the gallery view.
18:23:11 Questions from the oversight
18:23:13 committee for the director. I am
18:23:15 going to start with you Ta'Nesha
18:23:16 if you have any questions.
18:23:18 >> Ta'Nesha: I do not have any
18:23:19 questions or comments at this
18:23:19 time.
18:23:23 >> Now, we can hear you, glad
18:23:27 you are here.
18:23:32 Saelee, welcome
18:23:34 to the meeting.
18:23:38 >> SAELEE:
18:23:42 I just logged in.
18:23:45 >> I hope you are safe.
18:23:45 Excellent.
18:23:50 >> SAELEE: I am.
18:23:53 Thank you. John?
18:23:57 >> John Trinh:
18:24:01 Happy new year. Respect about
18:24:02 the firefighters and them doing
18:24:05 what they do. When I was young,
18:24:07 I probably - I always wanted to
18:24:11 be a fireman, you
18:24:16 know? Those TIFF districts and
18:24:18 five years seem like a lifetime
18:24:21 away, but you know I am sure for
18:24:25 a lot of youngsters --
18:24:31 it is time for some accelerant
18:24:33 to go on.
18:24:36 District two, we still need to
18:24:39 get us to the finish line also.
18:24:43 I am going to keep my eyes
18:24:46 on.
18:24:49 >> How did they come up with a
18:24:50 five-year and not sooner?
18:24:52 I understand that they need to
18:24:54 collect their revenues but maybe
18:24:59 three years? Five seems a little
18:24:59 long.
18:25:03 >> Ms. Helmi: Yes, that's
18:25:07 a good question. Tax increment
18:25:08 is funding that comes from
18:25:10 property taxes. It is increments
18:25:12 that increase in tax values.
18:25:14 Once you establish the district,
18:25:16 you establish the base year.
18:25:19 Then, all the incremental
18:25:21 increases after that of property
18:25:24 taxes are what's going now into
18:25:27 a fund. The reason why five
18:25:31 years is you actually - in five
18:25:32 years, there will be enough
18:25:33 knowledge about how much tax
18:25:35 revenue there is to create a
18:25:36 bond, to bond against it.
18:25:39 They basically need to get to
18:25:42 show that there are taxes of
18:25:45 flowing into issue a bond. There
18:25:47 will be some small amounts of
18:25:49 funding, you know, relatively
18:25:51 small amounts of funding that
18:25:55 can be used prior to those five
18:25:56 years. It won't be until five
18:25:58 years that you see significant
18:26:01 enough funding to actually start
18:26:03 investing in the millions of
18:26:07 dollars as opposed to 50,000 or
18:26:08 75,000. It will be small number
18:26:10 until then. I think it is our
18:26:14 hope and we are talking to
18:26:16 Prosper Portland to see if there
18:26:20 is any way we try to leverage
18:26:21 things earlier to get some money
18:26:23 in. We don't know at this point
18:26:27 and we can't make a promise.
18:26:30
18:26:33 >> Julian: Thank you, the new
18:26:36 TIFF districts are really
18:26:38 exciting. Percentage revenues
18:26:42 that went to housing and north
18:26:43 and northeast TIFF district was
18:26:44 much higher. I am wondering if
18:26:46 you know what the reasoning was
18:26:49 for bringing it down or
18:26:52 establishing at 45% instead of
18:26:57 this 60% or 70% in north and
18:26:58 northeast.
18:27:00 >> Ms. Helmi: I don't know the
18:27:04 percentage of northeast.
18:27:10 >> 70% for housing and 30%
18:27:13 to our economic developer.
18:27:16 >> Ms. Goodlow: I was going to
18:27:19 jump in real quick because I
18:27:21 know Helmi had not been here to
18:27:23 know the history of the
18:27:27 district. So, initially the set
18:27:30 aside was 30% across the
18:27:33 whatever how many districts we
18:27:34 had, and that was an average of
18:27:38 30% across the district.
18:27:40 In 2015, what council did was
18:27:42 what we called the TIFF lift and
18:27:45 they increase the average to 45%
18:27:49 across the districts but because
18:27:53 interstatesinterstates did not
18:27:55 have sufficient housing given
18:28:00 the promises and the significant
18:28:04 displacement, it was deemed
18:28:06 that the set aside for the
18:28:07 remaining years of the district
18:28:09 would go up to 70%.
18:28:11 70% of the remaining revenues
18:28:13 would come to PHB and for
18:28:17 housing and 30% would go to
18:28:21 prosper for economic
18:28:23 development. And so, when you
18:28:25 look across the old districts,
18:28:29 it is still - it is not quite
18:28:31 45%.
18:28:34 We still have some money left in
18:28:35 a couple of the districts that
18:28:37 we have projects that'll fill
18:28:39 that out. I think it will be
18:28:43 about 43%, averaged 42% by the
18:28:46 time all those districts are
18:28:48 done. This will for the new
18:28:51 districts we are setting the
18:28:55 actual amount currently at 45%
18:28:58 across each district.
18:29:03 So, part of that will be us
18:29:04 doing community engagement
18:29:06 around what that set aside
18:29:09 should be. If it should be
18:29:12 different and some districts
18:29:15 than others. Make a
18:29:17 recommendation to the new
18:29:19 council about what that should
18:29:23 look like so it could be in
18:29:25 Lloyd District, the set aside is
18:29:28 30% because they don't need as
18:29:30 much housing but in 82nd, it
18:29:34 should be 60% and that gives us
18:29:39 to the 45% - you know, as an
18:29:40 average. That's part of the work
18:29:41 that we'll be doing over the
18:29:44 next year to determine what that
18:29:45 set aside should look like in
18:29:46 each of those districts.
18:29:49 Hopefully, that answers your
18:29:51 question, Jillian.
18:29:54 >> Jillian: It does, thank you
18:29:54 very much.
18:29:58 >> Ms. Helmi: Yes, thanks
18:30:00 Leslie. I was trying to
18:30:01 reemphasize that in addition to
18:30:03 the six action plans, the other
18:30:04 policy that we'll be doing
18:30:05 community engagement around is
18:30:08 the housing set aside policies.
18:30:10 So, how much of the tax
18:30:11 increment funding will be
18:30:15 satisfied for housing and that's
18:30:17 2025 activity for Portland
18:30:19 Housing Bureau.
18:30:22 >> Excellent. Any further?
18:30:28 >> One more question.
18:30:31 >> Jillian Felton: In that five
18:30:33 years, the district are
18:30:35 establishing what that cash flow
18:30:36 is and is there is an
18:30:38 opportunity in the latter part
18:30:41 of that to forward allocating or
18:30:42 working and start the process of
18:30:44 finding projects. It can take
18:30:46 five years to get your full
18:30:48 capital stack together so it
18:30:50 sounds like a long time but in
18:30:52 affordable housing, you know,
18:30:54 there could be a project ready
18:30:57 to go. I guess my concern, I am
18:30:59 not being very articulate. My
18:31:03 concern is that we start working
18:31:05 with developments sooner than
18:31:07 later. If we wait five years to
18:31:08 start, then it will be another
18:31:10 five years before we start
18:31:12 building and another two years
18:31:14 before that's built and we are
18:31:15 12 years out from having
18:31:18 housing. I am curious if it is
18:31:19 allowed under the statue or
18:31:22 something PHP is considering to
18:31:25 look at, a way to start forward
18:31:26 allocating and building that
18:31:29 pipeline of projects.
18:31:30 >>
18:31:33 >> Ms. Helmi: It is an excellent
18:31:34 question. I can't answer the
18:31:36 question whether it is allowed
18:31:38 in the statue.
18:31:39 What I can answer is whether PHP
18:31:43 is looking at it. We did brief
18:31:46 council Member Loretta Smith on
18:31:47 the east Portland TIFF district
18:31:49 a few days ago.
18:31:52 She asked the exact same
18:31:53 question. Question absolutely
18:31:56 made the recommendation that we
18:32:00 should be doing advance work so
18:32:03 we can begin the land ahead of
18:32:05 time. That was my reference to
18:32:06 working with the state, she had
18:32:07 some interesting ideas about
18:32:09 working with the state to
18:32:11 essentially move faster, start
18:32:13 earlier. So, I think what we are
18:32:14 hoping to do is get through the
18:32:16 action planning process so at
18:32:18 least we have an action plan in
18:32:19 place. We know what the
18:32:21 priorities of the communities
18:32:23 are. As soon as we know those
18:32:25 priorities and we are ready to
18:32:26 move, we'll start to take action
18:32:29 and fund things in advance so we
18:32:31 are setting it up and not
18:32:33 starting in five years, we are
18:32:34 acting in five years.
18:32:35 Thank you for that and
18:32:37 appreciate the question.
18:32:38 >> Jillian Felton: That's great
18:32:39 to here.
18:32:41 >> Thank you. I will come back
18:32:45 to you, thank you.
18:32:52
18:32:54 >> Yes, I am pleased to hear
18:32:56 this and I am happy to involve
18:32:57 the community people. I think it
18:32:58 is really important that as we
18:33:03 got started on this oversight
18:33:04 project, we started in inviting
18:33:07 community input and people came
18:33:10 and that's how we became a
18:33:11 committee and that's how we got
18:33:14 the work done. So, I am really
18:33:18 excited and looking forward to
18:33:25 this new government and housing
18:33:27 bureau and the projects they'll
18:33:30 be working on. I think we do
18:33:32 need time and especially getting
18:33:36 policy in place and some other
18:33:41 people up to -- well,
18:33:45 up to being informed and
18:33:59 helpful and getting these place
18:34:00 into housing.
18:34:02 >> Thank you. Ramon?
18:34:06 >> Ramon: No comment.
18:34:08 >> Kevin?
18:34:11 >> Kevin: Could you share
18:34:12 quickly what is that change and
18:34:16 kind of what you see is the big
18:34:20 opportunity in that across
18:34:21 different teams?
18:34:25 >> Ms. Helmi: Yes, I think what
18:34:26 Portland voters wanted in the
18:34:30 change of government was a more
18:34:32 functioning government. Part of
18:34:34 being a functioning government
18:34:38 is bringing - well, first of
18:34:41 all, bring communities together,
18:34:43 but also bringing the
18:34:47 departments and bureaus
18:34:49 together. In the past, it was
18:34:52 not that alignment. It was
18:34:54 Siloed so each individual bureau
18:34:58 sort of did their thing but did
18:35:02 not collaborate. Now,
18:35:05 we are in a structure that
18:35:07 forces us to collaborate. So,
18:35:10 the director and the staff all
18:35:14 have to actually talk and align.
18:35:15 This came to fruition recently.
18:35:16 I did announce this in the
18:35:18 presentation but I will share
18:35:20 with you that we were notified
18:35:25 yesterday that we were awarded a
18:35:27 $7 million grant my HUD.
18:35:31 That was called the prohousing
18:35:34 grantGrant. I don't want to go
18:35:36 into too much details until we
18:35:40 can get it all, you know, locked
18:35:42 down.
18:35:44 That grant not only led by the
18:35:46 Portland Housing Bureau, we did
18:35:48 the writing and pushed it
18:35:50 forward. It funds activities in
18:35:53 the housing production plan and
18:35:54 activities are being done and
18:35:56 funds activities and every one
18:35:57 of these bureaus.
18:36:00 We reached out to our partner
18:36:01 bureaus and said which part of
18:36:03 this plan do you need to get it
18:36:04 funded.
18:36:06 So, this is a grant for the
18:36:09 entire service area working
18:36:15 together. That's an example when
18:36:16 you can talk to each other and
18:36:17 collaborate and work to
18:36:19 strengthen us as a team. That's
18:36:21 a good example of the kind of
18:36:24 changes you are going to see
18:36:26 forward.
