“People living in work force housing and graduate student housing generally have a younger population with some disposable income. They would patronize the restaurants and shops in the area, which would be of great benefit to the businesses. The other major advantage is that a couple of the properties in the proposed URA – specifically the Peter Paulson and Hamilton West – have drug treatment centers or residents using the adjacent treatment center (this is also the case with the Jeffery). Having more mid-range incomes in the area would mean more people and more eyes on the street, which is a good thing for basic neighborhood livability. Many of the elderly residents who live in downtown (this includes people in condos, apartments, and public housing) cite the proximity to Portland State as one of their main reasons for wanting to live in this area; this is not only because of the free classes, but also because they want to live in buildings that don’t feel so much like a retirement community, so more graduate student housing and work-force housing would enhance the livability in that part of the URA. Also, from a basic urban studies standpoint, having a mixed income base and a broader representative demography in an area results in a better and more vibrant community. Anyone who has walked on SW 11th through SW 13th notices immediately that the area is economically depressed – the proposed URA has the potential to change that.”

The author fabricated a quote to make crime the center of this story. I asked him on Tuesday to change and he has not. That is the last time the 91ÊÓƵ will be getting a quote from our neighborhood association.

-Felicia Williams
Chair, Downtown Neighborhood Association

Affordable Housing can be described as either of the following:
1. Mortgage/Rent + Taxes + Insurance + Utilities <= 30% of local median household income.
2. Mortgage/Rent + Taxes + Insurance + Utilities <= 30% of household income.

PUBLIC Housing = Means Test + Government Subsidy + Rental Agreement

Public Housing may or may NOT meet the definition of Affordable Housing.

Public Housing may or may NOT meet the definition of Workforce Housing.

Affordable Housing is a subset of Market Rate Housing, Public Housing is NOT.

Workforce Housing is a subset of Affordable Housing built near a client's workplace.

ALL PUBLIC HOUSING involves Government Subsidy and a Means Test and a Rental Agreement which are ALL AND ALWAYS CONTROLLED BY GOVERNMENT. This means that the government can be held accountable to taxpayers and voters for Public Housing policy and the courts can enforce Public Housing legal agreements. No such political and legal accountability attaches itself to Affordable and Workforce housing.

Richard Ellmyer
Certified Oregon Change Agent by governor John Kitzhaber
Former progressive, socially liberal, fiscally conservative candidate for the North Portland House seat May 2010. Defeated by establishment Democrat Tina Kotek, who supports the discredited, abhorrent and indefensible policy of Targeted UNLIMITED Neighborhood Concentration of Public Housing while refusing to debate or discuss Public Housing in a public forum which is particularly egregious because our House district has the highest concentration of Public Housing Clients in Oregon. It includes New Columbia which is Oregon's largest Public Housing compound requiring 4 full time, dedicated, uniformed and armed Portland police officers to keep the peace. New Columbia is a de facto failure in social engineering which Kotek refuses to acknowledge.
[Did I miss you in my last commentary? Go here: http://topics.oregonlive.com/tag/Richard%2520Ellmyer/index.html ]