18:36:28 >> That's a big lift and massive
18:36:30 adjustment. John?
18:36:32 >> John: Just one last question
18:36:35 and maybe I may not have heard
18:36:38 it. Does this committee have
18:36:39 oversight and other TIFF
18:36:39 districts also?
18:36:41 So, you will form another one of
18:36:43 these in those districts also?
18:36:48 >> John: Thank you.
18:36:51 >> My question is when we did
18:36:55 our presentation before city
18:36:59 council, one of the things have
18:37:02 become extremely identifiable is
18:37:04 our affordability has to
18:37:04 change.
18:37:07 Even at 60%, families are still
18:37:09 burden. So, I made the
18:37:13 suggestion that we look at 40%
18:37:17 unit and 50% unit. As we are
18:37:19 doing this new TIFF district,
18:37:21 has there been any movement
18:37:25 around affordability.
18:37:28
18:37:31 >> Ms. Helmi: There has not
18:37:32 been. We are definitely
18:37:35 listening and paying attention
18:37:39 to it. We think - the low-income
18:37:40 housing tax credit system has a
18:37:42 kind of formula that everyone
18:37:44 has followed and we think that
18:37:45 formula needs to shift so that
18:37:49 we can get deeper affordability.
18:37:51 We have not discussed it within
18:37:54 the TIFF districts yet. All the
18:37:55 conversations so far have been
18:37:58 around to formation of the
18:37:58 districts.
18:37:59 Are we or are we not going to
18:38:01 have a district? What are the
18:38:03 boundaries of the district?
18:38:05 Which parcels are in the
18:38:07 district? The action planning
18:38:08 process, now that the district
18:38:10 are formed and approved, the
18:38:13 next step is to form advisory
18:38:15 bodies and to do the housing and
18:38:16 economic development, engagement
18:38:18 with community, what is it that
18:38:20 you want and need? I think
18:38:22 that's going to be the time when
18:38:23 we dig in and really understand
18:38:27 what levels of affordability are
18:38:28 needed in the community to truly
18:38:31 serve the community.
18:38:34 >> Dr. Holt: I appreciate that.
18:38:36 If we can by any stretch and any
18:38:38 contributions from our
18:38:40 community, let me flag that deep
18:38:42 affordability. We know that's an
18:38:44 issue and we know black and
18:38:48 brown people are cost
18:38:53 t-burden and rent-burden.
18:38:55 If there are ways to make that
18:38:57 conversation, we strongly
18:38:57 appreciate that.
18:39:00 Thank you, director, we
18:39:01 appreciate it. John, I believe
18:39:04 you are up, sir.
18:39:09 >> John Trinh
18:39:15 : Good evening, members and
18:39:15 staff.
18:39:17 >> Dr. Holt: John, we are having
18:39:20 a challenge with your audio and
18:39:22 you are freezing.
18:39:25 >> John T.: Can you hear me now?
18:39:29 >> Dr. Holt: I can hear
18:39:30 that.
18:39:32 >> John T.: Apologies that I
18:39:38 could not be there tonight.
18:39:38
18:39:42 Norma, can you put on the
18:39:46 PowerPoint. Thank you. My name
18:39:51 is John TRINH, I will be
18:39:57 presenting on the
18:40:01 policy homeownership update.
18:40:03 The last time we met, we had a
18:40:05 home buyer that closed in
18:40:06 December before Christmas.
18:40:08 We are very happy to see that
18:40:12 happened. To date, we have 128
18:40:14 families who became first-time
18:40:16 home buyers since the time we
18:40:18 started. Our goal is by the end
18:40:23 of 2029 will be 200. You can see
18:40:25 from this graph, many home
18:40:27 buyers in the north area. 39 new
18:40:31 home buyers. Next slide, please?
18:40:34 The demographic of the home
18:40:40 buyers, 117 used our live
18:40:41 subsidies. The previous slide
18:40:44 had 128 and those purchased
18:40:45 homes in the area but didn't use
18:40:48 subsidies. With the folks using
18:40:52 subsidies, 86% are black. 70%
18:40:54 are white. You can see the graph
18:40:58 of 4% for Native American and
18:41:02 multi-racial 3% and Hispanic is
18:41:06 3%. Next slide, please.
18:41:08 It was great to see this home
18:41:10 buyer when they purchased the
18:41:13 home. Think were at an AMI at
18:41:23 45%.
18:41:26 Really low AMI. The next
18:41:29 percentage is 81% to 100%.
18:41:33 We also have 21% at
18:41:37 101% to 120%. Under
18:41:42 60% AMI of 5%.
18:41:47 So, with the Preference Policy,
18:41:50 we have upcoming session for
18:41:52 folks. They're coming up in
18:41:54 January and February and so we
18:41:57 continue to look for housing to
18:42:01 get folks trained and educated
18:42:03 and we'll review their credit
18:42:05 and budget to make sure they are
18:42:09 ready to become first-time home
18:42:13 buyers. Next slide.
18:42:16 >> Yes, that's the last one.
18:42:20 >> Dr. Holt: Real quick
18:42:22 question, do we have a date for
18:42:23 the January session?
18:42:28 >> John T.: Sorry? You
18:42:30 got cut-off again.
18:42:32 >> Dr. Holt: January info.
18:42:34 Session, is there a date?
18:42:37 Frozen?
18:42:41 >> John T.: I don't have that,
18:42:41 sorry.
18:42:43 >> Dr. Holt: If you can get that
18:42:46 to us, that would be awesome.
18:42:48 >> John T.: Any questions from
18:42:52 the group here for John?
18:42:54 Jillian, any questions?
18:42:57 >> Jillian: No questions.
18:42:59 >> John T.: Christie will be
18:43:02 able to answer that question for
18:43:04 you.
18:43:08 >> Christie: Hi, I am happy to
18:43:10 answer the question about the
18:43:13 date. I am christie Gifford and
18:43:18 I am the preference policy, I am
18:43:19 leading those sessions. We have
18:43:23 four of them scheduled?
18:43:25 January. We just had one this
18:43:30 Monday. So, it was Monday the
18:43:31 6th. All from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00
18:43:35 p.m. In this session, we have an
18:43:37 orientation and we are able to
18:43:40 get everyone registered and
18:43:42 scheduled for their first
18:43:43 appointment which is really
18:43:47 nice. The next one is
18:43:52 January 15th.
18:43:56 >> Dr. Holt: John,
18:44:00 if you can mute that would be
18:44:01 awesome. Thank you.
18:44:03 >> Christie Gifford: The
18:44:04 following week and the last one
18:44:07 of the January 2nd is January
18:44:12 27th. These are invite only, as
18:44:16 far as the
18:44:18 six cohort applicants coming
18:44:22 in. People would have
18:44:24 correspondents from Portland
18:44:28 house and bureau and get that
18:44:29 list and we'll arrange the
18:44:32 session based on that.
18:44:33 >> Dr. Holt: Yes, thank you.
18:44:35 I will tell you why I am asking
18:44:37 because there are much
18:44:40 conversations in regard to our
18:44:42 processes from how we go about
18:44:45 or how the process is working.
18:44:48 So, I would love to start
18:44:50 capturing data that is current
18:44:54 data and Portland Housing Unit,
18:44:56 you guys are doing a great job,
18:44:58 how many folks and contacts and
18:45:00 so forth and so on. I just want
18:45:04 to support or be clear on how
18:45:10 our process are operating and
18:45:12 funding. It would be great to
18:45:14 have accurate data to be able to
18:45:14 process appropriately. Thank
18:45:18 you.
18:45:22 >> Christie Gifford: Thank you.
18:45:23
18:45:26 >> Dr. Holt: John, to question
18:45:27 to you, my friend.
18:45:29 Go back to your celebrations.
18:45:31 Good to see you.
18:45:35 >> John T.: Thank you.
18:45:39 >> Leslie Goodlow: Dr.
18:45:42 Holt, I want to say before you
18:45:46 move on. Regarding data, Ira
18:45:48 does a great job of tracking
18:45:51 data and we track from the
18:45:54 Preference Policy Team, to when
18:45:56 people applied and how many
18:45:58 notifications they gotten and
18:46:00 those people that were verified
18:46:02 and then that list moves over to
18:46:04 Ira and Ira then contacts people
18:46:07 and gives them opportunities to
18:46:10 attend the sessions so he tracks
18:46:14 each person when they they are
18:46:16 being notified and who goes onto
18:46:18 the list to then go over to
18:46:18 christie.
18:46:21 So, we do have all of the data
18:46:22 on our side.
18:46:26 >> Dr. Holt: Excellent.
18:46:29 >> Leslie Goodlow: If there are
18:46:32 any person that says hey, I am
18:46:33 on the list and I don't know
18:46:34 what's going on.
18:46:38 They can reach out to me or John
18:46:40 TRINH or Ira and we can
18:46:41 phenotyped out what's going on
18:46:44 and what notification or if they
18:46:45 have not been notified because
18:46:49 they are in the five point or
18:46:51 four point cohort. It could be
18:46:52 because we have not gotten to
18:46:54 them yet and that's why folks
18:46:55 are concerned.
18:46:57 >> Dr. Holt: I appreciate it.
18:46:58 Thank you, that's great
18:46:59 information. I appreciate that.
18:47:02 I did not ask Ta'Nesha if you
18:47:05 had any congressmens or comments
18:47:05 for John.
18:47:08 Forgive me for that.
18:47:14 >> Ta'Nesha: I don't have any
18:47:15 comment. It was wonderful to
18:47:18 hear that somebody is able to
18:47:18 purchase.
18:47:22 >> SAELEE: That's very great.
18:47:23
18:47:26 >> John T.: We do have another
18:47:28 home buyer closing this month.
18:47:32 We are excited.
18:47:37 >> Dr. Holt: Fantastic.
18:47:41 Please, come join us in front of
18:47:45 the table. We are moving forward
18:47:48 to the table.
18:47:54 Hi, Dyvisha and happy new year.
18:47:59
18:48:04 >> Dyvisha: Good evening Dr.
18:48:09 Holt, I will be presenting on
18:48:11 public housing.
18:48:14 So, what I did is I took all the
18:48:15 applications and submit
18:48:17 second-degree since 2004 to
18:48:21 2025, we had a total of 3,008
18:48:22 applications submitted. That's
18:48:25 an unduplicated number. So, some
18:48:26 duplicates may be accounted for
18:48:28 on that. I want to show that
18:48:29 number so we can see there is
18:48:31 always interests in it and
18:48:33 people are aware of it. Some
18:48:37 folks have been on the list
18:48:39 previously but they reaapply.
18:48:47 Next slide, please. And here is
18:48:49 a break down by point cohort. I
18:48:50 like to take us through a little
18:48:52 bit of explanation of the
18:48:54 cohort. By now, I am sure folks
18:48:56 have been on the committee for a
18:48:59 while have heard this enough.
18:49:04 The way it works is based on
18:49:08 geography where a person's
18:49:12 ancestor lives of the northeast
18:49:13 Portland determining how high or
18:49:15 low they are placed on the
18:49:15 list.
18:49:19 This is based closely tie to
18:49:21 north and northeast Portland.
18:49:24 The points are determined by how
18:49:25 much activity happening within
18:49:27 the area where those individuals
18:49:29 live. I just wantst always like
18:49:31 to have it there to ground us so
18:49:34 we know what we are here for.
18:49:37 We have 246 families in the
18:49:41 six-point cohort. 758 in the
18:49:42 five-point cohort. I am very
18:49:45 happy to see that. We have 204
18:49:48 in the four-point cohort. 264 in
18:49:52 the three-point cohort.
18:49:55 252 in the two-point. We know 0
18:49:59 is always a larger number, we
18:50:04 have 1,152 in that cohort.
18:50:08 Next slide, please. My promise
18:50:11 to you last November that I was
18:50:14 going to provide a security
18:50:15 update. I want to provide you
18:50:19 something just to bring us all
18:50:21 on the same page of what this is
18:50:23 all about. This is a partnership
18:50:25 between rental services office
18:50:28 and the preference policy team.
18:50:30 What it is is supports the
18:50:33 individuals on the preference
18:50:36 policy list by covering up
18:50:36 moving cost.
18:50:40 So, moving trucks, childcare,
18:50:43 security deposits and hence the
18:50:46 name, and any other fees that
18:50:49 may be incurred in relation to
18:50:52 moving. It was off to a shaky
18:50:56 start. There was - I would say
18:51:00 confusion or disconnect around
18:51:01 promotion, whereas we are
18:51:04 thinning the folks, letting
18:51:06 folks know what it is about and
18:51:10 leaning heavy on partners to
18:51:11 promote. However, we turn our
18:51:13 attention to create some sort of
18:51:15 fliers so to speak that they can
18:51:18 provide to folks as they are
18:51:20 meeting with them when they do
18:51:22 their initial in-take
18:51:22 interviews.
18:51:24 This is when they apply and when
18:51:26 they move to the preference
18:51:27 policy list and contact by the
18:51:28 housing provider and at the
18:51:30 appointment to actually apply.
18:51:33 That's a lot of steps in between
18:51:34 and opportunities for us to
18:51:36 inform about the program. We
18:51:38 have tighten up a little bit. A
18:51:42 lot of trainings have been
18:51:46 provided and going over what
18:51:48 this is about. It covers other
18:51:49 moving costs.
18:51:50 Very pleased to say I don't have
18:51:53 a list of the buildings that do
18:51:56 it but there are partner
18:51:57 buildings that don't charge
18:51:59 security deposits.
18:52:01 Hence, it is being under
18:52:02 utilized and not being
18:52:06 well-known among some of the
18:52:08 recipients. That caused a lot of
18:52:09 frustration of the community
18:52:10 members and partners and us. We
18:52:13 did have a wonderful meeting,
18:52:15 via e-mail and discourse with
18:52:17 one of our partners and out of
18:52:20 it came a flier and of course
18:52:22 trainings. I will say it has
18:52:26 picked up. We have
18:52:29 a significant number, so, we
18:52:32 take a look at the first quarter
18:52:34 and the first quarter we only
18:52:36 had about 25 families that
18:52:37 received rent assistance. Most
18:52:41 of the referrals were going to
18:52:46 our - Dr. Daryl --
18:52:46 building.
18:52:49 We had a lot of individuals who
18:52:51 had their security deposit
18:52:52 supplies to their rent. We are
18:52:55 seeing a bit of diversity of how
18:52:58 the funds are being used.
18:52:59 Hopefully, we'll be able to
18:53:01 bring you more in the
18:53:02 comprehensive report and how it
18:53:04 is being used or test it out
18:53:06 more whatever direction it goes
18:53:08 based on whatever leadership
18:53:10 decides. In the second quarter,
18:53:12 we have 17 more families that
18:53:13 received grant assistance. We
18:53:16 had a little bit more diversity
18:53:18 and who those funds in which
18:53:19 buildings those funds were going
18:53:26 towards. We still have Dr.
18:53:34 Daryl Milner
18:53:39 building, Cascadia BHC and
18:53:43 GARLINGTON place and also
18:53:45 finding the point in which to
18:53:46 start the process to assess
18:53:49 where the person is needing
18:53:51 assistance and also getting them
18:53:53 moved in in time because it is a
18:53:55 short window. Most folks are -
18:53:58 one person reported having three
18:54:00 days to come up security
18:54:02 deposits and of course all the
18:54:06 other moving costs that is are
18:54:06 incurred.
18:54:09 So, it is good to see them apply
18:54:11 it proactively. Some concerns,
18:54:15 which I did a retraining with
18:54:16 their team.
18:54:23 Charlotte B. Rutherford
18:54:27 place. About 42 families have
18:54:29 been served and about 44,000 of
18:54:30 the funding have been spent. We
18:54:34 have a total of $56,000
18:54:35 available. From there, we'll be
18:54:38 to conduct the comprehensive
18:54:41 report, we'll have some surveys.
18:54:42 That's what came first. To
18:54:45 access how the program was
18:54:46 going. That was led by our
18:54:50 partner United way, a big
18:54:51 shoutout to them to make sure
18:54:53 that families are aware of this
18:54:54 and supporting them in building
18:54:56 the process and getting their
18:54:59 invoices paid for any services
18:55:02 they were using. Before we start
18:55:04 our comprehensive report, we'll
18:55:07 be doing interviews to see how
18:55:10 the program goes and get more
18:55:13 insights on how to make it
18:55:15 better. And from there we'll
18:55:18 have more updates to report in
18:55:19 the next session which I believe
18:55:21 is in March.
18:55:23 Next slide, please? All right,
18:55:25 thank you for your time. It is a
18:55:25 short presentation today. Any
18:55:27 questions?
18:55:28 >> Dr. Holt: Thank you.
18:55:30 We'll go back to our gallery
18:55:34 view and I will begin asking if
18:55:38 any one has any questions or
18:55:38 comments? Ta'Nesha?
18:55:43 >> Ta'Nesha: No questions.
18:55:43
18:55:52 >> Dr. Holt: SEALEE?
18:55:57 >> SEALEE: None for me
18:55:58 either.
18:56:02 >> Dr. Holt: John?
18:56:04 >> John: I am going to ask you a
18:56:07 series of questions because I am
18:56:08 curious about it. When people
18:56:12 get on the waiting list, that
18:56:14 does not indicate anything
18:56:17 except that they're on the list,
18:56:19 right? So, each of those people
18:56:23 on the list needs to be vetted,
18:56:28 right?
18:56:31 >> Dyvisha: Yes.
18:56:33 >> John: With 3,000 people being
18:56:36 on that list and maybe I am not
18:56:37 aware. There is assets out
18:56:40 there, meaning there are places
18:56:42 to place people available, of a
18:56:45 lot of projects that are out
18:56:46 there, right? So, I am just
18:56:48 having a hard time understanding
18:56:52 with 3,000 people on the wait
18:56:55 list and there is assets out
18:56:58 there, that's not burning any
18:57:00 money in costing people, is
18:57:03 there a break down some where? I
18:57:05 am not understanding that.
18:57:07 So, I am asking that question to
18:57:09 figure, trying to figure out why
18:57:13 some of these projects are
18:57:14 losing money while there are
18:57:16 assets and people waiting to get
18:57:17 their places.
18:57:20 >> Dyvisha: It Hinches on what
18:57:21 was touched on a little earlier.
18:57:25 I am going to ask Leslie to
18:57:26 chime in.
18:57:28 Affordability is apart of it. We
18:57:29 are sending folks interested in
18:57:32 the housing opportunity. It is
18:57:34 not uncommon for us to send a
18:57:36 list of folks. We send ten
18:57:38 families per vacancy.
18:57:39 It is not uncommon for us to
18:57:41 send notice to folks or make
18:57:46 referrals to buildings.
18:57:48 It did not yield the result it
18:57:50 needed. What we heard back is
18:57:53 affordability. We started a
18:57:59 process midway last year where
18:58:01 initial kind of touch being
18:58:04 sensed by star just to Gardner
18:58:05 interests before we share the
18:58:07 list with providers. We had some
18:58:09 takes with that because of the
18:58:10 timing given to respond.
18:58:13 There were questions and doubts
18:58:16 about that. The issue there lies
18:58:17 a lot of folks reporting they
18:58:20 want to be in the building but I
18:58:24 need something cheaper. That's
18:58:26 mostly what comes up. I don't
18:58:27 want to beat that horse. That's
18:58:29 what we are hearing back and
18:58:32 that does cause a slow pace in
18:58:33 the list.
18:58:37 >> Leslie Goodlow: John, that's
18:58:38 a great question because I mean
18:58:42 the first thing is you got
18:58:47
18:58:50 1100 point folks. If you pull it
18:58:52 out, you got 2,000 people that
18:58:54 have some connections to
18:58:56 northeast Portland with varying
18:58:59 degrees of proximity to city
18:59:02 action. So, generally, when we
18:59:04 get a request, somebody says oh,
18:59:07 we got a vacant unit in X
18:59:10 building. It is this size or
18:59:13 whatever, we send them ten names
18:59:17 or if they got more than one and
18:59:20 we have to continue to send
18:59:22 them names of people until
18:59:24 either somebody says yes and
18:59:28 they work out and qualify or it
18:59:30 gets to the 90 days and they can
18:59:33 request a waiver. So, we are
18:59:37 finding that a lot of people on
18:59:39 the list can't afford to move
18:59:41 into a 60% unit. We don't have
18:59:45 enough 30% units and so their
18:59:47 over income for 30% unit, there
18:59:49 are not enough voucher units. A
18:59:50 lot of people on the list don't
18:59:53 want to go off the list because
18:59:55 things may change for them, but
18:59:57 they are also looking for a
18:59:59 voucher unit, which is a
19:00:00 different process. We can't use
19:00:06 the preference policies to lease
19:00:10 up units that have project-based
19:00:13 vouchers or the unit that's
19:00:13 available.
19:00:15 The person at the top of the
19:00:17 list may have three kids and
19:00:19 they need a three-bedroom unit
19:00:21 but the units that are available
19:00:23 right now are one and two
19:00:25 bedrooms or studios and one
19:00:27 bedroom. So, we are really
19:00:28 working to increase the amount
19:00:32 of data that we have on our
19:00:35 side, thanks to Dyvisha and
19:00:36 Ramon and the new person we'll
19:00:39 be hiring in the next couple of
19:00:41 weeks to ensure that we are
19:00:45 doing a better job of matching
19:00:46 people on the list with units
19:00:50 that are coming available. And
19:00:52 so we are going to pilot a
19:00:53 different process. We have tried
19:00:58 it once. We are going to work
19:01:00 with one of our development
19:01:03 partners where they send us the
19:01:05 information saying we got three
19:01:06 bedroom or two bedroom and this
19:01:08 is how big it is. This is what
19:01:11 the rent is, this is the AMI and
19:01:15 then we send it out to folks on
19:01:17 the list, and then those people
19:01:18 that respond saying yes, I am
19:01:22 interested, can I schedule a
19:01:24 tour? What's the next step?
19:01:27 Then, we only send those names
19:01:29 over to that development partner
19:01:32 so they're not having to go
19:01:33 through person after person who
19:01:35 may not be interested because
19:01:37 they need a three bedroom and
19:01:39 only a one bedroom is available
19:01:42 or vice versa. Other thing is
19:01:46 that we are going to be doing a
19:01:47 review of the preference policy.
19:01:50 I think I talked about this last
19:01:54 fall to see what pieces we can
19:01:57 change or should change and how
19:02:00 to tweak some of the
19:02:04 implementation so that we have
19:02:06 better results. As Dyvisha and
19:02:08 Dr. Holt have said, a lot of
19:02:10 this comes down to affordability
19:02:12 in these buildings. That, you
19:02:16 know, a 60% unit is out of reach
19:02:17 for a lot of people right now.
19:02:18 Hopefully, that answers your
19:02:22 question, John.
19:02:24 >> John: Thank you very much for
19:02:27 that. I find it ironic is that
19:02:29 there is an affordability
19:02:31 problem within affordability
19:02:32 development.
19:02:35 There is an irony in that.
19:02:38 We are building these properties
19:02:40 to address these issues.
19:02:44 >> Leslie Goodlow: I agree.
19:02:45 >> Dr. Holt: One of the things
19:02:52 we are dealing with is - deeper
19:02:53 affordability is necessity,
19:02:54 that's where we come into
19:02:58 advocate for that deeper
19:03:01 affordability. We can't be
19:03:06 satisfied because it is a
19:03:15 conundrum and oxymoron.
19:03:19 >> John: After the development
19:03:22 and looking at the existing
19:03:25 asset and seeing the asset is
19:03:30 under - how would you say it?
19:03:30
19:03:33 >> Dr. Holt: Under-occupied?
19:03:35 >> John: Under performing is
19:03:38 more appropriate.
19:03:41 >> Leslie Goodlow: One other
19:03:45 thing I will mention in relation
19:03:47 to you asking about buildings
19:03:51 losing money. At one point, I
19:03:52 think it was last December,
19:03:55 December of '23 and I don't know
19:03:58 how much of this has been
19:03:59 cleared up but between hour six
19:04:01 buildings, there was a million
19:04:02 dollars in past due rent across
19:04:05 six buildings.
19:04:10 >> John:
19:04:11 Yes.
19:04:14 >> Leslie Goodlow: Folks do not
19:04:16 want to evict people because of
19:04:18 past due rent but at the same
19:04:20 time struggling to keep their
19:04:21 occupancy at a rate that's not
19:04:25 going to impact their financing,
19:04:27 their situation with their
19:04:28 credit deals and all of those
19:04:32 things so it is a balance
19:04:34 between supporting our
19:04:36 development partners and
19:04:38 supporting those community
19:04:39 members that I have heard from.
19:04:44 I hear a lot from people as
19:04:50 does Dr. Holt and Dyvisha.
19:04:52 I heard in my whole life where
19:04:55 people think we did this and it
19:04:56 is not really what we said it
19:05:00 was going to be. So, really
19:05:03 trying to fight against that
19:05:05 notion and how do we address it.
19:05:10 How do we make things better so
19:05:14 that folks can afford to live in
19:05:16 these buildings and move back
19:05:19 into northeast Portland. Albina
19:05:22 vision is they have a building
19:05:25 that's going to be opened early
19:05:25 2026.
19:05:28 They are fundraising in order to
19:05:32 lower the AMI on many of their
19:05:36 units so that they can rent at
19:05:41 40% and 50%. I think that's some
19:05:43 of the things we need to be
19:05:46 looking at as Helmi mentioned as
19:05:48 we are looking at future
19:05:50 projects how much subsidies does
19:05:53 any buildings need and do we
19:05:55 subsidize at a higher rate?
19:05:57 Where is the money coming from
19:05:59 to subsidize at a higher rate?
19:06:01 If people don't pay their rent,
19:06:04 how do we help developers stay
19:06:07 on their feet? There are units
19:06:11 available and buildings, we get
19:06:13 noticing every couple times a
19:06:17 month there are buildings
19:06:19 available, but struggling to
19:06:21 find people off the list that
19:06:24 are able to move right now or
19:06:27 can afford the rent or need a
19:06:29 different size unit. So, there
19:06:33 are a lot of factors that are at
19:06:39 play.
19:06:41 >> John: Thank you for that.
19:06:43 I agree with that. It makes it
19:06:45 uncomfortable of some of the
19:06:49 dynamics I am understanding. The
19:06:50 needs are what's driving the
19:06:51 project.
19:06:53 Housing is a need. A lot of
19:06:55 times even with the business
19:06:59 sector, you know, for certain
19:07:00 demographics, we don't do the
19:07:02 research before times.
19:07:03 Sometimes the needs just drive
19:07:05 us to do something to perform
19:07:07 somehow. Once we have done that
19:07:10 performance, the reality of the
19:07:13 fallout is in hindsight it is
19:07:14 almost like the time we
19:07:17 recognize developers, okay, we
19:07:20 are billing these buildings but
19:07:22 now we have to build handicap
19:07:23 access because we didn't take
19:07:25 the time to consider them. And I
19:07:28 am thinking a lot of this is
19:07:30 happening in this process also
19:07:32 and one of my biggest concerns
19:07:35 is we are building just to
19:07:37 build, or are we building the
19:07:40 population to meet the building,
19:07:41 you know?
19:07:42 There are some questions of
19:07:46 something this around social
19:07:47 services. We are building the
19:07:48 community and the people in the
19:07:49 community as we are building
19:07:53 these buildings or are we just
19:07:58 building buildings? I believe
19:08:02 that this whole low-income,
19:08:04 affordable housing reality is a
19:08:05 bit of a Buchter. I think it is
19:08:09 just the housing we are
19:08:10 considering, it is the
19:08:12 community. I am going to rest
19:08:14 that conversation due to time. I
19:08:16 am starting to see something and
19:08:18 the reason is talking on this
19:08:20 panel and trying to figure out
19:08:21 some of these questions because
19:08:23 the things I am hearing, I am
19:08:25 just tired of sitting here and
19:08:28 being fed of information and
19:08:30 seeing numbers and things and
19:08:31 acting like I am ignorant. I am
19:08:33 seeing some things and I am
19:08:34 seeing them on the bigger
19:08:36 picture out there because it
19:08:40 affects affordable housing as we
19:08:43 -- I am starting to recognize
19:08:45 some of these affordable housing
19:08:52 developments are losing
19:09:00 money. I am going to
19:09:03 careful in saying this but I am
19:09:08 going to say this jokingly and
19:09:10 humorously, demographics,
19:09:12 demographics k becomes apart of
19:09:27 the project. What I am starting
19:09:28 to see within that culture if it
19:09:33 is not moving or stimulus in the
19:09:38 demographics --
19:09:39 creating life rather than people
19:09:42 not paying rent and crimes and
19:09:43 all these other issues.
19:09:45 Anyway --
19:09:48 >> Dr. Holt: Thank you, John.
19:09:50 Helmi, you are going to respond.
19:09:51 I don't know if Leslie had
19:09:56 anything else she wanted to add.
19:09:57
19:10:00 >> Helmi: I would like to say
19:10:02 this particular problem is
19:10:06 actually a problem if we can
19:10:07 find a solution to. It is
19:10:08 calling a question. It is
19:10:11 Calling a very important
19:10:14 question. And what we realized
19:10:16 was that the housing that was
19:10:18 being built in north, northeast
19:10:22 was the developers are unable to
19:10:25 provide housing to people in the
19:10:27 preference list. We as a bureau
19:10:32 are asked to give exemptions.
19:10:34 Except developers and just try
19:10:39 to fill the building. As a
19:10:42 bureau, Leslie and Dyvisha and I
19:10:46 discussed it. No, we are not
19:10:50 trying to give exemptions, we
19:10:50 are trying to get people into
19:10:52 housing and we need to solve
19:10:56 that problem. Talk about are
19:11:02 people building buildings just
19:11:06 to be buildings. I said earlier
19:11:07 that low-income housing tax
19:11:10 credit financing is a formula.
19:11:12 It is a formula that relies
19:11:15 heavily on 60% of AMI. So,
19:11:18 they're all competing in this
19:11:22 world to try toll get funding.
19:11:26 And, in that competition,
19:11:29 they're not getting rights for
19:11:32 doing deeper affordability. My
19:11:33 thought and our thought at the
19:11:34 bureau is we are going to
19:11:36 continue to press on this issue
19:11:38 about deepening affordability.
19:11:42 Leslie is right. We have to find
19:11:43 the funding to address that. It
19:11:46 is not going to come without a
19:11:48 cause. If we stay on this topic
19:11:52 and we work to address this
19:11:54 particular crisis, without the
19:11:55 preference policy, we would not
19:11:58 be aware of this problem. So, I
19:12:00 have to say even though it is a
19:12:02 problem, it is a problem, it is
19:12:04 a good problem for us to try to
19:12:07 go after and so I really
19:12:10 appreciate the work of the
19:12:13 Preference Policy Team and
19:12:14 Frankly, I appreciate the
19:12:16 dialogue with the developer
19:12:17 community and the tough
19:12:19 conversations that Leslie been
19:12:20 having to have, finding
19:12:23 resources to try to solve this
19:12:26 problem. We are - we want to
19:12:30 stay in this fight and finding a
19:12:32 solution for the reasons you are
19:12:35 talking ability. We don't want
19:12:36 to build buildings just to
19:12:38 build. We are building for the
19:12:39 community of Portland and people
19:12:42 who have been displaced from
19:12:44 northeast Portland to try to
19:12:45 create and rebuild community
19:12:47 that was lost. So, I just want
19:12:50 to sort of reiterate that we are
19:12:52 here to commit to that
19:12:54 engagement and the team that you
19:12:56 are talking to are very much
19:12:58 oriented towards finding a
19:13:01 solution and actually, I think
19:13:02 it is a good fight for us to
19:13:05 actually be in and be aware of.
19:13:07 >> Dr. Holt: Thank you,
19:13:11 director, I appreciate it.
19:13:14 Piggyback John, it is good for
19:13:16 us to have a meeting to unpack
19:13:18 some things. We definitely need
19:13:19 to spend some time unpacking
19:13:19 some stuff.
19:13:21 >> John: I was going to second
19:13:25 that. We need to have a meeting
19:13:28 on this conversation. This is an
19:13:32 issue that's boiling my blood.
19:13:33 It is very concerning. It is
19:13:35 like John said, we are building
19:13:36 buildings just to build
19:13:38 buildings. These developers are
19:13:40 just building and they don't
19:13:42 care about the community.
19:13:43 They're destroying our
19:13:43 neighborhood.
19:13:46 I am seeing that in north
19:13:48 Portland and they are destroying
19:13:51 the neighborhood.
19:13:54 >> A.MONTAS: There are one area
19:13:56 that's a side street and they
19:13:59 are building eight-story high
19:14:00 apartment condos. How could that
19:14:02 be possible? How could the city
19:14:04 allow that? The pricing is not
19:14:08 going to be affordable for our
19:14:13 community to be living in. It is
19:14:15 very angry.
19:14:20 >> Dr. Holt: Appreciate
19:14:23 it.
19:14:27 Joy? Okay, deep breaths.
19:14:37 >> I wrote a lot of notes down
19:14:41 so hang in there with me. The
19:14:45 difference between 60% and three
19:14:48 bedroom - so, at 50% that's
19:14:52 $1,500. It makes it a lot more
19:14:52 affordable.
19:14:55 >> Jillian Felton: I know there
19:14:59 is not a pot of money to buy
19:15:03 down that rent in a
19:15:05 voucher-style way. This is a
19:15:08 situation that it is a money
19:15:09 problem. Throwing money at the
19:15:12 problem will solve the problem.
19:15:13 And identifying how we come up
19:15:18 with that pot of money is I
19:15:19 think the issue.
19:15:24 It has to be on the rent side.
19:15:27 We can't give a project, $2
19:15:31 million to buy down their loan
19:15:34 because not unlike any of our
19:15:36 mortgage, if you pay more
19:15:37 principles, your payments stay
19:15:38 the same.
19:15:39 The same is true on an apartment
19:15:44 building. Buying down the loan
19:15:45 balance without a refinance
19:15:49 won't help. Its got to be on the
19:15:51 revenue side. I want to suggest
19:15:52 as we have this new city
19:15:54 government coming in and we have
19:15:56 a new way of looking at things
19:15:59 that this is something that we
19:16:02 prioritize to make it work for
19:16:06 the people that was intended to
19:16:12 work for. It is about making
19:16:19 it
19:16:22 affordable.
19:16:24 Roughly using those numbers is
19:16:26 not a small amount of money if
19:16:28 you take all of the projects. Do
19:16:30 they all need to be at 60%? Is
19:16:33 there no one in the preference
19:16:35 policy that's 60%. I don't think
19:16:37 that's true. We can make some
19:16:39 sort of dent. I think that's a
19:16:42 policy issue and it is a funding
19:16:47 issue and it was an
19:16:52 error to, when
19:16:56 I say "we," we as a city and
19:16:58 metro area. When those bonds are
19:17:01 passed, we created a situation
19:17:05 where we incentivize having 30%
19:17:06 unit.
19:17:07 We could incentivize more
19:17:09 blented rate where we say we
19:17:12 want an average AMI of 45% and
19:17:16 projects would have came in with
19:17:20 40% and 60%. That was not how
19:17:22 the legal language was written.
19:17:24 The legal language required this
19:17:27 percentage of 30% units and
19:17:29 assumed everything else is at
19:17:32 60% would subsidize the 30%
19:17:34 rent. So, again, I am coming
19:17:37 back to not - I do not and I
19:17:37 don't think we can put this on
19:17:40 the shoulders of the developers
19:17:43 entirely because it was a policy
19:17:46 issue and we would not know if
19:17:48 it was not for the preference
19:17:50 policy and giving it a try that
19:17:51 this is the issue. Now, we have
19:17:55 to come in and figure out how to
19:17:57 reach these. As we talk about
19:17:59 the new TIFF districts, let's
19:18:02 take the lesson that we learn
19:18:04 and apply it. Let's not just say
19:18:06 we want this X percentage of 30%
19:18:08 units. Let's say we want to
19:18:11 target an AMI of 45. We want a
19:18:15 mix of units and every building
19:18:20 to have 30%, 40% and 50%
19:18:21 units. I want to keep a forward
19:18:23 look because what's done is
19:18:26 done. We can go back and try and
19:18:28 fix it but really let's, you
19:18:29 know, I prefer to learn from
19:18:32 other people's mistakes but I
19:18:36 insist that we learn from our
19:18:42 own. I know this committee won't
19:18:43 be and the committee is deciding
19:18:44 that.
19:18:45 Let's take the lessons learned.
19:18:49 That's the first thing I want to
19:18:58 say. The second thing I want to
19:19:00 mention of points for deeper
19:19:01 affordability of the state.
19:19:04 That's true with the 4% when it
19:19:08 was non-competitive. I know the
19:19:10 9% for years used that average
19:19:12 AMI target and would give you
19:19:13 your more points of the lower
19:19:16 your average AMI. So,if you look
19:19:20 at 9% buildings versus 4%
19:19:21 buildings, you will see a
19:19:23 different mix of AMI. Again, it
19:19:25 is just the developers going to
19:19:27 do whatever the funning is
19:19:31 telling them they have to do.
19:19:35 And so, we can solve this
19:19:39 problem in the future through
19:19:42 policies.
19:19:43 Those are suggestions and what I
19:19:45 am hearing. As affordable
19:19:47 housing and developer myself, it
19:19:48 is really important to me that
19:19:52 our projects are serving the
19:19:53 community that we intend for
19:19:55 them to serve. It is important
19:19:59 that we are not giving
19:20:03 giving lift service that are
19:20:06 actually doing the work. I am
19:20:08 not perfect when it comes to any
19:20:10 of that like I said, I prefer to
19:20:12 learn from other people's
19:20:15 mistakes. That's great. I do
19:20:17 insist that I learn from my own.
19:20:20 I think we have all been in this
19:20:21 learning process together.
19:20:23 There had not ever been a metro
19:20:24 or Portland bond before. This is
19:20:25 all new.
19:20:26 This committee is new. The
19:20:28 preference policy is new.
19:20:30 The preference policy is such a
19:20:33 success that it is listed in
19:20:35 HUD's handbook and their DEI
19:20:36 handbook as a suggestion for
19:20:38 other jurisdictions. It is a
19:20:42 success. Did we do it perfectly?
19:20:45 No. Can we fix it? Yes. I want
19:20:46 to point out it is a huge
19:20:48 success. It is a huge success
19:20:51 that so - like a huge percentage
19:20:53 of homeowners that we have
19:20:54 created with the preference
19:20:56 policy are black. That was the
19:20:59 intention. We were able to do
19:21:01 that without running a fair
19:21:03 housing law. It is a huge
19:21:05 accomplishment and so I just
19:21:07 want to highlight this successes
19:21:11 as well because I know there are
19:21:15 problems and we can't let it go.
19:21:19 We can't just say - okay, so my
19:21:24 questions,
19:21:28 -- yeah, yeah?
19:21:30 >> Director Helmi: I would like
19:21:31 to respond. The math question
19:21:33 you started at the beginning is
19:21:33 exactly right.
19:21:34 First of all, thank you for
19:21:35 that. The first thing we did
19:21:40 with the developers was we
19:21:44 said this is a math
19:21:47 problem and $300 per month
19:21:47 unit.
19:21:50 Tell us every single one of your
19:21:51 vacancies and we'll look for
19:21:55 funding to buy down that gap.
19:21:58 Leslie working with Leslie found
19:22:00 the funding to buy down the gap
19:22:02 and we offered that to
19:22:03 developers. We have said, we'll
19:22:06 fix this problem, we want you to
19:22:09 lease to the preference policy
19:22:09 list.
19:22:11 We'll provide the gap funding.
19:22:13 The answer is, we did exactly
19:22:14 what you asked us to do. I want
19:22:16 you to know that we are trying
19:22:19 to come up with real and
19:22:20 immediate solutions,
19:22:24 implementing is harder than it
19:22:26 looks and never that easy. There
19:22:27 are a lot of decisions have to
19:22:29 be made by tenants and others.
19:22:32 I want to say we understand this
19:22:36 is a fixable problem and we went
19:22:37 out immediately to find
19:22:38 resources to fix it.
19:22:42 The funding that we found was
19:22:43 CBGG, federal dollars, and right
19:22:49 now I am being pressured to use
19:22:50 CBGG for shelter care because
19:22:53 there are a lot of tensions
19:22:54 between important, you know,
19:22:56 life and death uses for these
19:22:58 funds. So, we are trying to hold
19:23:01 the line on the preference
19:23:02 policy.
19:23:03 Secondly, as someone who came
19:23:07 from the city that has a history
19:23:11 racial discrimination does not
19:23:13 have any kind of thing like a
19:23:16 preference policy, I am utterly
19:23:18 in awe of the incredible work of
19:23:21 the preference policy in
19:23:22 Portland. I come here and think
19:23:23 that this is the most important
19:23:25 pieces of work that I have seen
19:23:27 done in any city. I am deeply
19:23:29 committed in making it work. I
19:23:30 think it works incredibly well
19:23:34 on the homeownership sides. We
19:23:36 have six's to make on the rental
19:23:39 side. I think you are exactly
19:23:43 right. Hindsight 2020, we should
19:23:45 have had a different rule in
19:23:45 the bond.
19:23:47 We should have agreed that we'll
19:23:49 have fewer units because we
19:23:51 needed to deepen affordability
19:23:54 instead of doing all 60% units.
19:23:55 We have and we are learning a
19:23:58 lesson from this. So, I just
19:24:00 want to make sure that you know
19:24:02 we hear it, and I am so proud of
19:24:05 the work of the preference
19:24:06 policy team and I am so glad
19:24:08 that we are in this fight that
19:24:12 you are all paying attention to
19:24:12 this.
19:24:15 You are going to drive forward
19:24:18 in great policy I think in the
19:24:20 coming as we engage in the TIFF
19:24:21 district.
19:24:22 That was a discipline that I am
19:24:24 trying to make. We hear and you
19:24:27 we are trying to take this
19:24:29 lesson and learn it. I want you
19:24:30 to know that.
19:24:33 >> John: I want to give this
19:24:37 opportunity because Jillian also
19:24:38 said something else.
19:24:39 When they first started going to
19:24:41 the moon, they lost some pilots.
19:24:44 It was not the pilot's fault. I
19:24:45 want to support those early
19:24:47 people who came in on this
19:24:51 process and started this out,
19:24:53 they were pioneers in this. They
19:24:56 are not riots and they didn't
19:24:58 make mistakes necessarily. I
19:24:59 want to make sure that they get
19:25:03 the kudos they need that we
19:25:07 continue to - we define and stay
19:25:12 investted. Jillian, I appreciate
19:25:15 you pointing that out, thank
19:25:15 you.
19:25:16 >> Jillian: I did have a
19:25:18 question. This gets into the
19:25:20 operations stuff that you were
19:25:22 talking about. When did PHP get
19:25:24 notified that there is an
19:25:27 upcoming vacancy? Is the unit
19:25:32 already vacant?
19:25:41 >> Dyvisha: We get it when it is
19:25:43 vacant and Leslie had a meeting
19:25:47 if we could get the number of
19:25:50 days that's vacant with the
19:25:50 request.
19:25:52 That's like pulling teeth. I
19:25:54 can't give you the right answer.
19:25:55 Most of them and some providers
19:25:57 have provided me with the dates.
19:25:58 I don't want to make it seem
19:26:00 like everyone is not. It is
19:26:01 already slay cannot and to
19:26:03 answer your question. It has
19:26:07 been vacant for some time.
19:26:10 >> Jillian: That seems like
19:26:14 that's something to work on.
19:26:17 If it is a 60-day process and
19:26:20 they give 30-day notice and we
19:26:21 are not using that 30 days and
19:26:23 we are losing time.
19:26:27 That seems like a training issue
19:26:29 so to speak? One that you are
19:26:30 already on top of.
19:26:33 >> Dyvisha: We have to work on
19:26:35 the policies behind it and doing
19:26:36 a lot of Manuels.
19:26:38 >> Jillian: My last thing is on
19:26:39 the security deposit. You said
19:26:43 that folks, the struggles was
19:26:44 getting the security deposit
19:26:48 funds in time to move in? Is
19:26:52 there a way that PHP or United
19:26:54 Way can provide some sort of
19:26:55 commitment letter so that the
19:26:56 developer or the housing
19:26:58 association would know the money
19:27:00 is coming in the next, you know,
19:27:02 two weeks or 30 days or whatever
19:27:04 so that person does not have to
19:27:06 wait to move in?
19:27:13 >> Dyvisha: They have a pretty
19:27:14 good turn around time and I will
19:27:15 have it in the comprehensive
19:27:17 report and we'll ask that
19:27:19 question there. It is mostly by
19:27:21 the time the person is able to
19:27:22 commit, there are a short window
19:27:25 of time and before there was a
19:27:27 confusion on the language,
19:27:30 intent to lease even though it
19:27:33 was expressed in the lease. That
19:27:35 was the training disconnect
19:27:37 that's why we did a lot of
19:27:38 trainings. The language read as
19:27:40 we need a lease agreement. If
19:27:41 you need a lease agreement, a
19:27:43 person is moving in and getting
19:27:45 keys by the time say sign the
19:27:49 lease agreement. We did have
19:27:51 successful run of Cascadia doing
19:27:56 it. That was phenomenaL
19:27:59 and I will say that the vacant
19:28:01 was a few days. It was not a
19:28:05 huge amount of time of even a
19:28:08 bit ov notice is helpful. It was
19:28:11 not unit that they knew 30 days
19:28:16 in advance that was going become
19:28:21 vacant. They follow a process
19:28:23 and she understood it was the
19:28:24 intent to lease that we were
19:28:27 trying to push forward. This
19:28:29 person wants this unit and they
19:28:32 passed the first phase of the
19:28:32 screening portion and now you
19:28:34 are assessing the background
19:28:36 components. It depends on the
19:28:38 process for them. They did the
19:28:43 income screening which is
19:28:45 standard and they followed
19:28:46 through the background check. It
19:28:48 was in the first phase that they
19:28:49 knew and they sent the letter
19:28:52 right off to United Way. That's
19:28:53 a good solution for it.
19:28:57 >> Jillian: Thank you. The last
19:29:01 thing I want to close with is
19:29:05 vacancies and back owed rent and
19:29:08 affordable housing development
19:29:09 is a nationwide problem. It is
19:29:13 not a north, northeast problem.
19:29:16 It is affordable housing coming
19:29:18 out of the pandemic and it has
19:29:20 been a challenge and not just in
19:29:22 northeast Portland but across
19:29:27 the country. So, there are
19:29:30 national solutions. I want
19:29:31 everyone, affordable housing
19:29:32 developers so I track it a lot.
19:29:34 If you are not tracking it and
19:29:36 you are just hearing it about in
19:29:39 this meeting. I want you to know
19:29:41 that while the preference policy
19:29:43 is and working through the
19:29:44 administration of that, it is
19:29:47 certainly something that we want
19:29:49 to drive for of the high
19:29:51 vacancies and difficulties of
19:29:53 getting in and paying security
19:29:56 deposits right now and the back
19:29:59 owed rent is a nationwide
19:30:01 problem that we are all facing
19:30:04 as affordable housing
19:30:06 developers. So, I want to make
19:30:08 it really clear that certainly I
19:30:09 don't care and I don't think
19:30:10 anyone should think their
19:30:11 preference policy is solely
19:30:13 responsible for some of the
19:30:16 financial struggles of our
19:30:17 nonprofit partners.
19:30:18 >> Dr. Holt: Thank you very
19:30:20 much. We'll hear from the rest
19:30:23 of the team for sure. I want to
19:30:27 say this - as we have
19:30:31 put agendas together and time
19:30:34 lime associated with them.
19:30:35 Historically, there are times I
19:30:36 would drive our agenda around
19:30:41 our timeline. Some of the topics
19:30:43 necessitate that we engage and
19:30:45 process, so, if you are watching
19:30:48 or tracking and you are going my
19:30:50 God - way past your time.
19:30:52 Yes, we are passed our time.
19:30:54 From my perspective, this is the
19:30:55 necessity of the work that we
19:31:02 are involved in. It is a value
19:31:05 that's worth taking the time to
19:31:08 process and engage in. With that
19:31:12 being said, comments and
19:31:17 thoughts?
19:31:20 >> I appreciate the discussion
19:31:24 here tonight.
19:31:28 >> Ms. Ruiz: I appreciate the
19:31:30 discussion. We have not sunk the
19:31:31 ship yet. People are in
19:31:33 apartments and staying there for
19:31:35 the most part. The things that
19:31:39 are happening to people's income
19:31:43 going down, expense never went
19:31:43 down. There has to be another
19:31:47 way and I am glad we are looking
19:31:52 at other options, doing research
19:31:53 and I really like the work I am
19:31:57 hearing from the Housing Bureau,
19:32:00 from our developers here and the
19:32:04 rest of the committee just
19:32:05 keeping on.
19:32:07 People need affordable housing.
19:32:10 That's what we are here for.
19:32:15 >> Dr. Holt: Thank you.
19:32:16
19:32:16 Ramon?
19:32:24 >> Ramon John: Is there
19:32:27 anything part of the point
19:32:30 system of READINESS schlt I know
19:32:32 people can stay on the list if
19:32:34 they get a call that they do not
19:32:36 want to move into the unit or
19:32:38 complex. Is there an option for
19:32:43 a move-in readiness, these
19:32:45 people are ready to move in so
19:32:46 vacancies are going on for days
19:32:49 or weeks or months?
19:32:51 >> Dyvisha: There is not a move
19:32:54 in readiness. The cloesest thing
19:32:58 is what we are trying to do
19:33:03 which is the
19:33:05 disengagng interests.
19:33:07 This is being one of the first
19:33:11 programs of this time and I came
19:33:17 in 2016, and I remember being
19:33:18 warned almost that New York is
19:33:23 being sued and stuff. Their
19:33:25 preference policy was not hot. A
19:33:28 lot of hesitancies around
19:33:29 collecting certain data was the
19:33:31 reason why we were not
19:33:33 collecting AMI preferences and
19:33:35 what determines their rediness
19:33:38 and part of their readiness to
19:33:41 move in or certain bedroom
19:33:41 counts.
19:33:45 There were shaky amendments but
19:33:50 responsiveness were very low.
19:33:52 So, there is just maybe through
19:33:53 the first touch but there are
19:33:58 not any further assessment. I
19:34:00 will defer to Leslie to see if
19:34:02 that's something the committee
19:34:05 may be Conferring.
19:34:08 >> Leslie Goodlow:that's
19:34:11 something we can look at as this
19:34:16 review process. We don't do a
19:34:17 lot of assessment because then
19:34:18 they'll have to go through the
19:34:20 same thing with a lot of same
19:34:22 questions with development
19:34:22 partners.
19:34:24 When they are going through the
19:34:25 screening process and all of
19:34:27 these things and we didn't want
19:34:28 people to have to answer the
19:34:29 same questions multiple times
19:34:31 because even if we get their
19:34:34 information and we say - oh,
19:34:36 this person is at 56% or they're
19:34:41 at 60% AMI and this and this.
19:34:41
19:34:43 Depending on the funding stack
19:34:44 for that particular building,
19:34:47 they may have additional
19:34:48 criteria, additional information
19:34:50 that they're going to require
19:34:52 and now, we traumatize somebody
19:34:56 by saying oh, they're 60% but
19:34:59 when the building calculates it,
19:35:02 it comes out to be 60% over
19:35:05 their income.
19:35:08 We have to really balance our
19:35:09 request for information with
19:35:12 what the buildings have to ask
19:35:13 as well. That's something that
19:35:16 we can consider as we are
19:35:17 reviewing the preference
19:35:18 policies.
19:35:22 What we have the capacity to
19:35:25 do, we have a partnership with
19:35:27 Planning and Sustainability.
19:35:34 They create the map and
19:35:36 application on our website for
19:35:38 us. So, if there is required
19:35:40 like reprogramming, we pay them
19:35:47 to do that for
19:35:53 us. We are having to collect
19:35:55 information as we get responses
19:35:57 from people. Hey, I want two
19:35:58 bedrooms and I have three kids
19:35:59 and whatever else those pieces
19:36:01 of information so we can better
19:36:04 match those folks on the list to
19:36:08 the units that are available.
19:36:09
19:36:11 >> Dr. Holt: Thank you very
19:36:12 much.
19:36:14 >> Dyvisha: That's one element
19:36:16 of preassessment that they do.
19:36:18 They do about ten times as many
19:36:20 people that we have. So, there
19:36:21 is that possibility and
19:36:23 preference policies. I want to
19:36:27 throw it out there.
19:36:31 >> Leslie Goodlow: Yes, ten more
19:36:33 staff than we have.
19:36:36 >> Dr. Holt: Kevin?
19:36:41 >> Kevin: No questions from me.
19:36:43 >> Dr. Holt: Any questions from
19:36:45 our team remote?
19:36:50 >> SEALEE: No, I don't have any
19:36:51 questions. When there is a
19:36:52 private conversations to be had,
19:36:55 I would love to be apart of
19:36:55 that.
19:37:00 >> Ta'Nesha: I agree
19:37:02 with with S., thank you very
19:37:03 much, I don't have any questions
19:37:06 at this time.
19:37:10 >> Dr. Holt:
19:37:14 Thank you, Dyvisha. I
19:37:19 realize we are at 7:37, I
19:37:20 understand that.
19:37:22 Thank you for hanging out.
19:37:24 Come on up. Much to talk about,
19:37:26 great updates and I am sure and
19:37:28 we got a few questions that
19:37:30 we'll engage.
19:37:31 Thank you and everyone who can
19:37:33 hang out and stay, we welcome
19:37:37 you to do so. We'll forgo our
19:37:39 Communications Newsletters and
19:37:41 we'll have space for public
19:37:45 comment before I wrap up.
19:37:48 >> Nobody signed up.
19:37:52 >> Dr. Holt: We'll have no
19:37:55 public comments tonight.
19:37:57 Introduce yourself.
19:38:00 >> Ian O.: Hi, everybody, thank
19:38:02 you for having me become. I am
19:38:07 working on the
19:38:12 CAREY boulevard
19:38:18 project. You can hope right up
19:38:20 to the next slide. So, just want
19:38:21 to do a little background of
19:38:24 where we come from and where we
19:38:28 are going.
19:38:34 2023 is when habitat received
19:38:39 the green lights. We spent 2024
19:38:40 engaging with the northeast
19:38:42 community through a survey and
19:38:45 then events. So, I think about
19:38:46 180 people responded to the
19:38:48 survey. We had 50 people right
19:38:52 here in this room for an event
19:38:54 this past summer asked for some
19:38:57 input of the design. We spent
19:38:59 the fall finalizing our design
19:39:01 documents with our architect and
19:39:03 civil engineers. We are
19:39:07 preparing in two weeks to
19:39:10 submit for permits. The first
19:39:13 one is a phase utility permits.
19:39:14 As you will see on a slide, it
19:39:17 is quite a large site of three
19:39:19 acres. We'll spend almost a year
19:39:22 working on excavation and all
19:39:24 that stuff. We are supposed to
19:39:28 get the land from PHB in July.
19:39:31 It is occupied as a safe rest
19:39:33 village. We'll be coordinating
19:39:37 with the village team this
19:39:39 spring to work on transitioning
19:39:41 the site. I understand that
19:39:44 they're working with all of the
19:39:45 folks who are living there
19:39:47 currently on individualized
19:39:49 plans to find some where for
19:39:52 them to move to. Then, in
19:39:53 August, we hope to have permits
19:39:56 in hand and be ready to start
19:40:04 excavation. Next slide?
19:40:06 so, this is just an overview of
19:40:09 the site plan. Actually, why
19:40:12 don't we go to the next slide. I
19:40:16 like the next one better. It
19:40:19 gives you a bird's eye view. It
19:40:23 is 50 homes. We have 22
19:40:26 bedrooms, 19 bedrooms and so
19:40:30 some family size homes in here
19:40:34 with a range of 35% to 80%
19:40:37 AMI. And one of the things that
19:40:39 we asked about in the Community
19:40:42 Engagement was what to do if
19:40:44 some of these green spaces
19:40:45 on-site and what kind of
19:40:48 amenities people want to see? We
19:40:51 heard overwhelmingly an interest
19:40:54 in garden space and a play area
19:40:56 as well as picnic area.
19:41:00 So, those pop outs there on the
19:41:03 slide are showing our landscape
19:41:04 architect was able to put
19:41:07 together a little gardening area
19:41:09 with some trees and that central
19:41:13 area we are expecting to have an
19:41:15 accessible little play area.
19:41:18 Then, over on the left there is
19:41:22 where a giant heritage tree, of
19:41:23 a really tall redwood. That
19:41:25 area, we can't really impact it
19:41:28 all. It is perfect actually for
19:41:33 just like path and picnic area.
19:41:34
19:41:36 Yeah, why don't we go to the
19:41:39 next slide? This is just
19:41:42 close-up kind of con conceptual
19:41:43 views of some of the amenities
19:41:45 we are designing. The green
19:41:47 space and play area on the right
19:41:51 and raised garden beds and trees
19:41:53 on your left. I think the last
19:41:55 slide I have just more next
19:41:57 steps. Like I said, we are
19:42:01 applying for the utility permit
19:42:03 this month. We estimate around
19:42:05 six months for city review.
19:42:09 It is not quite involved of the
19:42:13 process as the full building
19:42:15 permit and inside development
19:42:17 review. We are budgeting some
19:42:21 times for a few round revisions.
19:42:22 We are expecting around a year
19:42:24 for site development. As you saw
19:42:25 on the plan, there is as whole
19:42:29 new public road that we are
19:42:30 constructing north.
19:42:32 Ready to start vertical
19:42:36 constructions and Summer of 2026
19:42:38 and selling homes 2028 to 2029.
19:42:42 I know that it has been kind of
19:42:44 - it has been two years since
19:42:46 we started but that was part of
19:42:50 the plan the whole time. Safe
19:42:52 Rest Village has been a big
19:42:54 success and cool to be apart of
19:42:56 what's kind of a new model of
19:42:57 let's use this land that we have
19:43:00 to house people temporarily
19:43:03 while we design, you know,
19:43:09 permanent communities so, we
19:43:13 welcome
19:43:18 questions.
19:43:21 >> Dr. Holt: To the gallery
19:43:24 view. I will begin with our
19:43:29 remote team. Ta'Nesha:
19:43:31 Do you have any questions?
19:43:35 >> Ta'Nesha: I don't have any
19:43:35 questions.
19:43:41 >> SAELEE: No
19:43:41 questions.
19:43:44 >> So, I am relatively new to
19:43:46 this committee, this is a long
19:43:48 process. Is there any part of
19:43:50 this process that you feel like
19:43:52 or we feel like as a group is
19:43:53 taking way too long through
19:43:55 this?
19:43:58 Is this expected through the
19:44:01 processes that we have today?
19:44:04 >> Ian: I think it is been just
19:44:06 about amount of time to do a
19:44:08 really engaged design process.
19:44:10 We can get through design a lot
19:44:11 faster. I think it was great
19:44:13 that we have the time because of
19:44:18 the safe rest Village
19:44:20 to slow down and do the
19:44:23 community engagement process and
19:44:24 have the event. There has been a
19:44:26 few surprises along the way as
19:44:28 far as learning of what public
19:44:30 improvements we had to do. There
19:44:32 was a pretty involved process
19:44:34 with the urban forest street
19:44:35 department and learning about
19:44:38 how to work and around the trees
19:44:42 on the site. So, I think that we
19:44:47 really benefited honestly, from
19:44:51 having the safe rest village
19:44:54 there and having a plan of 2025.
19:44:59 It gives us cushions of some
19:45:01 surprises happening any time of
19:45:03 big projects.
19:45:06 >> Dr. Holt: Ms. Goodlow, I
19:45:08 don't know if you want to speak
19:45:11 to this at all about how process
19:45:13 is unfold. I will come in with
19:45:17 comments as well regarding that.
19:45:22 >> Ms. Goodlow: I will jump
19:45:26 in for Kevin and Ramon
19:45:27 benefits. We purchased this
19:45:34 property from the water Bureau
19:45:35 in 2016. We have been trying to
19:45:37 figure out what was going to be
19:45:40 the best timing given everything
19:45:44 else that was going on. We
19:45:46 prioritized the bond projects
19:45:49 as we had the metro bond and the
19:45:52 Portland bond so there was no
19:45:59 rush for this, for us to get
19:45:59 started.
19:46:01 We had the land for a while.
19:46:05 We did the RFP and habitat was
19:46:09 the successful project.
19:46:13 So, you know, projects depending
19:46:16 on the scope and the size, you
19:46:20 know, generally takes as Jillian
19:46:22 said, they can take up to five
19:46:26 years from design, concept to
19:46:30 funding and to shovels in the
19:46:34 ground and leasing. We knew
19:46:35 this was going to take a while
19:46:37 which was one of the reasons we
19:46:40 started with the folks. We did a
19:46:42 run with the homeowner ship
19:46:44 preference policies because we
19:46:45 want people to be ready when the
19:46:48 units are ready. Given we saw
19:46:49 the last couple of rounds that
19:46:51 people were taken upward three
19:46:55 or four years to get mortgage
19:46:57 ready that we didn't want folks
19:47:02 to miss out on this project or
19:47:03 this opportunity because they
19:47:04 didn't have enough time to get
19:47:06 where they needed to go. So,
19:47:08 this has been a great
19:47:10 partnership with Habitat on this
19:47:14 project. It definitely is as I
19:47:16 have mentioned before a project
19:47:20 from the heart. This is creating
19:47:23 a neighborhood for people who
19:47:25 never thought of being
19:47:26 homeowners.
19:47:28 Families that have never had a
19:47:30 homeowner or the last homeowner
19:47:34 was four generations ago. So,
19:47:39 this is critically important
19:47:42 for us to ensure that we are
19:47:46 meeting the spirit and the
19:47:49 guidance that the community gave
19:47:53 to us in 204 when we started
19:47:55 this process is creating new
19:47:57 homeowners was a priority. This
19:48:00 is one of the major projects
19:48:02 that we'll increase that
19:48:02 commitment or meet that
19:48:05 commitment.
19:48:06 >> Dr. Holt: Thank you very
19:48:09 much. A little supplemental
19:48:10 information alongside that.
19:48:14 One of the things we discovered
19:48:16 and Leslie highlighted it is how
19:48:18 long it takes for people to get
19:48:20 into the space where they can
19:48:24 purchase. It was pofrptpofrpt
19:48:28 -- important for us to do
19:48:31 collaborative efforts as much as
19:48:33 possible for some seamlessness
19:48:35 so as opportunities are
19:48:36 happening, people can benefit
19:48:37 from those opportunities are
19:48:40 ready to take advantage of them.
19:48:46 Our lived experience in the City
19:48:50 of Portland,
19:48:53 establishing and helping those
19:48:58 most impacted. We want to not be
19:49:00 responsible for putting quite a
19:49:02 bit of work creating an
19:49:03 environment that does not
19:49:04 benefit the very people we are
19:49:07 fighting to help benefit from
19:49:08 that environment. So, part of
19:49:11 our process, part of our hope
19:49:13 and strategy is to think through
19:49:15 how that happens.
19:49:16 Well, it is good and what's
19:49:17 different about and I am hoping
19:49:19 it is going to be good. It is
19:49:20 going to be interesting for a
19:49:23 while until it gets smooth out.
19:49:26 When this started, when we began
19:49:28 what we were doing, the
19:49:30 experience of the city and this
19:49:32 collaborative work that now is
19:49:33 happening was not happening.
19:49:37 City was Siloed and left-handed
19:49:40 and didn't work with the
19:49:41 right-hand. It required
19:49:43 different levels of engagement
19:49:45 and strategy and etcetera that
19:49:48 is we put ourselves into in
19:49:49 various space and times to
19:49:50 advocate for those who didn't
19:49:52 have a chance to advocate for
19:49:53 themselves. So, some of this
19:49:57 timing is associated with that.
19:49:59 Hopefully, going forward, there
19:50:02 will be more of a collaborative
19:50:04 and strategic, intentional
19:50:05 thoughtfulness to ensure that
19:50:06 the people who have been again
19:50:10 most impacted get the benefit
19:50:12 from the work we are doing.
19:50:15 >> Kevin: Thank you, I am seems
19:50:18 like an awesome project. Thank
19:50:19 you.
19:50:23 >> Dr. Holt:
19:50:23 Ramon?
19:50:26 >> Ramon: No question.
19:50:31 >> Ms. Ruiz: I want to look
19:50:36 at it from the stand point
19:50:39 habitat For Humanity, have you
19:50:41 run into problems or your
19:50:42 clients that you work with can't
19:50:45 pay their rent, what do you do?
19:50:49 >> Ian: Thanks for that we, we
19:50:54 get that a lot. I didn't get to
19:50:57 introduce habitat and what we
19:51:01 do. We are 100% homeownership
19:51:02 organization.
19:51:03 People purchasing their home
19:51:06 from us with a mortgage set of
19:51:07 30% of their income. The
19:51:09 majority of the homes will be
19:51:13 affordable to folks making 35%
19:51:17 to 60% of AMI and so some
19:51:22 between 60% and 80% as
19:51:25 well. We have few people default
19:51:26 on those mortgages.
19:51:30 It is like 98% or 99%. It is
19:51:33 extremely high. It is very rare
19:51:38 yeah for that to happen.
19:51:42 >> Dr. Holt: The mortgages are
19:51:46 tailored to the individual and
19:51:48 their income?
19:51:51 >> Ian: Yes, correct. The idea
19:51:54 is their monthly payment is
19:51:57 affordable at that 30% level.
19:51:59 So, we have kind of a range of,
19:52:01 you know, homes that were
19:52:02 expecting going to sell to
19:52:04 somebody between 25% or 60%
19:52:06 range but if you come in making,
19:52:10 you know, 60K, we are going to
19:52:14 set it at 30% of what you can
19:52:16 pay. It is not like rental where
19:52:19 the same rent is set for every
19:52:20 single home.
19:52:22 >> Dr. Holt: Thank you, John, I
19:52:24 have not forgotten you. I will
19:52:25 come back.
19:52:28 Jillian?
19:52:30 >> Jillian: I don't have any
19:52:32 questions at time.
19:52:36 >> Dr. Holt: Awesome.
19:52:38
19:52:46 >> Mr. MONTAS: I really like
19:52:49 this project. Is there a
19:52:51 swimming pool in the area?
19:52:55 >> Ian: That's the neighbor's
19:52:59 swimming pool.
19:53:00
19:53:04 >> Mr. MONTAS: So the community
19:53:06 can meet other than the park and
19:53:08 the play area.
19:53:10 >> Ian: The place highlighted
19:53:12 will be a place you can gather
19:53:14 ir. The place around redwood
19:53:16 tree is pretty large. There is a
19:53:17 community gather and that could
19:53:21 happen there. The place with the
19:53:24 play area is a little narrower
19:53:26 and between the buildings. There
19:53:30 are a couple of good spots
19:53:31 facilitate connections.
19:53:34 >> Mr. MONTAS: By the time it is
19:53:36 done, hopefully, you will have
19:53:40 some people recruited and
19:53:41 hopefully to have people afford
19:53:42 to buy those houses within our
19:53:47 community, right? That's all.
19:53:54 >> Dr. Holt: John, you were on
19:53:58 the
19:54:00 screen?
19:54:04 >> John Washington: Yes, I am
19:54:08 on the
19:54:12 screen. It was interesting of
19:54:15 the habitat.
19:54:16 Congratulations. Something has
19:54:20 just been interesting and just
19:54:21 recently over the new year,
19:54:23 there was a troubling article
19:54:24 that came out about you guys.
19:54:26 Can you talk to me about what
19:54:28 that article is awesome about?
19:54:32 >> Ian: Sure, I will be happy to
19:54:34 respond to that.
19:54:35 There was an article and news
19:54:39 report from Coin suggesting that
19:54:41 there was a homeowner in one of
19:54:43 our communities who was
19:54:44 concerned they thought that it
19:54:48 was not built to fire code. It
19:54:51 was disappointing to see that
19:54:53 report come out that way because
19:54:57 it is not true. Every community
19:54:58 that we built is permitted
19:55:03 through the City of
19:55:05 Portland, reviewed for
19:55:07 compliance with code, inspected
19:55:10 for compliance with code, and we
19:55:15 have 100% certainty that project
19:55:19 is fine. So, yeah, it is
19:55:20 unfortunate, I guess, there was
19:55:24 that misunderstanding and that
19:55:25 misinformation that came out in
19:55:30 that new story but you can have
19:55:31 100% confidence that this
19:55:33 project will be permitted by the
19:55:37 city Of important
19:55:41 - Portland and it will meet all
19:55:43 fire code rules.
19:55:45 >> John Washington: I appreciate
19:55:47 that. That's all I had, folks.
19:55:49 >> Dr. Holt: Thank you very
19:55:51 much. I was going to address not
19:55:53 just that but questions in
19:55:56 regards to -- thanks John for
19:55:56 raising it. Questions in regards
19:55:59 to the streets that are being
19:56:00 created. Do you know the width
19:56:04 of the street and it looks like
19:56:09 we have a
19:56:15 cullasack
19:56:19 k, talk to me about the strategy
19:56:20 in that regard.
19:56:22 >> Ian: We have a great page in
19:56:23 the plan which I don't have in
19:56:24 this presentation.
19:56:26 One of the pages we'll be
19:56:27 submitting to the city as part
19:56:30 of the utility permit actually
19:56:33 shows the pathway of a fire
19:56:35 truck with areal fire apparatus
19:56:37 how it can turn into and out of
19:56:38 each of those parking areas
19:56:42 because on this project, due to
19:56:43 the configuration and the
19:56:46 zoning, that is a requirement
19:56:49 that each of those parking areas
19:56:53 has access for one of the long
19:56:55 trucks with the, ladders on
19:57:00 top. Yes, it has been designed
19:57:02 according to the pea bod
19:57:03 specifications and there is room
19:57:05 for a full fire truck to get in
19:57:09 each of those parking areas.
19:57:13 And the
19:57:21 CULASACK was required with
19:57:23 adequate - getting of my depth
19:57:27 and into the civil engineering
19:57:32 land, north MINERVA street is
19:57:34 wide enough for two-way traffic
19:57:35 and paralleling on both sides as
19:57:36 well.
19:57:40 >> Dr. Holt: That was what I was
19:57:41 going to ask and there were
19:57:43 going to be some street parking
19:57:45 or necessitate treat parking. I
19:57:46 appreciate it.
19:57:48 Just to further question, I may
19:57:52 it beyond your specific space,
19:57:56 but around the or still in line
19:57:58 with emergency
19:58:01 respondrespondentsrespondents,
19:58:02 are there going to be certain
19:58:07 spaces that do not parked
19:58:09 or identified. Is that
19:58:11 something you don't know yet?
19:58:14 >> Ian: That's a good question.
19:58:16 In the parking area, we do have
19:58:20 few spots that are marked as ADA
19:58:23 accessible spot and the striped
19:58:27 out area next to them and any of
19:58:31 the curbs there where there is
19:58:35 no parking shown will have
19:58:45 signagesignage. That level of
19:58:47 details will get dialled in on
19:58:48 the next round of permitting.
19:58:51 Getting a little into the weeds
19:58:54 but what we have now with the
19:58:56 utility permit covering the
19:58:57 grading and underground
19:58:59 utilities and the flat work and
19:59:02 the paving and concrete and
19:59:03 sidewalks and landscaping.
19:59:05 That'll get handled in a later
19:59:08 permit called a Site Development
19:59:10 Permit. At that point, the city
19:59:11 will tell us here is exactly
19:59:14 what you need to do. There is a
19:59:15 whole host of things, it could
19:59:18 be you need to put signs up or
19:59:22 paint the curbs - we are not
19:59:24 sure yet. We'll have to see what
19:59:25 the city dictates.
19:59:28 >> Dr. Holt: These buildings
19:59:31 don't require sprinkler systems,
19:59:31 do they?
19:59:33 >> Ian: There is one building
19:59:35 that's going to have sprinklers.
19:59:39 If you have your print-out
19:59:41 here, the tree in the far left
19:59:43 and the building in the far left
19:59:47 corner, building one, it is far
19:59:51 enough away from the drivable
19:59:53 surface from a fire truck can be
19:59:55 that it does have to have
19:59:55 sprinklers.
19:59:59 >> Dr. Holt: What about the big
19:59:59 tree?
20:00:00 >> Ian: Just that.
20:00:02 >> Dr. Holt: Okay. Further
20:00:14 questions or comments?
20:00:17 >> SEALEE: He answered it for
20:00:19 me. Thank you for that.
20:00:22 >> Dr. Holt: Ta'Nesha?
20:00:24 >> Ta'Nesha: No questions.
20:00:27 >> Dr. Holt: No questions.
20:00:32 Ms. Goodlow, any comment?
20:00:35 >> Ms. Goodlow: I want to put
20:00:38 out there if there are oversight
20:00:39 committee members would like to
20:00:41 go out and tour the site, Dr.
20:00:42 Holt and I were able to do that
20:00:45 back in the summer or last
20:00:46 spring, I don't know. It was
20:00:49 times sometimes last year.
20:00:51 It will be good for people to
20:00:52 get a feel of what the site
20:00:54 looks like as much as you can
20:00:57 because the Safe Rest Village is
20:00:57 still there.
20:01:00 You can see that area where that
20:01:01 heritage tree is would be a
20:01:03 great place for a community
20:01:05 picnic or something for the
20:01:08 people that live there if they
20:01:08 wanted to have some kind of
20:01:13 event or something. That's
20:01:13 a large space that would be
20:01:16 available to the folks that live
20:01:18 there. People can just let me
20:01:22 know and we can work the habitat
20:01:28 to schedule a site tour.
20:01:29
20:01:31 >> Dr. Holt: Two things as we
20:01:32 are wrapping up. Thank you for
20:01:34 the involvement and great
20:01:34 presentation.
20:01:37 >> Ian: Thank you.
20:01:38 >> Dr. Holt: Amazing that we
20:01:41 were able to get through all.
20:01:44 Several of you know that former
20:01:48 President Jimmy Carter was very
20:01:56 involved in habitat humanity for
20:02:01 decades. One of the greatest
20:02:03 programs that have created
20:02:05 homeownership opportunities for
20:02:08 black and brown people in the
20:02:09 nation, habitat has done
20:02:12 incredible work. So, glad to see
20:02:16 this opportunity coming online
20:02:18 and the possibility that will
20:02:19 help create community. I am
20:02:22 looking forward to others and
20:02:25 ownerships is a passion of my
20:02:28 heart. It does so much for
20:02:31 values, sustainability, family
20:02:32 consistency, health and
20:02:36 wellness, we can go on and on.
20:02:37 Economic opportunity and etc.
20:02:42 Related to the communications
20:02:44 Newsletters, Ms. Quin will
20:02:46 e-mail the oversight committee
20:02:48 and let us know in regards to
20:02:51 the January newsletter that's
20:02:53 coming out and the director will
20:02:57 be writing the welcome letter.
20:02:58 We'll try to highlight some of
20:02:59 the great things that are going
20:03:01 on that we have been involved
20:03:03 in. I have said for a long time
20:03:04 that I think we have been too
20:03:07 quiet. I think that what this
20:03:10 committee has accomplished and
20:03:14 done has not received the amount
20:03:16 of notification and awareness
20:03:20 that it should. To that extent
20:03:22 then, we in our next gathering,
20:03:25 we'll be celebrating ten years.
20:03:27 So, the March meeting will not
20:03:30 be a meeting. It will be our
20:03:32 ten-year anniversary and
20:03:33 celebration. Pretty phenomenaL
20:03:35 to think of going from what was
20:03:37 $20 million in the initial
20:03:41 investment to over
20:03:44 $100 million and the priorities
20:03:45 of what we have had and what we
20:03:46 have been able to do to help
20:03:50 people stay in their homes and
20:03:51 establishing sustainability
20:03:53 process to help people stay in
20:03:54 place and the land banking that
20:03:57 we were involved in. The
20:03:59 affordable rental units that
20:04:00 have been built. The homes that
20:04:02 have been established and the
20:04:04 amount of people who are now
20:04:05 homeowners. I think it is a
20:04:07 story that should be told. I
20:04:08 think it is something we should
20:04:12 yell about. So, absolutely
20:04:13 celebrate. More information will
20:04:14 be coming.
20:04:16 And we'll get a chance to
20:04:17 advertise and let other people
20:04:21 know and invite them into the
20:04:25 space to streamers with banners
20:04:28 and balloons popping and
20:04:32 fireworks going off - well, why
20:04:35 not? You are shaking your head,
20:04:37 no?
20:04:37 [Laughter]
20:04:41 >> Dr. Holt: You are not the
20:04:44 boss of me. Is there anything
20:04:46 else you would add anyone about
20:04:49 the ten-year?
20:04:53 >> Ms. Goodlow: We have
20:04:57 tentatively set for the March
20:04:59 date. March 13 is the date we
20:05:00 are looking at which is
20:05:04 ironically the last day the city
20:05:08 was open wlen when we
20:05:10 were ready to celebrate the
20:05:12 five-year because of COVID. So,
20:05:15 it is kind of ironic that that's
20:05:17 the date that we are looking at.
20:05:21 We'll be reaching out to all of
20:05:23 our current and past oversight
20:05:24 committee members.
20:05:27 We want to celebrate everyone
20:05:29 that has participated, our
20:05:31 community partners that have
20:05:33 built buildings and have done
20:05:35 home repairs or worked with us
20:05:39 over the last ten
20:05:45 years, hopefully -- our past
20:05:47 directors that were supportive
20:05:50 of this and Tracey Manning who
20:05:53 were the director at the time
20:05:55 that helped us over the finish
20:05:56 line. Be looking for
20:05:57 information. I know a couple of
20:06:00 folks said they were interested
20:06:05 in working on the planning. If
20:06:08 you have not send an e-mail to
20:06:11 gwen and let her know. I want to
20:06:13 send a thank you to those of you
20:06:15 who are available to help with
20:06:16 interviews to fill that
20:06:17 preference policy position.
20:06:20 Last but not least, our annual
20:06:23 report to council, we'll need to
20:06:25 get that done sometimes in the
20:06:27 spring. I will have all of the
20:06:29 data by the end of February and
20:06:33 so I will be reaching out to
20:06:35 folks to help craft the
20:06:37 narrative that goes along with
20:06:39 the data. So, if you are at all
20:06:42 interested in that -- I will
20:06:44 send out the data and if you
20:06:46 have comments or if there is
20:06:47 anything in particular that you
20:06:50 think we should highlight from
20:06:52 2024, please let me know. Other
20:06:54 than that, happy new year,
20:06:55 everybody!
20:06:55 Be safe.
20:06:57 >> Dr. Holt: Thank you very
20:07:00 much. I think I started by
20:07:01 saying, well, one of the things
20:07:03 I started with was about
20:07:05 creating the atmosphere for the
20:07:08 environment that's equitable. We
20:07:11 are thoughtful around food.
20:07:14 Well, we'll have a spread at the
20:07:14 ten-year anniversary so you can
20:07:16 tell your friends and family and
20:07:18 bring your neighbors along. It
20:07:20 is going to be some great food
20:07:24 and some delicious desserts.
20:07:26 So, big celebration, something
20:07:27 to make noise about. I
20:07:29 appreciate your investment to
20:07:31 all of those who are apart of
20:07:32 the committee.
20:07:35 Happy new year and thank you for
20:07:36 continuing to work and roll your
20:07:37 sleeves up to make a difference.
20:07:42 We are doing that. To all the
20:07:45 partners, the Portland Housing